Lok Sabha Question No. 3367 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-01-01
Subject: Approval of New Food Products
Ministry: FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES
Asked by: Richard Hay

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3367

ANSWERED ON 01 ST  JANUARY, 2019

## APPROVAL OF NEW FOOD PRODUCTS

## 3367.  PROF. RICHARD HAY:

Will the MINISTER OF FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is true that getting a new product approved is a big problem faced by entrepreneurs in the field of Food Processing industry and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has devised  any solution to the problem of delays faced by the entrepreneurs in obtaining product approval from the authorities concerned;
- (c) if so, the time duration fixed to give clearance for such approvals;
- (d) if  not,  the  number  of  applications  of  food  processing  unit  pending  with  the  competent authorities in the country, State wise;
- (e) the number of new quality control and texting laboratories have been set up in different States from 2015 to 2018 to expedite the clearance of approvals; and
- (f) the number of SEZ, AEZ and food parks set up in different States to provide added incentives to develop greenfield projects?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES (SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)

(a) & (b): The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) under the administrative control of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has the mandate to approve new food products. FSSAI have taken various measures to facilitate the clearance of new food products.  FSSAI has revised the definition  of  proprietary  foods  in  Food  Safety  and  Standards  (Food  Product  Standards  and  Food Additives) Ninth Amendment Regulations, 2016. Further, they have also notified the Food Safety and Standards (Food or Health Supplements, Nutraceuticals, Foods for Special Dietary Uses, Foods for Medical purposes, Functional Foods and Novel Foods) Regulations, 2016 and Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Seventh Amendment Regulations, 2016 relating to harmonization of Food additives. With these developments, a larger number of products that would have otherwise required specific approvals from FSSAI got covered.  The Food Safety and Standards (Approval for Non-Specified Food and Food Ingredients) Regulations, 2017 has been notified on 11 th September, 2017. This regulation covers the products/ingredients which are still not covered  in  any  of  the  regulations  made  under  Food  Safety  and  Standards  Act,  2006.In  order  to regulate such products including novel food and provide the opportunity to Food Business Operators to innovate food products, FSSAI came up with this regulation. The regulation covers the following articles of food or food ingredients:

- (i)   Novel food or novel food Ingredients or processed with the use of novel technology
- (ii)  New additives
- (iii)  New processing aids including enzymes
- (iv)  Articles of food and food ingredients consisting of or isolated from micro- organisms, bacteria, yeast, fungi or algae.

(c) & (d): The duration taken by FSSAI to give clearance to new products is approximately three to four months. FSSAI has received 175 applications from Food Business Operators (FBOs) under the Food Safety and Standards (Approval for Non-Specified Food and Food Ingredients) Regulations, 2017, out of which 92 applications are at various stages of processing. Remaining applications have been disposed of. The State-wise pending cases awaiting approval is at Annexure-I.

(e): Forty seven (47) Food Testing Laboratories (FTL) have been set up in different States with the financial assistance from the ministry of Food Processing  Industries  under the scheme Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure, now a component scheme of Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPDA Yojana (PMKSY). The State-wise FTL set up during 2015 to 2018 is at Annexure-II .

- (f): The number of SEZ, AEZ and food parks set up in different States are at Annexure-III .

*****

## ANNEXURE-I  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (c)  AND  (d)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  3367  FOR  ANSWERED  ON  01 ST   JANUARY,  2019 REGARDING APPROVAL OF NEW FOOD PRODUCTS

## State-wise Number of Applications of Food Processing units Pending with the FSSAI for Approval

|   S.No. | State            |   No. of applications |
|---------|------------------|-----------------------|
|       1 | Maharashtra      |                    31 |
|       2 | Gujarat          |                     4 |
|       3 | Haryana          |                     5 |
|       4 | New Delhi        |                    13 |
|       5 | Tamil Nadu       |                     9 |
|       6 | Himachal Pradesh |                     4 |
|       7 | Pondicherry      |                     4 |
|       8 | Karnataka        |                     4 |
|       9 | Utrakhand        |                     3 |
|      10 | Andhra Pradesh   |                     2 |
|      11 | Kerala           |                     4 |
|      12 | Telengana        |                     2 |
|      13 | Uttar Pradesh    |                     4 |
|      14 | Kolkata          |                     3 |
|      15 | Total            |                    92 |

## ANNEXURE-II

ANNEXURE-II REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (e) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  3367  FOR  ANSWERED  ON  01 ST   JANUARY,  2019  REGARDING APPROVAL OF NEW FOOD PRODUCTS

Number of Food Testing Laboratories (FTL) set up by Ministry of Food Processing Industries in different States from 2015 to 2018

|   Sl. No. | Name of the State   |   Number of FTL |
|-----------|---------------------|-----------------|
|         1 | Andhra Pradesh      |               1 |
|         2 | Assam               |               1 |
|         3 | Gujarat             |               6 |
|         4 | Haryana             |               6 |
|         5 | Jammu &Kashmir      |               1 |
|         6 | Karnataka           |               4 |
|         7 | Kerala              |               1 |
|         8 | Maharashtra         |              10 |
|         9 | Nagaland            |               1 |
|        10 | New Delhi           |               2 |
|        11 | Odisha              |               2 |
|        12 | Punjab              |               1 |
|        13 | Rajasthan           |               1 |
|        14 | Tamil Nadu          |               7 |
|        15 | Uttar Pradesh       |               3 |
|        16 | Total               |              47 |

## ANNEXURE-III REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (f) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  3367  FOR  ANSWERED  ON  01 ST   JANUARY,  2019  REGARDING APPROVAL OF NEW FOOD PRODUCTS

## Number of Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Agri Export Zone (AEZ) and Mega Food Parks set up in different States

|   S. N. | Name of the State   | SEZ   | AEZ   | Mega Food Parks                |
|---------|---------------------|-------|-------|--------------------------------|
|       1 | Andhra Pradesh      | 2     | 5     | 3 (2 are under implementation) |
|       2 | Arunachal Pradesh   | ----- | ----- | 1*                             |
|       3 | Assam               | ----- | 1     | 1                              |
|       4 | Bihar               | ----- | 1     | 1*                             |
|       5 | Chhattisgarh        | ----- | ----- | 1*                             |
|       6 | Gujarat             | 1     | 3     | 2 (1 is under implementation)  |
|       7 | Haryana             | 1     | ----- | 2*                             |
|       8 | Himachal Pradesh    | ----- | 1     | 1*                             |
|       9 | Jammu &Kashmir      | ----- | 2     | 1*                             |
|      10 | Jharkhand           | ----- | 1     | 1                              |
|      11 | Karnataka           | ----- | 4     | 2 (1 is under implementation)  |
|      12 | Kerala              | 1     | 2     | 2*                             |
|      13 | Madhya Pradesh      | ----- | 5     | 2 (1 is under implementation)  |
|      14 | Maharashtra         | ----- | 8     | 3 (1 is under implementation)  |
|      15 | Mizoram             | ----- | ----- | 1*                             |
|      16 | Nagaland            | 1     | ----- | 1*                             |
|      17 | Odisha              | ----- | 1     | 2 (1 is under implementation)  |
|      18 | Punjab              | ----- | 3     | 3 (2 are under implementation) |
|      19 | Rajasthan           | ----- | 2     | 1                              |
|      20 | Sikkim              | ----- | 2     | -----                          |
|      21 | Tamil Nadu          | 1     | 4     | -----                          |
|      22 | Telangana           | ----- | ----- | 2*                             |
|      23 | Tripura             | ----- | 1     | 1*                             |
|      24 | Uttarakhand         | ----- | 4     | 2                              |
|      25 | Uttar Pradesh       | ----- | 4     | 3*                             |
|      26 | West Bengal         | ----- | 6     | 1                              |
|      27 | Total               | 7     | 60    | 40                             |