New Delhi : Following increasing complaints that packaged still and mineral water is sold without BIS certification in the scorching heat, the food regulator has asked the food commissioners of states and union territories to review the licenses granted to bottlers.
BIS or Bureau of Indian Standards certification is mandatory on packaged water bottles.
Inoshi Sharma, executive director, regulatory compliance at the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), who wrote letters to states and union territories, told Mint, “We got this tip in one of our meetings with Packaged Drinking Water (PDW) . ) Manufacturers Association and we took immediate action.”
“Many a times, what happens when people ask for FSSAI licence, (that is) they write to us that they have applied for BIS certificate, and we give them license on the assurance that they are also asking for BIS certificate. We don’t know what happens and why food business operators don’t take BIS numbers.
“Therefore, we have written to the States/UTs to undertake a special drive to ensure (if) all manufacturers of PDWs and Mineral Waters have BIS numbers or not, and action will be taken accordingly.”
Sharma said a BIS number is very important for a product to sell packaged drinking water and mineral water.
In its letter, it said, “It is requested to review the licenses granted for the manufacture of packaged drinking water and mineral water products under its jurisdiction and verify whether the said licensees have complied with FoSCoS (Food Safety Compliance). A valid BIS certificate has been submitted for the same. System) Portal. If … such certificates are not available, a notice may be issued to the Food Business Operators (FBOs) to produce them in a time bound manner. On failure of such licenses, the license is liable to be cancelled/suspended as per FSS (Licensing and Registration of Food Business Regulation, 2011),” the letter said.
According to BIS, the newly published standard for drinking water is IS 17482:2020.
The apex food regulator has also directed the state governments to launch a special drive to check the quality of packaged drinking water. FSSAI has sought an ‘action taken’ report from all the food commissioners by May 31.
Recently, FSSAI received several complaints regarding misuse of the word ‘ORS’. [Oral Rehydration Salts) by certain fruit-based or non-carbonated or Ready to Drink beverage manufacturers by labelling or using terms similar to ORS like ‘ORSL’, ‘ORSL Rehydrate’, ‘Electro Plus ORS’ etc.
According to FSSAI, the product ‘ORS’ is a Drug under Drugs and Cosmetics Rules L945 which is used for the treatment of acute diarrhoea and has a specific composition prescribed by the Drugs Controller General of India.
The apex food regulator directed its counterparts in the state to review such labelling and rectify the labelling defects immediately while ensuring that the term ‘ORS’ is not used in the labelling of such products.