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Whenever we buy food, most of us don’t read the details beyond the price and the expiry date. However, this approach is dangerous because printed on the back side of the biscuit packets, chips or any other food items you might buy are not just labels, but the details of what you are putting in your systems. There are, however, many labels we might have seen but don’t know what they exactly mean and what their implications are. The companies that sell the food products try to make the packaging as attractive as they can to win over their competitors. But, the biggest attraction should ideally be how safe they are. And hence, to win the trust of their customers, these companies put on labels like lab-tested, FSSAI-approved or safe to eat. These are put in place to communicate to the consumer that they can choose this product and they can take it and consume it, give it to their family, have it themselves without any risk. So, let us understand these terms with the help of Dr Saurabh Arora, Managing Director, Auriga Research, Bangalore.
What FSSAI Approved Means
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is a government body that regulates the manufacture, storage, distribution, sale, and import of food articles, while also establishing standards to ensure food safety. In simple terms, it is the food police. That is to say that it makes sure the food you are buying is not harmful to your health. Dr Arora says that in India you cannot sell anything without an FSSAI license, so each and every packaged food product has to be FSSAI approved. “And a product only gets the FSSAI approval after periodic testing to make sure the quality meets a certain standard. Because the customer is not likely to know what the mandatory requirements for his food is, the government takes the initiative and tests these products to ensure our safety,” Dr Arora adds.
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So, when a brand puts on the FSSAI label on its product, it means that they are complying with all the legal requirements under FSSAI, which could be particular product-related standards and safety quality standards. The parameters are different for different products. There could be hygiene-related parameters related to how the factory should be designed, how the cleanliness should be maintained, how the safety aspects and quality aspects are monitored and maintained. So that it gives the consumer confidence that if a product has an FSSAI license and FSSAI approval, the food is safe to consume.
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What ‘Lab Tested’ Means
If a product claims to be lab tested, it means that they send their products to an outside lab or they have their own lab where they're able to test to make sure that the product is meeting all these standard requirements, like whatever is claimed on the packaging labels, for instance, the nutritional value and the expiry date, they are all true. Besides that, lab testing also ensures that the quality aspects are met, that the food is free of pesticides, metals, arsenic and other harmful substances. “In India, all these things are mandated under the Food Safety and Standards Act. And the food businesses claiming their product is lab-tested are reiterating the fact that they have got their product tested and have ensured that there is compliance to all the quality and safety related test parameters,” says Dr Arora.
What ‘Safe To Eat’ Means
“It is unfortunate that ‘safe to eat’ has to be labeled on any product because it is a basic and fundamental requirement and you must not sell any unsafe products,” mentions Dr Arora. “There are strict legal repercussions, including fines and jail, prison, in case you are caught selling an unsafe product,” he adds.
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So, basically if you are in compliance with all the FSSAI requirements and meet all the testing and are following the hygiene practices, it means the food product is safe to eat. So again, this is just restating the fact that the product is complying with regulation and it's free of any risk or danger to the consumer.
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Bottomline
Dr Arora says that apart from these three labels, nowadays, food products have many other claims too. Companies are claiming higher nutrition value. They are claiming more vitamins. They are claiming that they are free of cholesterol, free of trans fats, and GMO-free. However, these three tests make sure that whatever they put on the packaging is monitored and the customer knows exactly what they are buying and putting into their systems, which reiterates the point that we, as consumers, take these labels seriously and read beyond the prices and expiry dates.