In the past few decades, our country has emerged as a key producer of the huge volume of organic food in the global food market. Earlier, our farmers started with the production of organic food in the tea segment only but now the market has expanded to over 300 products in over 20 countries. As per an estimate, India now exports over 135 million metric tonnes of certified organic food. This makes up for a huge market share and the influx of new businesses has increased the perspective of growth for this market.

As of now, our country boasts the highest no. of organic food farmers. Even in terms of land use for organic farming, our ranking is continuously improving. This has been due to the government efforts across the country to increase the practice of organic farming in all states. A good example of this is the state of Sikkim, which has been declared India’s first fully organic farming state. All of this data is enough to indicate the promising nature of the Indian organic food market. To start the business of organic food in our country, an entity needs FSSAI registration and certification. 

The Indian Act enacted for Food Safety (Food Safety and Standards Acts 2006) has stated that the following types of firms and entities should get the registration for organic food business:

• Organic food manufacturer
• Wholesale business operators of organic food
• Organic Food Storage and Packaging Unit
• Exporters, importers, and traders of organic food products
• Organic food product retailers

In the following sections, we will study the food regulations and their features for the business of organic food.

FSSAI Regulations Specified for Organic Food

The organic food industry comes under the purview of FSSAI as per Section 22 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. This has been done to ensure that a single statutory body is responsible for regulation of any type of food industry in the country. Although organic food products and the related industry have slightly different regulations, all of the rules were combined into one single set of regulations. The Food Safety and Standards (Organic Foods) Regulations 2017 were enacted after thorough consultations with the related industry experts and consultants. The regulations were applicable on the following systems under different government authorities for the organic food industry.

• Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India) which works under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) started by APEDA working under the Department of Commerce.

The regulations also mentioned that the norms are applicable on any other system developed by any other Food Authority in our country.

Applicability of Organic Food Regulations 2017

These regulations were said to be applicable on any entity involved in the business of manufacturing, packaging, storing, repackaging, export, import, distribution, sales, and marketing of organic food in our country. All players of the aforesaid sectors will be covered under these regulations and must comply with it.

On the other hand, small scale organic food producers or small organic food vendors who are only selling the product to the end customers were exempted from these regulations and the related compliance norms. It also stated that the food authority can notify in future regarding the players of the industry who can be exempted from the regulations.

Main Aspects of Organic Food Regulations

The regulations of 2017 have mainly stated two types of requirements that must be met by an organic food business.

1. Labeling Requirements Organic Food Business

The Labeling requirements for Organic Food products specifies that the label of the product must mention accurate information related to the product. It should also contain the FSSAI’s Organic food logo to indicate its certification from the regulatory body. Along with the logo, the product should contain quality assurance marks (if any) of any other certification systems covered under the regulations.

The seller must display the organic food items in such a way that they are easily distinguishable from regular food products. The exporters of such products should also comply with other requirements of the FSSAI Act and the regulations of the importing country.

If under any bilateral or multilateral agreements which has been executed as per norms of Indian National Programme for Organic Production, an import or export has been conducted for Organic Food products, then there is no need to get recertification for Organic Food products. However, all such imports must be done with a transaction certificate issued by an accreditation body that covers such agreements.

2. Certification Requirement for Organic Food Business

Consumers are generally conscious of the food products quality before buying them. However, this wariness becomes even more when they are buying organic food products which are relatively costlier. Thus, organisations need to ensure that the quality of the products they are selling is up to the mark. FSSAI certification ensures that the customer can trust the product’s quality. Thus, this requirement has been mentioned in the 2017 regulations. 

This was done to ensure that the trust of the consumers in the products remains intact. The certification is considered compulsory for all the food vendors in this sector. It also ensured that the firm will comply with the norms of FSSAI concerning manufacturing, storage, and distribution of the products.

To Conclude…

We have learnt that the organic food sector is growing exponentially in our country. Considering its lower impact on the environment and health benefits, even the governments across different states are promoting organic farming. This has resulted in many new firms willing to enter the organic food processing sector. The FSSAI License for Organic food and its regulations ensure that the foods circulated in the market are of high quality. 

The FSSAI certificate for Organic food vendors is valid for a certain period post which they need to apply for FSSAI renewal process for certification. Companies can also apply for renewal 30 days before the last date of expiration so that they get it renewed without losing any single day.