Everybody wants to eat fresh, pure, and clean food. However, not every food that is being consumed adheres to quality excellence. There are many, yet one of the most prevalent is faulty and cheap market practices. This deals primarily with adulteration that aims to exploit food quality to expand the manufacturer’s profit.
The good news is that strict and mandatory food safety government guidelines and certifications exist.
These certifications assure that food-related malpractices are minimized, and the nutritive quality of food is being preserved and protected by all means.
Nonetheless, this still fails to ensure that the available food is safe for consumption. Undoubtedly, the government certifications are proper to their mark and belief. Still, not all consumers understand the importance and the types of food certifications they should check while purchasing. Lack of awareness is the crunch, and so money-minded manufacturers can easily continue to manufacture food products without fulfilling mandatory claims of necessary certifications.
To break this vicious cycle of greed (at the manufacturer’s end) and lack of knowledge (at the customer’s end).
Our Team at Soonya brings well-researched details so that when you go to the grocery mart next time, you should check on the product label to ensure that what you bring home is absolutely wholesome for your family.
Significant Food Certifications in India You Should be Aware of:
1. FSSAI (Food Safety and Standard Authority of India)
The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, had established FSSAI, mandatory compliance under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSS Act).
This organization works at licensing and registering FBOs or Food and Business Operators in India. This government body is specifically meant to look after the food businesses in India and authenticate if they follow the regulation specified by the government. FSSAI ensures that the food is sterile, unadulterated, and per the defined ethics. Moreover, their job is to get rid of sub-standard food products.
Food products with an FSSAI logo come with a trust that the mandatory compliance is adhered to ensure that the food product is absolutely safe and unadulterated.
2. AGMARK (Agricultural Marketing)
This is one of India’s most essential certification marks for agricultural products. AGMARK on any food product assures that the product abides by the set standards and is further approved by the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection.
An attached Office of the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare under the Ministry of Agricultural & Farmers Welfare, an agency of the Government of India (GOI).
The current AGMARK standards cover quality guidelines for almost 224 different commodities covering a variety of cereals, pulses, vegetables, fruits, essential oils, vegetable oils, and semi-processed products like vermicelli.
3. HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point)
This is another necessary certification that is internationally recognized for reducing the risk of safety hazards in food. A certification mark of HACCP on packaged food assures that the potential hazards (biological, chemical, or physical) have been identified and controlled during the processing. This mark ensures that the risk associated with food safety is minimized or eliminated to the best of the manufacturer’s belief. Hence, it is absolutely safe to consume this food.
4. ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
ISO developed the Food Safety Management System Standard- ISO 22000:2018. It works as standard business practices of the Food Safety Management System.
All the requirements in this ISO 22000 standard are generic. These standards apply to any organization that deals in the food supply chain businesses like farming, manufacturing, processing, storage, transportation, servicing, packing, and delivery.
ISO is a voluntary certification that works as a seal of approval from a third-party body that the manufacturer adheres to one of the internationally recognized ISO management systems.
5. HALAL Certification
Halal Certification bodies in India provide Halal Certification. To provide Halal Certification, a quality audit authority ensures that the food does not contain any part or matter of an animal that is prohibited for consumption by Shariah for Muslims. Simply put, any food that does not have anything considered impure according to Shariah is given Halal Certification.
6. KOSHER Certification
Generally, a food product is said to be kosher certified when each ingredient, food additive, and processing aid used in its production is also kosher. Kosher Certification can be given to packaged food, beverages, ready-to-eat food packets, etc. It’s a voluntary certification. But a lot of people have been in demand for KOSHER-certified products.
Significant Food Certifications in India You Should be Aware of:
1. JAIVIK BHARAT
A lot of food in the market says that it’s organic, but the trust is that it’s not. The only way to determine the genuine organic food product in the market is to check its Certification and quality mark in the form of a logo.
Per the Food Safety and Standards (Organic Food) Regulations, 2017, every organic food must carry a JAIVIK BHARAT logo and its certification logo.
2. NPOP Certification
A national program for organic production certification is a third-party Certification. The farm or the processing of the agricultural produce is certified by an accredited organic certification agency by national or international organic standards.
NPOP Certification is facilitated by Agriculture Processed Food and Export Development Authority (APEDA), Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Government of India (GOI).
3. PGS- INDIA Certification
Participatory Guarantee Systems are locally focused quality assurance systems built on a foundation of trust, social network, and knowledge exchange.
In the case of organic agriculture, PGS is a process in which people in similar situations (in this case, producers) assess, inspect and verify the production practices of each other and collectively declare the entire holding of the group as organic.
PGS- India is facilitated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India through the National Centre of Organic Farming (NCOF) as its secretariat.
4. USDA Organic (United States Department of Agriculture)
This is another essential certification you should check on a product label claiming to be ‘organic’.
The seal of USDA Organic assures that farmers and businesses have met strict standards for the growing, processing, and handling of their products and that the product has an organic content of 95% or more.
Suppose the label claims it is made with specified organic ingredients for multi-ingredient products such as bread or soup. In that case, you can be confident that those specific ingredients have been certified organic.
What’s more, related to Organic Certification?
1. What is the importance of organic Certification?
Organic Certification is a process involving a set of production standards for growing, storage, processing, packing, and shipping that includes:
- Avoid synthetic chemicals (e.g., fertilizers, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, food additives, and genetically modified organisms).
- Maintaining undistorted physical separation of inorganic and noncertified products from organic food products.
- Undergoing periodic on-site inspection.
- Keeping detailed written production and sales records (audit trail).
2. What is the purpose of organic food certification?
An organic food certificate is meant to regulate production/processing as per National Standards for Organic Production (NSOP). Plus, it facilitates consumers’ sales and supply of authentic and high-quality organic products.
3. What is the difference between PGS-India ORGANIC and PGS-India GREEN logo?
PGS-India ORGANIC logo refers to products obtained from agriculture that is entirely converted into organic. The certification mark certifies that the organic food product conforms to the NSOP.
PGS-India GREEN logo refers to the products that are obtained from the agriculture fields under the process of conversion. The certification mark certifies that the organic food product conforms to the NSOP.
4. What are the different logos you should check while purchasing organic food?
Summarizing?
Certifications are meant to protect and preserve the quality and authenticity of the food. Without appropriate knowledge or poor marketing strategies, customers can often be looted in the name of food being ‘organic, authentic, herbal and unadulterated.’
Knowledge of food certifications can help you make a wise food purchase choice. This will protect health and help stop the malpractices that prevail in the market, particularly in the food industry.
