India's food safety watchdog has notified the specifications for the logo to be printed on vegan food packaging which was made mandatory last year.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said that every package of vegan food should carry the logo as specified in the notification.
The logo carrying a green-coloured V representing vegan food should be 10mm long and 7mm wide. The logo with a green border should carry an image of a leaf that is 3.25mm long and should be placed in the center of the V in the logo. The word vegan should be mentioned in the logo which should be 7mm in length and 2mm in height. The overall size of the logo should be 15mm in length and breadth.
FSSAI had last year launched a logo specifically to identify vegan foods to help consumers easily identify and differentiate them from non-vegan foods.
The government has defined vegan food as foods, including ingredients, additives, flavourings, enzymes and carriers, or processing aids, that are not of animal origin and in whose production and processing, ingredients, additives, flavourings, enzymes and carriers, or processing aids that are of animal origin are not used.
The food regulator has also asked manufacturers to ensure good manufacturing practices so that there is no unintended presence of non-vegan substances.
It has directed that if the production line of vegan food is shared with non-vegan products or ingredients then thorough cleaning should be carried out before production of vegan products.
In June, FSSAI had listed the regulations vegan foods have to comply with. The food regulator's move was aimed at ensuring that what is manufactured, sold and distributed as vegan food in the country is really vegan. This came against the backdrop of an increase in demand for vegan food in India.
The food regulator brought the draft FSS (Vegan Foods) Regulations 2022 in September 2021, specifying what the definition of vegan food is and what regulatory compliance food business owners have to follow on the back of increasing demand for vegan food in India.
Due to the rapid growth in demand, it made strict regulations to check the sale of vegan food in India. The government has also put restrictions on import of vegan food items unless all regulatory requirements are met.
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