Can’t use dairy names on plant products: National food regulator

New Delhi, September 4

The national food regulator on Saturday said dairy names could not be used to sell plant-based products, and directed state food regulatory bodies to crack down on violators and submit reports in three weeks.

In a direction to states, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) ordered an investigation into alleged use of dairy terms on the labels of plant-based beverages and food products, mostly being sold through e-commerce channels.

“Identify specific instances for violation of the use of dairy terminology for non-dairy or plant-based products by food business operators (FBOs),” the regulator said.

In case of any violation, the FBOs would be granted 15 days to suitably improve or modify their product labels and strictly comply with the relevant provisions of FSS (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011, before the Food Safety Departments take any enforcement action.

The regulator has received several complaints regarding plant-based products being sold under a range of dairy product labels such as brands of soy milk, almond milk, oats milk, hazelnut milk and walnut cashew milk, etc. Further, the term ‘curd’ is also not considered a dairy term exclusively for such products, and has been associated with non-dairy products such as soybean curd in the regulations. — TNS

List violators, states told

Soy milk, walnut cashew milk, oats milk, almond milk brands are in contravention of the Indian food regulations that bar the use of dairy nomenclature on any plant-based food product or beverage.