The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India vide its notification dated 6th September 2021 has notified the Food Safety and Standards (Vegan Foods) Regulations, 2021. As per the regulation The food products or ingredients to be called VEGAN, shall not have involved animal testing for evaluating the safety of the final product/ingredient; and, shall not contain any animal-derived GMOs or products prepared using animal derived gene for manufacturing the ingredients or products.
The Food Business Operator shall submit an application with all necessary details related to plant/machinery/premises to the Authority. Inspection and verification of the premises shall be done by concerned Food Safety Officer or Designated Officer. The Food Authority may specify guidelines for endorsement of vegan logo and annual market surveillance for such products. The concerned registration or licensing authority shall carry out surveillance of the registered establishment at least once a year.
All vegan foods shall comply with the packaging and labelling requirements specified under the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020 in addition to the labelling requirements and the seller of vegan food either exclusively or as part of retail merchandise shall store and display such food in a manner distinguishable from non-vegan food.
