Food regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has made a decision to display “Best Before Date” on non-packaged sweets for Food Business Operators (FBOs) across India. This regulation has come into effect from 1 October 2020.

In a letter to the commissioner of food safety of all States and Union Territories, FSSAI mentioned “…In the public interest and to ensure food safety, it has been decided that in case of non-packaged/loose sweets, the container/tray holding sweets at the outlet for sale should display the ‘Best Before Date’ of the product mandatorily with effect from October 1, 2020”.

It is also said, the FBOs might also display the ‘Date of Manufacturing’ as it’s not mandatory.

This surely impacts the FBOs and Consumers as it has been already opposed by sweet sellers in different parts of the country, let’s take a look at what it will change:

For FBOs:

• Need to put extra efforts: Putting a tag containing best before date on all the display tray requires extra efforts in terms of manpower, monitoring, updation, removal, etc., as almost all the FBOs were doing business without following it. This will be a cumbersome task for the FBOs with higher footfalls, have a wide range of products and low shelf life of products that are mainly consumed in the Eastern region of India.

• Need to address consumer awareness: As the news has widely created awareness, the consumers will see the ‘best before date’ before making a purchase decision.

• COVID 19 & current demand: Due to the lockdown in the first quarter of 2020-21, the FBOs were closed and affected the business. The situation is not improved much for the FBOs even after the unlocking across the country. Also, the consumer prefers to have the packaged food over non-packaged/loose sweets in the current Covid-19 spread on which it’s already in place to mention the details.

For Consumers:

• Awareness: With the awareness, the consumers will check the ‘best before date’ tag as he/she was doing for the price tag. Also, consumers may ask for the ‘date of manufacturing’.

• Availability of Information: The mandatory tag will inform the consumers on till what date the product will remain edible.

• Ensure the freshness: The move will ensure that the consumer will have fresh products. This will halt the sale of stale/ expired foods/sweets which causes potential health hazards.

It is also interesting to see how this is being implemented in rural areas and small towns where the majority of the sweets are being sold non-packaged/loose.

Though, an indicative list of shelf life of various types of sweets is given the guidance note on the safety of traditional milk products by FSSAI but who will decide the ‘best before date’ at FBO’s level?

However, let us see how this will address the issues of adulteration as we are approaching one of the biggest festival seasons of the year.