Taking serious note of a number of manufacturers of packaged drinking water/mineral water operating without Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification mark, the commissioner of food safety, department of Health & Family Welfare, has directed all food business operators (FBOs) to obtain BIS license/registration.
The department reminded that under the Regulation 2.3.14 (17) and (18) of Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulations, 2011, “No person shall manufacture, sell or exhibit for sale, Packaged Drinking Water (PDW) and Mineral Water (MW) except under the Bureau of Indian Standards Certification Mark (BIS)”.
Further, it pointed out that as per Section 31 of FSS Act, 2006, all FBOs have to obtain license/registration before commencement of any food business.
Therefore, the department stated that manufacturers of packaged drinking water, be it MSME or large scale, were required to obtain license of BIS and was a pre-condition to upload the BIS Certificate while applying for FSSAI License/Registration.
Accordingly, the department informed that certain procedure was laid down by FSSAI for considering the application for issuance of FSSAI licence in case of manufacturers of PDW and MW.
It stated that FBOs would have to mandatorily upload copy of BIS licence or copy of letter indicating recording of application for BIS licence at the time of applying for new licence for PDW and MW from FSSAI on the online system of FoSCoS.
After obtaining BIS licence, the FBO must furnish its details in online annual return available in FoSCoS. BIS licence must be mandatory document while applying for renewal of license.
In the event of closure of rejection of application for licence by BIS, the FBO must inform the concerned licencing authority and the FSSAI application/license was liable to be rejected/suspended/cancelled.
The department cautioned that failure to comply would attract penalty under section 58 and 63 of Food Safety & Standards Act’ 2006.