Introduction:

Under the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) First Amendment Regulations, 2021, the FSSAI has amended the standards for bakery products, including biscuits and breads. These guidelines apply to new biscuit varieties such as sugar-free, low-sugar, and fat-free varieties.

The apex food regulator just issued these regulations, which will take effect on January 1, 2022.

Do you know about the recent update in FSSAI Regulations regarding the Bakery Sector?

According to the notified regulations, a biscuit is a baked product that is leavened or unleavened, coated or uncoated, partially or completely filled in the centre, such as wafer biscuits, coated wafers, cookies, crackers, centre-filled biscuits, enrobed biscuits, sandwich biscuits, and crème biscuits, including fat-free/low fat or sugar-free/low sugar variants.

"Biscuits can be produced from a variety of cereals and grain products, such as millets, pulses, and legumes, as well as mixes. It may also contain fats and oils, such as fat emulsions and other fat emulsions, baking powder, sugar and sugar products, edible common salt, salt substitutes, dairy products and analogues, nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners, honey, invert sugar, jaggery, dextrose, edible molasses, liquid glucose/glucose syrup (high maltose/high fructose), fruits and vegetables and their products, cocoa and its products, such as chocolates, tea, coffee, chicory and its extracts, coconut and its products, gluten, nut and nut products, malt and malt products, milk and milk products, oilseeds and their products, such as oilseed flours, all edible starches and edible flours, spices, condiments, herbs and their extracts, seasonings, vinegar, edible seeds, protein concentrates/isolates, yeast and its products, including yeast extract, enzymes, nutrients such as vitamins and minerals, edible fibres, maltodextrin, oligofructose, trehalose, and any other ingredients as specified in Food Safety and Standards Regulations," .

Not more than 0.1 percent ash insoluble in dilute HCl, percent on a dry mass basis, and not more than 2.0 percent acidity of extracted fat are required for biscuits (as oleic acid).

Bread and bread-like products, such as rusks, are defined as baked goods made from a mixture of atta (whole wheat flour) and/or maida (refined wheat flour), water, salt, yeast, or another fermentative medium or leavening medium. It comprises a variety of breads, rusks, and other baked goods.

"It may also contain dairy products and analogues, gluten, sweetening agents such as honey (such as sugar and sugar products, invert sugar, jaggery, dextrose, edible molasses, invert sugar, jaggery, liquid glucose/glucose syrup (high maltose/high fructose), date syrup, malt products and their extracts, edible starches and flour, edible cereals, grains and pulses or their flour, semolina, Edible vegetables and vegetable products, dried fruits, nuts and nut products, maltodextrin, oligofructose (maximum 15%), vinegar, or any other ingredient as specified in Food Safety and Standards Regulations," according to the notice.

The modified notification stipulates that alcoholic acidity (with 90% alcohol) (for breads) must not exceed 7.5 ml NaOH per 100 gramme of dried substances, that extracted fat acidity must not exceed 1.5 percent oleic acid, and that ash insoluble in dilute HCI must not exceed 0.2 percent.