Valentine's Day may fall short of imported chocolates

Around 16 tonnes of imported gourmet chocolates and related products are awaiting clearance at major ports across the country, ahead of the Valentine’s Day when demand for such items peak. Earlier, retailers had faced a similar problem during Christmas and New Year’s Eve. 

 

While key gourmet retailers complain that stringent packaging and labelling norms have blocked consumers’ access to their favourite brands, officials from the Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI)- a regulatory body under the health ministry—maintain that implementations of norms is in public interest. The consignments waiting at the ports lack basic information such as name of manufacturer and details about ingredients used in the products, officials said. 

 

One of the major hurdles that importers of gourmet food are facing are tough packaging and labelling norms, Kishore Biyani, CEO, Future Group, said recently in an interaction with Business Standard.

 

Popular chocolate brands are off the shelves for more than a year now, according to chains. This is because the FSSAI norms on packaging and labeling standards insist that there should be no removable stickers on the packets. “With limited quantities that are imported into India, it is difficult for international companies to make special packaging for India,” a leading gourmet food retailer said on condition of anonymity.

 

“If you look at past year’s record of clearances, only 0.3% of the imported food products have been rejected for reasons such as non-compliance with labelling requirements and other standards. We have to implement the norms in their full spirit or else India will become a dumping ground with sub-standard products, “said S. Dave, Advisor, FSSAI, arguing that packaging and labelling standards are same for local and global manufacturers. 

 

Among the biggest concerns with imported chocolates is the content of vegetable fat. According to Indian standards, chocolates should have zero per cent vegetable fat, but many imported chocolates have over 40% vegetable fat. “If the content information on the packets is not mentioned in Hindi or English, how will we know,” asked an FSSAI official. 

 

Leading gourmet food and chocolate brands from Europe, South-East Asia have earlier also failed to comply with labelling and packaging norms in India introduced in 2011.

 

Experts point out that the requirement of 60% shelf life of products when they are imported and the cost of sampling process are the key practical issues.

 

“Not every product can have a 60% shelf life if you consider the period of transit. It is dependent on the kind of product, for instance some products have shorter shelf life,” said Tarun Jain, Vice President, Food and Agriculture, Technopak, India. Also, each product from different batch numbers has to be tested. The cost of sampling sometimes makes it impractical to import as the cost of the product escalates, Jain added.