India's food safety watchdog floats norms for meat products

India's food safety watchdog on Monday notified the draft norms for regulating microbes in meat and meat products, and said they would come into force after 60 days of it being published in the official gazette.

It also invited stakeholders to file their comments and objections on the same.

"The objections and suggestions, which may be received from any person with respect to the said draft regulations before the expiry of the period so specified, shall be considered by the food authority," the watchdog said in a notification.

The existing norms covered the category "Microbiological requirements of food products" and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) now wants to include what are called "Hygiene Indicator Organisms" with specifications on maximum amount of bacteria that can be present, along with other criteria.

These criteria include minimum number of samples to be presented for testing, the level above which a lot has to be rejected, the units to be used for analyses, as also definitions of what constitute meat and meat products.