New Delhi, Dec 20 (PTI) Food safety regulator FSSAI has ordered licensed food manufacturers and importers to submit quarterly data on rejected and expired food items through its online compliance system FOSCOS to prevent their resale for human consumption.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) directive, issued on December 16, also applies to repackers and relabellers.

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The new reporting requirements cover three key areas: quantity of products failing internal quality testing or inspection; volume of expired or returned products from the food supply chain; and detailed records of product disposal, including destruction, auction, or alternative use, with specific buyer and waste disposal agency information.

The move is aimed at preventing rebranding and resale of expired and rejected food items for human consumption under the guise of cattle feed.

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This initiative will enable real-time tracking of rejected or expired goods and their subsequent disposal or auction for non-human consumption purposes, FSSAI said.

While the FOSCOS (Food Safety and Compliance System) reporting function is still being developed, the regulator has asked food businesses to begin collecting the required data to ensure readiness for submission when the system becomes operational.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)