Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has issued an advisory saying it has decided to ban the use of newspapers for wrapping and packing food items, a common practice by small corner shops and street vendors.
In its advisory, FSSAI has asked commissioners of food safety of all states and UTs to take necessary steps to restrict the use of newspapers for packing, serving and storing of food items.
Newspaper ink can contaminate food items leading to serious health concerns.
Cancer related complications can result from the use of newspaper as a food packaging material.
This is the first time FSSAI has brought about a rule with regard to packaging food materials. So far, it has focused on setting standards for packaged food.
Food Retail in India- 10 million street vendors in 2014(estimate by Union Housing Ministry).
- BCG estimates there are 12 million kirana stores as per a 2014-2015 estimate.
- India has the second largest food retail industry in the world.
- 97% of the Indian food retail industry is unorganised.
