FSSAI Food License

How to get Jaivik Bharat Logo?

Just as green and red dots on products shows whether it’s vegetarian or non-vegetarian, the Food regulating agency, FSSAI, introduced the Jaivik Bharat logo to help customers to identify authentic organic food. In this article, we shall look at Jaivik Bharat Certification.

What is Jaivik Bharat?

Each day food markets in India are flooded with new organic food products which look to be healthy for human consumption and is quite different from normal products. The variety of choices and claims made by these products may worry consumers about its authenticity of such claims and the genuineness of these products.

Considering this, the food regulating body- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, introduced the Jaivik Bharat logo. It helps customers to identify authentic organic food. A product having this logo would have to meet the standards of organic farming.

What do you mean by Organic food?

Organic foods are those products of holistic agricultural practices that focuses on bio diversity, soil health, chemical free inputs, etc., with an environmentally and socially responsible approach. It is produced in accordance to the organic production standards.

As stated earlier, people are reluctant to purchase organic food because of lack of faith in its credibility and authenticity.  The issues of fraud and mislabelling occur when an FBO marks a product as organic however, it contains non-organic ingredients or where the production standards are not as per the standards prescribed in the production process. Therefore it is essential to check if the food labelled as organic is really organic or not. The Food Safety and Standards Regulations 2017 are based on the National Programme for Organic Production and Participatory Guarantee System. The customer is assured of credibility after the regulations were notified.

About the Jaivik Bharat Logo

This logo for organic food is an identification mark to distinguish organic products from non-organic ones. The logo is supported by the tagline “JAIVIK BHARAT” at the bottom, which shows organic food from India.

Employing a simple approach to communicate a message, the green colour of the logo showcases nature along with articulating that these food products are produced in a highly environment friendly manner without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It highlights the letter ‘O’ in the word Organic and represents the facet of holistic health at a global platform.

To show a sturdy relationship, leaves have also been used in the logo showing a tick mark, which is incorporated in the circle represented by the letter ‘O’. The logo signifies that the product bearing it has been authenticated as organic for human consumption. It may be noted that all certified organic food container will have this logo.

If a product doesn’t have this logo, then does it mean that such product is not organic and fake?

The answer is no. Organic foods that are marketed through direct sales to the end consumer by the small original producer or producer organization is exempted from the certification provisions. Small original producer or the producer organization is the one whose annual turnover is not more than 12 lakh rupees.

How to get Jaivik Bharat logo?

As per the organic regulations, dealers were allowed to sell organic products only if the labels had this logo, but it has been extended. If any producer or supplier violates the rule, then such person may lose his or her license and registration.

In order to obtain this logo, the product should meet the prescribed standards of organic farming, such as the chemical and herbicide free farming and no contamination from neighbourhood farms. Organic food producers are allowed to use only natural and sustainable farming practices. Further, it may be noted that the organic food will be considered organic only when they have organic production and participatory guarantee system for India registration certificate.

Once the certificate is obtained, the dealers may then submit these certificate to procure permission to print the logo on the organic products.  Moreover, organic food should also comply with the labelling and packaging requirements as provided in the Food Safety Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011.

Which food products can be labelled as Organic?

Under the National Programme for Organic Production system-

• In case where single ingredient product where all requirements have been met according to the specified standards, can be labelled Organic.
• In case where multi ingredient product where minimum 95% of ingredients are of certified origin, can be labelled Organic

Under the Participatory Guarantee System-

• In case where single ingredient product where all requirements have been met according to the specified standards, can be labelled PGS-Organic.
• In case where multi ingredient product where minimum 95% ingredients are organic, can be labelled PGS-Organic.

Which logo should be checked by a consumer on organic food?

The consumer should look for the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s organic logo that is Jaivik Bharat, and the FSSAI logo license number.

In addition, the label of organic food may also carry the India Organic logo (NPOP certified) or PGS India Logo under whichever system it is certified.

What to do if you want to start a new organic food business?

It may be noted that a food business operator is required to obtain certification under NPOP/PGS-India for the handling of organic food, and it is a requirement for taking registration or license under FSSR.

In case an FBO is already registered or has FSSAI License, is not required to take a separate license under FSSAI. The food business operator may get his existing registration or license endorsed for organic food. Such endorsement may be done online through Food Licensing and Registration System. It may be accessed through the link- https://foodlicensing.fssai.gov.in/index.aspx

Conclusion

It may be noted that the above mentioned requirements are to be met by food business operators who deal with organic food. In case they don’t comply, then they may be liable for penalty. Jaivik Bharat is the unified logo for organic products. 

Read our article:How to Start an Organic Food Business in India