Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
To protect consumers and ensure food safety, the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011, make certification by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS, formerly ISI) mandatory for certain infant foods and milk products.
Under these regulations, these products cannot be legally sold in the Indian market without carrying the official ISI certification mark.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let us review the list of dried dairy products that require mandatory ISI certification:
- According to the FSSAI sales restriction regulations, mandatory BIS (ISI) certification is required for the sale of:
1. Milk Powder (including Whole Milk Powder).
2. Skimmed Milk Powder.
3. Partly Skimmed Milk Powder.
4. Condensed Milk (sweetened and unsweetened).
5. Infant milk food formulas and infant foods.
These products are highly standardized and often consumed by vulnerable populations like infants and children, requiring strict quality control.
-Dairy Whitener:
Dairy Whitener is a formulated product that contains added sugar and stabilizers, used primarily as a creamer for tea and coffee.
Under these specific FSSAI sales restriction regulations, Dairy Whitener is classified differently from pure milk powders.
Consequently, it is not legally mandatory for Dairy Whitener to carry the ISI certification mark for sale, though many manufacturers still obtain it voluntarily.
Step 3: Final Answer:
It is not mandatory to have the ISI certification mark for the sale of Dairy Whitener.