India: More Vegan than a Vegan - India's FSSAI Issues Regulation Requiring Vegan Certification for Food Product Imports Labeled as Vegan

On June 10, 2022, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare/Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued Notification F. No. Std/TF-Vegan Foods/Notif/FSSAI. The notification was published in the Gazette of India - Extraordinary (official gazette) on June 14, 2022. The FSSAI notification (effective June 10, 2022) requires that food product imports labeled as vegan comply with the regulation's clause 5(3). This is a new compliance clause that specifies that “no vegan food products shall be imported except with a certificate issued by the recognized authorities of the exporting countries in the format as specified by the Authority is accepted.” Interestingly, there was no mention of a vegan certificate requirement in the earlier notified draft version of regulation F. No. Std/TF-Vegan Foods/Notif. /FSSAI (September 6, 2021). Said notification of the draft regulation made no reference to vegan food product imports into India.