Dear Members and friends,
It is quite unfortunate that Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a notice no. : P.15025/133/2011-PFA/FSSAI dated 26-7-11, banning Stevia in India. By way of this notice FSSAI has BANNED Stevia to be sold in India as food additive and even standalone. This notice is quite surprising to stevia community in India and seems that FSSAI is not aware of what Stevia is. In its notice FSSAI have also mentioned Stevia as Artificial Sweetener which is also not true.
Ironically, every citizen of India will be surprised to know that many Indian Govt. organizations are working on Stevia for more then a decade and claim to have achieved breakthrough achievement in Stevia Cultivation techniques.
A government organization under same Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is providing Subsidy to Farmers from many years to grow more and more Stevia (Proclaim as banned product by FSSAI ) in India.
At the same time, ' Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology ' ( IHBT ), a constituent laboratory of CSIR ( Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) set up by Central Government of India, also claimed to have developed a stevia processing technology and obtained its patent spending lots of valuable time and Government money for a product which is now banned by FSSAI, by way of this notice.
Today more then 40 private labels of Stevia products are openly selling in the market, all over India.
Paradoxically local PFA offices in many states are issuing manufacturing licenses to companies to manufacture stevia consumer products.
Everybody very well know that Stevia is a Natural Sweetener which has ZERO CALORIE properties and is far better then the permissible and available artificial sweeteners in the market. It seems due to some vested interests and lack of proper knowledge there is redundant opposition and reluctance to approve this wonderful sweetener which is now the first choice of calorie conscious and people suffering from diabetes all around the world.
On one hand FSSAI is approving usage of artificial sweeteners like Acesulfame potassium (also called Acesulfame K ) and Aspartame which are chemicals and only chemicals and are still under research for their safe use and on the other side Stevia which is now approved by US FDA, European Food Safety Administration ( EFSA) and with Japan using it from last 2 decades without showing any ill effect, is abruptly banned in India, without giving any valid reason.
Today Govt. of India is not giving importance to Stevia. There is no point why Indians shall not get benefited by this wonderful zero calorie natural sweetener. There is so much of potential in stevia cultivation that it may generate employment and substantially uplift the economic condition of Indian farmers, as stevia is very lucrative cash crop.
To create awareness on benefits of Stevia, ‘India Stevia Association’ jointly with ‘Stevia Global Forum’ organized the very first ‘Stevia Global Conference 2010’ at FICCI New Delhi on 13 July 2010.
Later IHBT Palampur has also conducted a symposium on stevia, which was addressed by stevia experts and well attended by different stakeholders in stevia.
Subsequently India Stevia Association organized 2nd global conference on Stevia at FICCI New Delhi on 27 March 2011, the medical fraternity, stevia experts from Europe and America, representatives of large food and beverages companies and farmers from different states of India were present; details could be found on www.steviaglobalforum.com , we have also scheduled a conference in October 2011, next month, which will be attended by the stake holders in Stevia business, around the world.
‘Stevia is not a threat to Sugar and Sugarcane Farmers’, I can say this very confidently that Stevia Natural Sweetener can never prove to be a competitor of Sugar, it will rather compliment it and support it in situation of deficit production of sugar and save valuable foreign exchange in importation of sugar.
We at India Stevia Association ( ISA ) with strong 124 members group of farmers, food and beverages, confectionery and health product manufacturers and processors will like to take this issue further with FSSAI and related government departments, so that Stevia Natural Sweetener is permitted as food additive in India, earliest possible, which will lead to large scale cultivation in India. Visit www.indiasteviaassociation.in
I call upon farmers, growers, budding stevia products manufacturers, organization researching on stevia and every one concern with low calorie and healthier products to come together and put matter before the Scientific Panel of Food Ingredients appointed by FSSAI with the load of researches done by Indian and international organization.
I also call upon doctors, dieticians, food researchers and natural food product lovers to come forward and recommend usage of Stevia to live a healthier life and request FSSAI to go through the outcome of latest Codex Meeting held in Geneva, before mentioning Stevia as an “Artificial Sweetener”.
Hope FSSAI will consider the outcomes of world wide researches and recommendations and approval by world known health regulatory organizations like JACFA, WHO, US FDA, Codex and European Food Safety Authority and approve stevia as food ingredient without any delay and allow Indian population which is suffering from diabetes and obesity to get more and more Natural Low Calorie products and live a healthier life.
India Stevia Association have all relevant documents which are duly recognized by JACFA, WHO, US FDA, Codex and European Food Safety Authority for approving stevia as safe natural sweetener, to be used in food products and ready to discuss in length upon it.
FSSAI shall earliest come out with clear mandate of approving Stevia Natural Sweetener as food additive, which will give way to thousands of zero calorie health products.
Looking forward the support and blessings of all health and calorie conscious people, around the world.
Regards,
Sourabh Agarwal
Chief Executive
India Stevia Association ( ISA )
New Delhi, India
Handy: 0 9811988880
indiasteviaassociation@gmail.com
www.indiasteviaassociation.in
www.steviaglobalforum.com
www.steviaglobalforum.com
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