Ensure that You Have Quality Food to Enjoy Complete Wellbeing

An improvement in the opportunity of income with the surge of the better career opportunities has resulted into a change in the lifestyles preferences in the eating habits of Indian young and upcoming – especially the ones residing in tier-one and tier-two cities like Noida, Gurgaon (Delhi NCR as a whole, if you consider), Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore etc.

People today look for ‘difference’ in terms to the flavour in what they consume - and are willing to try out newer food products. This is giving rise to demand and sale of packaged and processed food – ones that come with a promise of being ‘garden-fresh’ or that belong to the genre of a famous international food. Products that carry creative mixture of components and present a unique flavour are also in demand.

No matter what the taste of type of the food item is, a food-packaging process goes through various stages: While the raw materials are procured from different parts of the country, processing, packaging and distribution go through different levels. Organisations involved in this process have to ensure uniformity in manufacturing and selling the finished products while adhering to the norms and conditions that are laid out in each country.

Future of Grocery Shopping is in Going digital!

Yes! Internet is set to become your online grocery shop. With the vast improvement in technology, connectivity has widened and almost everything today is reachable today with a few taps on your smartphone. This includes all types of food and perishables too. You just need to spend a few minutes to place your requirements and there you are. You get them delivered at your doorstep at a time convenient to you.

Quality norms:

Buying a grocery item in India? All the products except for fruits and vegetables need to have the approval and stamping from the Indian Standards Institute (ISI) and product certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BSI).

And yes, not to forget to see for the seal from FSSI – Food Safety and Standards Authority of India!

Samples of products are sent by the manufacturer to the FSSAI/BSI labs and if approved, the FSSAI/BSI certifies the same and grants license for usage of the FSSAI/ISI mark.

But there are instances of the quality sipping after the license is granted are plenty too! So FSSAI/BSI does surprise inspections and testing of samples.

It’s promising sight that consumer complaints on any product too are taken seriously. Milk powder, condensed and skimmed milk, milk related cereal food, processed cereals, packaged mineral water, infant food are a few products that require mandatory BSI certification.

Though still not completely foolproof, the measures are in the right direction for consumer health safety. It is again mandatory for the retail and online stores to check on these consumers would do well if they keep an eye on the date of manufacture and date of expiry that is printed on every product.

Fruits & Vegetables:

Fruits and vegetables are normally picked up directly from the farms and delivered within two hours in the mornings or it is preferred to take orders for next day delivery.

It has been reported that Indians prefer to buy vegetables and fruits online. 165 of the online shopping in India is on vegetables and fruits while on an average it is only 6% in international markets.

You as a consumer should also check on the products before buying. In case you find any defect in the product you may report to the appropriate bodies.

Remember healthy food starts its journey at the manufacturer’s place. Check for the mark of quality assurance from the competent authority to ensure its quality at the origin.