Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS):

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is a national standards body engaged in the
preparation and implementation of standards, operation of certification schemes
both for products and systems, organization and management of testing
laboratories, creating consumer awareness and maintaining close liaison with
international standards bodies.

According to BIS “Food Safety is the condition that ensures that food will not
cause any harm to the consumer when it is prepared and/or eaten according to its
intended use.”

It implies absence or acceptable and safe levels of contaminants, adulterants,

naturally occurring toxins or any other substance that may make food injurious to
health. Food safety is the non-negotiable basic requirement of food quality.

The current legislative requirements put tremendous emphasis on food hygiene,

Good Manufacturing Practices, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points
(HACCP), Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) and nutritional labeling.
Standardization results in harmonization of working procedures.

Standards have immense potential to safeguard public health and also promote the
confidence of the consumer on entire gamut of food industry, if implemented
efficiently. Implementation of these standards can give rise to exceptional
improvements in food safety performance, but requires high level of commitment
and full functional involvement of all stakeholders, particularly the industry.

BIS certification scheme is voluntary and aims at providing quality, safety and
dependability to the ultimate consumer. Presence of certification mark known as
Standard Mark on a product is an assurance of conformity to specifications.

The activities of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) are formation of Indian

Standards in the processed food sector and the implementation of standards
through promotion, voluntary and third party certification systems. 
In general these standards cover raw materials and their quality parameters,
hygienic conditions under which products are manufactured and packaging and
labelling requirements.

Manufacturers complying with standards laid down by the BIS can obtain the ISI
Mark that can be exhibited on product packages. These standards have higher
quality specifications than those prescribed under AGMARK and FSSAI.

The BIS has laid down specification for mineral water and packaged drinking
water and is the licensing authority for the manufacture of mineral water and
packaged drinking water in India.

IS Standards have been laid down for fruit and vegetable products, spices and
condiments, animal products and processed foods.

The products are checked for quality by the BIS in their own network of testing
laboratories or in several public and private laboratories recognized by them.

Under BIS many of the standards are laid down based upon ISO (International
Organization for Standardization) standards which is a worldwide federation of
National Standard Bodies.

Constitution of the Bureau:  The Bureau consist members such as  the Minister
in charge of the Ministry, Minister of State, the Director-General of the Bureau,
persons representing the Ministries, state Governments, recognized consumer
organizations, farmers, industry and trade,   research institutions, technical,
educational and professional organizations etc.

Powers and Functions of the Bureau:

1 Establishment, Publication and Promotion of Indian Standards:  For the

purpose of formulation of Indian Standards in respect of articles or processes,
technical committees of experts are constituted. Such committees may include
Division Councils, Sectional Committees, Sub-committees and Panels and each of
these councils have specified functions.

2 Procedure for Establishment of Indian Standards: Any Ministry of Central or

State Government, consumer organizations, industrial units, industry-associations,
professional bodies, can submit proposals to the Bureau for establishing a standard
or for revising, amending, a standard by making a request in writing.
Division Council concerned will assign the task of formulating the standard to an
appropriate Technical Committee.

Later a draft standard prepared and duly approved by a Committee shall be issued
and widely circulated for a period of not less than one month amongst the various
interests concerned for critical review and suggestions for improvement. 

The appropriate Technical Committee shall thereafter finalize the draft standard
giving due consideration to the comments that may be received. The draft standard
shall be submitted to the Chairman of the Division Council concerned for
adoption. 

All established standards shall be reviewed periodically, at least once in five years,
to determine the need for revision or withdrawal. Standards which there is need to
revise or amendment shall be reaffirmed.
3 Grant of License: Manufacturing units can apply for BIS license on a prescribed
form along with application fee and other documents such as location map of
factory list of manufacturing and testing equipmnts, flow charts of the process,
details of the technical staff etc.  

BIS office will do a preliminary inspection verify all documents and process. The
product samples are drawn and sent for analysis at BIS certified lab. After
satisfactory inspection and sample report of the product, license is granted 1 to 2
years which can renewed periodically.

4 Inspection:  The certified units are inspected by inspecting officers. The may be

done at manufacturing place, dispatch place or at the place where it is used.

At manufacturing place the inspection will also be for the QA systems, verification
and validation. The Bureau shall designate such of the officers of the Bureau as
Inspecting Officers

5 STOP Marking: If there is evidence that the product is not as per the
conforming standards and agreed clauses, the licensee will be directed to stop
marking.

The reasons can be Non-conformance of products at manufacturing place or at

market place, Non implementation of Scheme of Testing of the products, Non
availability of testing staff, Significant modification of plant and machinery
without informing BIS, Relocation of plant and machinery, Prolonged closure of
the unit, Marking non conformed product, Marking standard mark other than that
are included in the license. The licensee can resume only after re inspection and
satisfactory compliance.
 LIST OF STANDADRS UNDER MANDATORY CERTIFICATION

S. Parent Act Rules/QC Order Notification Implementing

No. Authority
1 Food Safety Food Safety & Ministry of Health and Food (Health)
& Standards Standards Family Welfare, Authority of
Act 2006 (Prohibition & Dept of Health, the State
Restriction on sales) Notification dated:
Regulations 2011 1 Aug 2011
Date of Implementation:
5 Aug 2011
1 IS 1165 Milk powder
2 IS 1166 Condensed Milk, Partly Skimmed and Skimmed Condensed
Milk
3 IS 1656 Milk cereal based weaning food
4 IS 11536 Processed cereal based complementary food for infants
5 IS 12176 Sweetened ultrahigh temperature treated condensed milk
6 IS 13334 Skimmed milk powder, standard grade
(Part 1)
7 IS 13334 Skimmed milk powder, extra grade
(Part 2)
8 IS 14542 Partly skimmed milk powder
9 IS 14433 Infant milk substitute, Milk protein based
10 IS 13428 Packaged natural mineral water
11 IS14543 Packaged drinking water
(other than Packaged natural mineral water)
12 IS 15757 Follow-up formula Complementary Food-Specification