India’s food regulatory authority has for the first time notified “comprehensive standards” for basmati rice, including acceptable average grain size and upper limits for the presence of defective or damaged grains, non-basmati rice and certain natural constituents.

The Union health ministry announced on Thursday that the regulatory standards notified by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will be enforced from August 1, 2023, and seek to protect consumer interest “domestically and globally”.

India accounts for twothirds of the global supply of basmati, a premium rice variety marked by long grain size, fluffy texture and unique fragrance, and grown across Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh.

The FSSAI standards specify that the average cooked rice length of basmati rice — whether brown, milled, parboiled, or milled parboiled — should be 12mm or more.

The proportions of non-basmati varieties should be no more than 15 per cent by mass, broken grains no more than 5 per cent, and damaged grains no more than 1 per cent.

The standards also specify acceptable values for moisture, amylose and uric acid among other parameters and require the basmati rice to have its characteristic natural fragrance both in raw and cooked forms and to be free from artificial colouring, polishing agents and artificial fragrances.

“The regulatory standards for basmati are important because the basmati rice supply chain is vulnerable to adulteration with long grain non-basmati varieties,” said C.H. Ratnasekhar, a scientist at the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow.

A 2016 study had cited a survey by the Food Standards Agency in the UK that had found 63 samples with significant amounts of non-basmati rice contained in 196 retail basmati samples.

Fish order

The FSSAI notification has also specified upper limits for the amount of formaldehyde — a substance identified as a potential cancer-causing agent by the International Agency for Research on Cancer that occurs naturally in some fish but is also used illegally to extend fish shelf life.

The FSSAI has specified that naturally occurring formaldehyde should not exceed 4mg per kg in marine and freshwater fish, 8mg per kg in lizard fish, and 100mg per kg in all frozen stored marine fish products.