How veg are cosmetics? Red, green dots to specify

New Delhi, May 20

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On the lines of packaged food products, cosmetics and toiletries like face wash, soaps, shampoos and toothpastes will soon carry a brown/red or green dot indicating the source of the product as vegetarian or non-vegetarian.

A proposal in this regard was recently cleared by India’s highest drug advisory body, the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), said a senior official in the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

“To incorporate the changes, the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, will have to be amended,” the official said. A notification in this regard is expected in six months.

According to Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr S Eswara Reddy, people belonging to the Jain community and the Department of Consumer Affairs have been demanding labelling of cosmetics and toiletries with a brown/red and green dot for quite some time.

Currently, packaged food products sold in India are required to be labelled with a mandatory mark indicating whether the source of the product was vegetarian or non-vegetarian.

Vegetarian food is identified by a green symbol and non-vegetarian with a red dot. PTI

No non-veg food in trains on Oct 2?

• If a proposal from the Railways is approved, October 2 will not only be celebrated as Rashtriya Swachhta Diwas, but also as ‘Vegetarian Day’ as a mark of respect to Mahatma Gandhi, India's most-famous ambassador for vegetarianism.
• The Railway Board has proposed that no non-vegetarian food will be served to passengers on railway premises on October 2 in 2018, 2019 and 2020 when the Centre has planned a special commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, according to a blueprint prepared by it.
• The railways also plans to run a ‘special salt rake’ from Sabarmati on March 12 to commemorate the Dandi March and 'swachhata express' trains from Sabarmati to various stations linked with Gandhi. PTI