CII proposes launch of Quality Mark, to move towards self - regulation"

Addressing the Valedictory Session of the 7th National Food Safety Quality Summit, 2012, at New Delhi, Mr. Vivek Bharati, Chairman CII Taskforce on Food Regulatory Affairs and Executive Director, Pepsico said that “the was glad that CII's proposal to launch a Quality mark, had been endorsed by Shri Rakesh Kacker, Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Shri K Chandramouli, Chairman, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. This is a significant move by the industry to move towards self-regulation". Quality Council of India has been tasked with developing a scheme in the coming six months in consultation with regulators, consumers, and industry. This would be a voluntary scheme and would run in parallel to the existing statutory schemes laid by Food Safety Standards Authority of India.

The efforts are intended towards strengthening consumer confidence and would be a collaborative effort across industry and government.

The Summit was attended by over 200 delegates and included overseas speakers from Regulatory bodies and leading multinationals.

The key messages from the Summit focussed on the need for 'Co- Production of Safety' which would require the industry and Regulatory bodies to work collaboratively. There was an increasing emphasis on harmonisation of domestic standards with Codex. With the advent of globalisation and increasing trade India today is part of the global supply chain where ingredients from India find their way into products manufactured in the world market. This called for a need for increasing global coalitions across regulators and partnerships with private agencies.

In his Special Address, Shri Dave, Advisor, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India outlined some key recommendations that needed to be taken forward.

He stressed the need for a Cluster approach to be adopted for uniform Good Agricultural Practices and feasible traceability. This needed to be supported by the development of Cold Chain Corridors across the country which would enable efficient transit of farm produce to markets. He also emphasised the need of upgradation of laboratory infrastructure in the country that would be required to support the food safety agenda. He further emphasized the need for collaborative capacity building efforts and investments in applied research to raise our standards to global food safety levels.