FSSAI to conduct survey to study consumer apprehensions

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), in its effort to spread awareness on the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, has commissioned a survey in five districts of Tamil Nadu to study consumer apprehensions.

In order to understand the problems of the consumers, the FSSAI has asked the Consumer Association of India (CAI) to conduct a study amongst the people in five districts of Tamil Nadu to understand what their main concerns or apprehensions on food safety were, Director (Enforcement) of the FSSAI S.S. Ghonkrokta told The-Hindu , on the sidelines of the Workshop on the Food Safety and Standards Act here on Friday.

By understanding the needs of the consumer, it was possible to devise strategies to tackle these issues and make the implementation of food safety stronger.

The idea was for the people in the villages to have a say in food safety, since there were a number of concerns in terms of food standards and security in rural India, he said.

When contacted over the phone, founder trustee of CAI R. Desikan said they were currently working in Chennai, Vellore, Trichy, Madurai and Coimbatore and surrounding villages. Although they had not yet started work on the study, planning was underway, he said.

They had, in the meanwhile, launched a drive to check various shops if they were retailing expired foods.

The CAI was also training 546 food safety officers so that they understood the importance of their job and how to conduct proper checks, Mr. Desikan added.

Speaking on the auditing that was specified under the Act, Dr. Ghonkrokta said that one of the components of the food audit was the self audit, which would be conducted by all food handlers. To help with the food audit, there were 12 agencies appointed, with 500 people working on the food safety auditing.

FSSAI had approved 70 labs in the private sector with NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) accreditation, to conduct the food safety tests for the audits.

These laboratories were in addition to the 72 State laboratories that were present across the country, he said.

Consumer Association of India will conduct a study in Chennai, Vellore, Trichy, Madurai and Coimbatore