Union health minister J P Nadda has said that the government is working towards streamlining the process for a time-bound system for product approval.He stated this while holding a review meeting on product approval at the health ministry recently.
Product approval has been a major issue that FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) is faced with as piles of product approval applications from both domestic manufacturers as well as food importers are awaiting clearance from the apex food authority.
The issue has assumed alarming proportions as apart from making domestic manufacturers run from pillar to post for getting their products approved, denial of approval has resulted in withholding of imported products worth crores of rupees at various ports and airports in the country for the past several months.Not only that, cases are being fought in various courts of law in this regard.
In view of this, Nadda informed the meeting, "This will not only clear the approval of several pending proposals for food products but will also give much-needed push to the domestic food processing industry, while not compromising on quality and safety of food products."
Impact of litigations
According to sources, the meeting extensively discussed issues related to product approval that have cropped up following several litigations currently underway in various courts. Also the Supreme Court had asked the government to constitute a committee to review the product approval system.
While the above-mentioned meeting was held on January 20, 2015, an earlier meeting was held on January 13, 2015. The highlight of the January 20 meeting was discussion on Section 22 of the FSS Act related to product approval.
Battle of two ministries
Meanwhile, the ministry of food processing industries was supposed to file its representation on the issue before the apex court. It is pertinent to mention here that the issue of product approval remained a bone of contention between ministries of health and food processing industries, so much so that, the issue was raised before the prime minister.
In this regard, in August 2014, a meeting was held between senior officials of the two ministries headed by the principal secretary to PM and it was decided that product approval for proprietary food using approved additives and ingredients should be discontinued.Yet no action was taken.
Thrashing out issues
According to the health minister, in order to ensure quality and safety of food products, various issues pertaining to regulations under the FSSA Act, 2006, were discussed at the meeting, including the mechanism for ‘product approval.’
The review meeting was held with stakeholders under the mandate of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, to ensure that food that was consumed was safe, healthy and wholesome, and the manufacturing process adhered to standards and procedures.
Present at the meeting were stakeholders from the food processing industries; secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion; secretary, department of food processing; chairman & CEO, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI); and officials of the department of health and family welfare.
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