Nov 3, 2017
FSSAI launches comprehensive IT platform for uniform regulation of food standards
A decade after India introduced a single nationwide law - the Food Safety and Standards Act - to maintain uniform standards for food items in the country, the authority that implements the law, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has come out with a comprehensive plan to make it work, in letter and spirit.
It has developed a uniform operational manual for its field official, launched an IT platform to do digital inspections and a nationwide network of all food testing labs on a single technology platform, Indian Food Laboratory Network (InFoLNet), in Delhi.
While the single nationwide manual for Food Safety Officers (FSOs) is expected to help them follow uniform practices and procedures across the country, the leverage of digital and smart technologies is meant to bring an end to arbitrariness and adhocism in inspections and sampling. The new digital platform, Food Safety Compliance through Regular Inspections and Sampling (FoSCoRIS), replaces manual inspections with digital inspections. It uses simple mobile devices with dashboards to monitor, on real-time basis, at the district, state and national level. For consistency, standard matrices have been developed for inspection of various kinds of food businesses. FoSCoRIS is to ensure a consistent experience to food businesses across States and UTs, thereby building their confidence in the regulatory environment, an FSSAI statement said.
For credible and efficient food testing for food businesses, a nationwide network of all food testing labs on a single technology platform, Indian Food Laboratory Network (InFoLNet), has also been launched. This would bring in much desired standardisation in food testing, that is 'one food product, one set of parameters and one parameter one test method', the agency said. Several measures towards trade facilitation, including a single window clearance fully integrated with Custom Authorities and risk-based inspection, have been adopted. To ensure hassle free imports, a 'Manual for Food Imports' has also been developed.
All these tools are part of the Food Regulatory Portal, a full service, business-friendly portal for food businesses that focuses on six key areas viz. food standards; consistent enforcement; hassle free food imports; credible food testing; codified food safety practices; and training and capacity building. "This would prove to be a game changer by addressing food business concerns across the spectrum by ensuring ease of entry; reduced burden of compliance and facilitating trade", FSSAI says.
To ensure consistency and predictability of business environment, a nationwide uniform law, the Food Safety and Standards Act was enacted in 2006. While this law had envisioned a single reference point for laws on food across the nation, its implementation across the States & UTs has not always been uniform due to legacy issues, leading to business uncertainties. Further, even at the national level, a few specific issues continue to be looked after by different ministries / agencies such as legal metrology, customs, plant and animal quarantine, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and AGMARK. The launch of the Food Regulatory Portal is thus a major development, as it creates a robust environment for uniform implementation of the law across States / UTs and coordinated approach across central agencies, leading to a transparent and enabling business environment, FSSAI states.
While FSSAI is the principal regulatory body for food, six other agencies are also involved for specific purposes. To ensure a single point of references for all food related business compliances, the Food Regulatory Portal also has compiled related information and links to other national agencies in the food safety ecosystem such as Legal Metrology, Customs, Plant and Animal Quarantine, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and AGMARK. An institutional mechanism for interagency coordination and cooperation and integrated grievance redressal is also on the anvil, the statement said.
FSSAI launches Food Regulatory Portal
FSSAI believes that this portal will prove to be a game changer by addressing food business concerns across the spectrum by ensuring ease of entry; reduced burden of compliance and facilitating trade.
New Delhi: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has today launched the Food Regulatory Portal, a single interface for food business, which will help transparent implementation of the food laws in the country, said the food authority in a statement
According to the statement, the Food Regulatory Portal is a full service portal for food business that focuses on six key areas including food standards, consistent enforcement, hassle free food imports, credible food testing, codified food safety practices and training and capacity building.
FSSAI believes that this portal will prove to be a game changer by addressing food business concerns across the spectrum by ensuring ease of entry; reduced burden of compliance and facilitating trade.
Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog who launched the portal termed the development as a key milestone in India's regulatory reforms.
“FSSAI’s efforts towards consistency and transparency in enforcement and ease of doing business in the food regulatory environment would garner the confidence of all stakeholders involved.”
While FSSAI is the principal regulatory body for food, six other agencies are also involved for specific purposes. To ensure a single point of references for all food related business compliances, the Food Regulatory Portal has also compiled related information and links to other national agencies in the food safety ecosystem such as Legal Metrology, Customs, Plant and Animal Quarantine, Bureau of Indian Standards and AGMARK. An institutional mechanism for interagency coordination and cooperation and integrated grievance redressal is also on the anvil.
"The Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 unified 9 existing laws into a single Act and laid the legal ground for One Nation, One Food Law. Eleven years later, the Food Regulatory Portal launched today lays a solid foundation for uniform implementation of this law, and will go down in history as another memorable milestone," Pawan Agarwal, CEO of FSSAI said.
Another product of Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali found unsafe by food department
Lucknow: The famous Yoga guru Baba Ramdev and his popular brand Patanjali today landed in trouble after one of its product has been found not up to the mark by the officials of Food department in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district.
According to Pediatrician District Hospital Barabanki, Dr S.K Singh says that this product has proved failure in investigation, after which a penalty has been imposed on company and on shopkeeper who was selling this famous product.
Basically, food department in its report mentioned that one of Patanjali’s product has been found below standard and some harmful content has been found in double quantity from its required amount.
The Chief Food Inspector Barabanki said that incident of harmful content in its double quantity proves that Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali each and every product is not safe for consumption and we should not trust it blindly.
Earlier, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd has been slapped with a Rs. 11 lakh fine by a city court for misbranding and misrepresentation of its products. The fine has to be paid within a month.
The case had been ongoing since November 2012. The judge, Lalit Narain Mishra, found that the company was guilty of “releasing misleading advertisements by selling certain products with its labels although they were being manufactured by some other firm.”
Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali product lands in trouble after facing food department’s ban:
The company was charged under Section 52 (misbranding) and Section 53 (misleading advertisement) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 as well as Section 23.1 (5) of Food Safety and Standard (Packaging and Labelling Regulations, 2011) Act.
The court also ordered the district food safety department to “take appropriate action if there is no improvement in the products in future.”
The case was filed against the company in November 2012 by District Food Safety Department when some of the products, including eatables like honey, salt, mustard oil, jam and besan (gram flour) failed quality tests. Tests were conducted at Uttarakhand’s only FSSAI-certified drugs and food testing lab located at Rudrapur.
In July, Advertising Standards Council of India or ASCI had pulled up the company for running “misleading” ad campaigns which made light of competitors’ products, which is against the ASCI norms.
Patanjali’s claim that rivals were making “‘Kachi Ghani Mustard Oil’ “adulterated with oil made by solvent extraction process with neurotoxin containing Hexane” was found unsubstantiated by the Consumer Complaints Council.
The company had also failed to prove that other companies sell “expensive juices containing less pulp”. It also failed to prove that “other companies mix 3 to 4 per cent urea and other non-edible things in their cattle feed,” compared to their ‘Patanjali Dugdhamrut’ cattle feed.
DB expresses displeasure on JMC’s response; directs Action Plan by Nov 8
Jammu, Nov 2: In a significant order a Division Bench of the State High Court comprising Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Tashi Rabastan today in the open court expressed its dissatisfaction over the response filed by the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a NGO SAVE (Save Animal Value Environment) through its Chairperson Devinder Kaur Madaan alias Rumpy Madaan seeking closure of 59 un-registered dairies running within the limits of JMC. The Division Bench headed by Justice Alok Ardahe directed Advocate Sachin Gupta appearing for JMC to take appropriate instructions from JMC before the next date of hearing over the issues highlighted in the PIL and also directed him to come out with an Action Plan for addressing the concern expressed in the PIL.
After hearing Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Rahul Raina and Supriya Chouhan appearing for the PIL whereas Advocate Sachin Gupta appearing for JMC and Advocate Amita Khajuria appearing for Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Justice Alok Aradhe for the Division Bench in the open court observed that reply filed by the JMC is totally silent over the issues raised in the PIL. The court further observed that there is no indication in the reply about the milk dairies which have not come forward for registration as per the norms of the JMC and further the reply is conspicuous about the action taken against the dairies which are un-registered. The Division Bench further expressed displeasure over the non-adherence to the provisions of Section 44 (n) of the Jammu Municipal Corporation Act, 2000 wherein the JMC is under a statutory obligation to regulate the functioning of the milk dairies.
After considering the submissions of Advocate S.S. Ahmed, the Division Bench headed by Justice Alok Aradhe directed Advocate Sachin Gupta appearing for JMC to obtain instructions in the matter and also file an Action Plan before the next date with regard to the issues highlighted in the PIL. The Division Bench also directed Advocate Amita Khajuria appearing for Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to file response to the PIL before the next date of hearing.
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