FSSAI nod for 19 food-testing kits

Will release the first edition of the State Food Safety Index on Friday

In a bid to bolster the food testing ecosystem in the country, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has given provisional approval to nearly 19 Rapid Analytical Food Testing (RAFT) kits and devices.

This move will enable food safety officers as well as laboratories to get quicker and validated results for tests conducted on various categories of food products such as milk and edible oils, among others.

Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI, said, “We have created guidelines for approval of rapid testing kits, equipment or methods to strengthen the food testing ecosystem in the country. The first set of 19 such kits and methods has been given provisional approval.”

He added that this would foster innovation and also encourage start-ups to work in the food testing space.

New device

As part of the celebrations to mark the World Food Safety Day (June 7), the food safety authority will unveil one of such devices called the Raman Spectrometer (built by Oak Analytics). This is a light-weight battery-powered handheld device that can quickly identify various types of adulteration in edible oils.

Once approved by the FSSAI, State governments can use and equip their labs or food safety officers with these rapid testing kits and devices. Meanwhile, the FSSAI will also release the first edition of the State Food Safety Index, that measures the performance of the States on key parameters of food safety, on Friday.

Agarwal said, “I think this index will sensitise the States about the measures they need to take to strengthen food safety ecosystem in their respective States. We have also decided to release the State Food Safety Index every year on the World Food Safety Day.”

Performance of States

The State Food Safety Index measures the performance of the States on several key parameters such as compliance, food testing- infrastructure & surveillance and consumer empowerment among others. For instance, under the compliance parameter, the States are scored on promptness and the yearly increase in the number of licenses issued, modes of inspections used, number of samples lifted for testing and grievance redressal mechanisms.