Red-faced Ministry issues corrigenda

Dozens of lapses in grammar, punctuation and spelling besides factual mistakes in the notification of the country’s top food watchdog for Food and Safety and Standards Regulations 2011 issued four months ago has left the Health Ministry red-faced. Not to talk about the utter confusion it created for the stakeholders, particularly the food processing sector.
Two days ago,  the embarrassed Ministry  issued corrigenda in this regard, correcting slew of bloomers in the text of the gazette. But the case  reflects the stark negligence at various levels in the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
FSSAI CEO VN Gaur acknowledged the error but said that the notification bombed spectacularly in the printing department. “It’s the printer’s devil.” Talking to The Pioneer, Gaur explained: “Mistakes happened due to the last minute rush after the Law Ministry asked us to split the regulation in seven parts. Despite our best efforts and last minutes changes aiming to accommodate the Law Ministry’s views, there remained technical flaws.”
At the instance of the Law Ministry, the  regulation was split into seven parts. However, the blatant errors in gazette have become a fodder of  ridicule among the stakeholders. “The case speaks volumes about  the casual way of  the government. Also, many in the industry have already purchased the copies of the regulations full with errors from private publishers. Who will foot their bill for such copies?” said a representative from the industry.
For instance, line 37, pg 322 in FSS(food product standards and food additives) regulation, 2011, “Safflower oil” should have been read as “Imported safflower oil” while in pg 315, line 37 and 38 for “Milk   protein (on dry basis) percent by weight (for fruit shrikhand-not less than..6.0)” should be read as milk protein (on dry basis) per cent by weight” and not less than …7” should read “not less than..7 (for fruit shrikhand-not less than..06.”
Similarly “barrey ka tel” has been written as “berry ka tel” while in page 337, line 37 and 38, instead of “it may contain food additives permitted in these regulations and appendices” it is written “no anti-oxidant, synergist, emulsifier or any other substances shall be added except with prior sanction of the Authority.”
Spelling and factual errors are in aplenty in FSS (licensing and registration of food business) regulation, 2011, FSS (packaging and labelling) regulation, 2011, FSS(prohibition and restriction on sales) regulation, 2011, FSS(contaminants, toxins and residues) regulations 2011 and FSS(laboratory and sampling analysis) regulation, 2011.
The  notification was delayed for many months due to one or another reason and  finally put in effect from August 5, 2011. However, the final outcome has been utterly poor, the representative commented.
In fact, if the FSSAI has left the Ministry embarrassed, the later too has failed to give due attention to the former. For the staff starved Authority has no Chairperson for the last few months while Gaur is to retire by February end this year.