A delegation of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) met the chairman (K Chandramouli); chief executive officer (Satya N Mohanty) and members of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to discuss the controversial Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006, and submit an exhaustive memorandum.
The CAIT delegation (led by B C Bhartia, national president; Mahendra Shah, chairman, and Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary, and comprising senior trade leaders from Delhi and other states) registered its strong resentment and protest against the provisions of the Act and its Rules and Regulations, which are tilting in favour of big companies, while ignoring the ground realities of the Indian food business.
The government has already enforced the Act with effect from August 5, 2011. The CAIT has convened a two-day National Conference of trade leaders of different states on May 11 and 12, 2012 at New Delhi to deliberate the issue.
While addressing the delegation, Chandramaouli said that impracticable and unwarranted provisions in the FS&S Rules and Regulations will be removed by issuing necessary advisories. He stressed that the Act needs to be implemented in its spirit and efforts will be made to ensure that traders are not be harassed, but at the same time the availability of quality food under good standards must also be ensured. It was also agreed that regular follow-up meetings will be held between the traders and the authorities to sort out the area of differences.
Paying heed to CAIT's demand, he assured that necessary advisories will be issued to officials of the department prohibiting them from implementing the Act in a harsh manner, whereas joint workshops and seminars will be organised across the country to conduct an awareness drive.
CAIT said that the stringent and highly draconian provisions will open a Pandora's box of harassment and victimisation of a large number of local food processors at the hands of inspectors. The Act has tried to define misbranded food, focusing mainly on misleading or deceptive claims printed on the package or label. However, there is no mention about adulterated food.
The lawmakers have failed to consider the climatic conditions, soil type, agricultural practices and nature of agricultural producer, application of fertilisers and pesticide, economic condition and lifestyles of people. All these have direct impact on the raw material or agricultural produce, which in turn becomes the raw material for food processing or trade. The quality and standard of food products solely depend upon the agricultural inputs and for which the manufacturer cannot be responsible and liable for the same.
The Act is not just a threat to traders and food processors but it is clearly a threat to producers (farmers). Presence of chemicals due to use of fertilisers and pesticides in raw material will mean rejection of the entire produce. This will lead to poverty and shall also increase much distress amongst farmers.
The CAIT delegation (led by B C Bhartia, national president; Mahendra Shah, chairman, and Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary, and comprising senior trade leaders from Delhi and other states) registered its strong resentment and protest against the provisions of the Act and its Rules and Regulations, which are tilting in favour of big companies, while ignoring the ground realities of the Indian food business.
The government has already enforced the Act with effect from August 5, 2011. The CAIT has convened a two-day National Conference of trade leaders of different states on May 11 and 12, 2012 at New Delhi to deliberate the issue.
While addressing the delegation, Chandramaouli said that impracticable and unwarranted provisions in the FS&S Rules and Regulations will be removed by issuing necessary advisories. He stressed that the Act needs to be implemented in its spirit and efforts will be made to ensure that traders are not be harassed, but at the same time the availability of quality food under good standards must also be ensured. It was also agreed that regular follow-up meetings will be held between the traders and the authorities to sort out the area of differences.
Paying heed to CAIT's demand, he assured that necessary advisories will be issued to officials of the department prohibiting them from implementing the Act in a harsh manner, whereas joint workshops and seminars will be organised across the country to conduct an awareness drive.
CAIT said that the stringent and highly draconian provisions will open a Pandora's box of harassment and victimisation of a large number of local food processors at the hands of inspectors. The Act has tried to define misbranded food, focusing mainly on misleading or deceptive claims printed on the package or label. However, there is no mention about adulterated food.
The lawmakers have failed to consider the climatic conditions, soil type, agricultural practices and nature of agricultural producer, application of fertilisers and pesticide, economic condition and lifestyles of people. All these have direct impact on the raw material or agricultural produce, which in turn becomes the raw material for food processing or trade. The quality and standard of food products solely depend upon the agricultural inputs and for which the manufacturer cannot be responsible and liable for the same.
The Act is not just a threat to traders and food processors but it is clearly a threat to producers (farmers). Presence of chemicals due to use of fertilisers and pesticides in raw material will mean rejection of the entire produce. This will lead to poverty and shall also increase much distress amongst farmers.
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