HYDERABAD: Any information regarding misleading or extravagant claims about a food product may earn you a reward of Rs 500. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has come up with this idea to bring about awareness among the customers and to keep a check on violations in manufacturing of packaged food products.
Under the provision of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, informants about violations by food manufacturers can be rewarded but it is only now that the FSSAI has decided to get the public into the picture - to seek information from them and reward them.
"As it is there is a lot of awareness among people about the product they buy. If one is alert and reads the details on the product packaging which could be misleading, the same can be intimated," A Sudhakar Rao, joint food controller, Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) said.
In fact, food safety authorities in the state have already started to record, take photographs or make note of advertisement relating to food products to verify their claims.
The public have been asked to attach the audio or visual publicity material of the concerned food product manufacturer and the same may be produced before the FSSAI authorities to claim the reward. representation or pronouncement made by means of any light, sound, smoke, gas, print, electronic media, internet, notice, circular, label, wrapper, invoice or other documents'.
Once the unfair trade practice is recorded, the FSSAI will take action under section 24 of the FSS Act, 2006 against the manufacturer. Specifications pertaining to labelling of a product have been defined in the Act.
It may be mentioned here that the FSSAI has been particularly concerned about the wrong nutritional claims, health claims and claims of risk reduction of products. Manufacturers will have to necessarily rely on reliable research data to make claims about their products. Claims cannot even be made in general terms. For those interested in playing policemen and informing the FSSAI about wrong claims being made by manufacturers, the authority will also keep the identity of the informants secret.
Under the provision of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, informants about violations by food manufacturers can be rewarded but it is only now that the FSSAI has decided to get the public into the picture - to seek information from them and reward them.
"As it is there is a lot of awareness among people about the product they buy. If one is alert and reads the details on the product packaging which could be misleading, the same can be intimated," A Sudhakar Rao, joint food controller, Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) said.
In fact, food safety authorities in the state have already started to record, take photographs or make note of advertisement relating to food products to verify their claims.
The public have been asked to attach the audio or visual publicity material of the concerned food product manufacturer and the same may be produced before the FSSAI authorities to claim the reward. representation or pronouncement made by means of any light, sound, smoke, gas, print, electronic media, internet, notice, circular, label, wrapper, invoice or other documents'.
Once the unfair trade practice is recorded, the FSSAI will take action under section 24 of the FSS Act, 2006 against the manufacturer. Specifications pertaining to labelling of a product have been defined in the Act.
It may be mentioned here that the FSSAI has been particularly concerned about the wrong nutritional claims, health claims and claims of risk reduction of products. Manufacturers will have to necessarily rely on reliable research data to make claims about their products. Claims cannot even be made in general terms. For those interested in playing policemen and informing the FSSAI about wrong claims being made by manufacturers, the authority will also keep the identity of the informants secret.
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