New Delhi: In its bid to regulate the food sector, the government has launched a census for food business operators in the country. This exercise to collect basic information on major, medium and petty food business operators is being undertaken by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) under the health ministry at the Centre in association with state governments. ‘‘To ensure any meaningful intervention in the food sector, the biggest challenge is to identify the petty food business operators. But we are trying to identify them with the help of state governments,’’ said K Chandramouli, chairman, FSSAI, at an Assocham FMCG summit, citing the examples of cities such as Singapore and Bangkok which have managed to put in place a regulation framework for street food.
According to rough estimates, there are over 10,000 major food business operators which would need a licence from the Centre. The number of petty food business operators across the country is estimated to be in excess of 5 crore. The food regulator is currently in the process of completing an exercise to bring all food business operators under a licensing and registration system. The government is also looking at putting in place a set of standards that food importers would have to adhere to.
‘‘While our food exporters have to adhere to various stringent set of rules and regulations for exporting food that meets standards of Codex Alimentarius, we do not apply similar stringency on quality of imported food. Therefore, it is imperative to evolve standards for domestically consumed food and imported food is definitely part of that,’’ said Chandramouli . ‘‘We at FSSAI are working out a mechanism in collaboration with all the stakeholders, including scientists, laboratories, experts and representatives from the food business operators (FBOs), including those involved in import-export of food material, to set standards for imported food ,’’ he added.
According to rough estimates, there are over 10,000 major food business operators which would need a licence from the Centre. The number of petty food business operators across the country is estimated to be in excess of 5 crore. The food regulator is currently in the process of completing an exercise to bring all food business operators under a licensing and registration system. The government is also looking at putting in place a set of standards that food importers would have to adhere to.
‘‘While our food exporters have to adhere to various stringent set of rules and regulations for exporting food that meets standards of Codex Alimentarius, we do not apply similar stringency on quality of imported food. Therefore, it is imperative to evolve standards for domestically consumed food and imported food is definitely part of that,’’ said Chandramouli . ‘‘We at FSSAI are working out a mechanism in collaboration with all the stakeholders, including scientists, laboratories, experts and representatives from the food business operators (FBOs), including those involved in import-export of food material, to set standards for imported food ,’’ he added.
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