New food standards on cards: FSS To Harmonise Indian Food Standards With Global Standards

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is planning bring fresh standardisation norms for food items across categories, in order to harmonise Indian foods at per with international standards.

“Imported food items come with far better quality than Indian food items. We need to ensure that food exported and consumed here should maintain that standard,” said K. Chandramouli, chairperson, FSSAI.

The authority will seek inputs from experts to work on developing the strategy to frame the new standards next week, said FSSAI advisor S.

Dave. “We will notify the same on FSSAI website early next week.”

The whole process of framing the standards is likely to be completed in three to four phases, but implementation will be a continuous process, Dave said. “Details of the roadmap and strategy are yet to be finalised. We would be in a position to give more details after a few days,” he added.

The gap between Indian standards and the international standards is huge, baring a few items. “In just a few cases, we are slightly better. Our enforcement mechanism is very strong and is applicable for everybody. Once we get the standards defined, implementation would not be an

issue,” said Dave.

It would be implemented across all food categories, but a few areas will get priority, including milk and dairy, fat or oil-based products, fruit-based products, and vegetables, according to Chandramouli.