Move towards Food Safety and Standards Regulations Implementation – A Good Beginning: CII Food & Bev 2012

New Delhi: In view of the recently mandated Food Regulations, CII organized an exclusive session on these regulations by CII- Jubilant Bhartia Food and Agriculture Centre of Excellence (FACE) during the CII’s Food & Bev 2012 today in Mumbai.
Dr Indrani Ghose, Principal Counsellor - Food Safety and Quality, CII- Jubilant Bhartia Food and Agriculture Centre of Excellence explained the shift from policing to self regulation, end-product testing to system standards, multiplicity of orders to a single act & focus on Risk assessment rather than control of adulteration in the new Food Safety Act in India.
The Conference was represented by industry captains from Food Processing, Manufacturing, Retail, Laboratories and Food Sanitation & Equipment manufacturers. It also saw participation from Consumers.
While the participants felt that Food Safety and Standards Regulations (FSSR) implementation was indeed a challenge, they welcomed the move by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) indicating that sooner or later the food industry needed to gear up on implementation of Food Safety and Quality systems by extensively training their in-house resources and addressing their infrastructure requirements in a planned manner. They expressed that, as consumer, intent towards FSSR implementation was a good beginning.
While India's vast population and its potential as a popular tourist destination made the FSSR imperative, some of the states were yet to overcome the constraints like administrative resource crunch and infrastructure hurdles. States such as Maharashtra, as industry representatives opined, is moving forward to address the challenges related to implementation. The participants pointed out that dearth of NABL accredited laboratories & reliability of laboratory reports were some of the other constraints they were facing. Besides these hurdles, Industry looks forward to the materialisation of FSSAI's plan for setting up laboratories in rural areas & approval of drafts on functional foods, labelling, packaging, claims and additives.

Over 15 Thousand Samples Analyzed in a Year to Check Pesticide Resudue in Food Crops

Government is implementing a Central Sector Scheme “Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at National Level” under which samples of various food commodities including rice, wheat, vegetables, fruits and water are analyzed for the presence of pesticide residues. During the period April, 2010 to March, 2011, 15321 samples of food commodities were analyzed, of which 188 samples (1.23%) had pesticide residues above Maximum Residue Limit prescribed under Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954.

The pesticide residue data generated under the scheme are shared with State Governments and concerned Ministries/Organizations to initiate the corrective action for judicious and proper use of pesticides on crops with an Integrated Pest Management approach and to generate awareness amongst farmers.

The implementation of Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006 rests with States/Union Territory governments whose functionaries draw random samples of food articles regularly and take penal action in cases where the samples are found not conforming to the provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

This information was given by Shri Harish Rawat, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

Lack of awareness hampers law on ensuring food safety

Bathinda, April 26
Due to the lack of proper infrastructure at the level of the District Food Safety Office or lack of awareness among the small shopkeepers, rehriwalas, vendors and the owners of business establishments about the new Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which was implemented on August 5 last year in the country, the district health authorities have been facing problems in implementing the Act in letter and spirit so far.
Perhaps due to lack of awareness, no small shopkeeper, rehriwala, pheriwala or vendor with an annual turnover below Rs 12 lakh, has applied to the District Food Safety Office for getting himself registered in the Bathinda district while around 12 business establishments with an annual turnover above Rs 12 lakh have applied to the district office for procuring the licences so far.
As per the available information, the 12 establishments that have applied for licences, included distributors of juice, edible oils and other food products, Easyday stores and a hotel. However, out of these around 12 establishments, the licences of five have already been prepared by the district office here.
In the name of infrastructure and manpower, at present, there is only Food Safety Officer, besides a clerk who has been looking after some other work in the Civil Surgeon's office here. Besides, the District Health Officer has been made the designated officer (in-charge) for the implementation of the Act.
For creating awareness among the small shopkeepers, pheriwalas and rehriwalas who are reportedly about one lakh in number and thousands of big business establishments in the district, no separate budget has been provided for the purpose by the state health authorities, which is essential if the government wants proper implementation of the Act. Besides, the District Food Safety Office also requires a computer operator and a clerk for it.
Sources told this reporter that the Act had been enacted and implemented to protect the interests of the consumers.
Some special provisions had also been included in the Act for the protection of consumers so that they could not be deceived or misled by anyone by adopting unfair practices, including advertisements, in the case of food articles.

Food joints to come under FSSAI scanner soon

The district-level structure of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will have a full swing functioning soon. Even though the Authority came into effect throughout the country in August last year, the district-level structure was not functioning due to shortage of staff.
The district-level structure consists of Food Safety Officers (FSO) in each taluk, a designated officer at district-level and an adjudicating officer. The adjudicating officer is the Additional Deputy Commissioner of the district and the District Surveillance Officer (DSO) is given the charge of the district-level designated officer of the Authority.

Currently, due to lack of manpower, FSOs from other districts are given charge of the taluks in Dakshina Kannada from January onwards. The FSO of Tarikere taluk in Chikmagalur district is looking after the matters in Mangalore and Belthangady taluks.

FSO of Kollegal taluk in Mysore is in charge of Bantwal, Sullia and Puttur taluks in the district.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, District Surveillance Officer Dr Rajesh B V, who is the district-level designated officer, said that the State Government is likely to call for the posts of FSOs in State soon.

“The act is only partially implemented in the State due to lack of FSOs,” he said and added that the total FSOs in the State are below 50 per cent of which is actually required and by the month of August, we hope the vacancies will be filled.”

FSSAI
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which consolidates various acts and orders that have hitherto regulated food related issues in various Ministries and Departments.

FSSAI has been created as a statutory body for laying down science-based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

Registration
According to the act, all Food Business Operators (FBO) should be registered under FSSAI and obtain license. FBO includes hotels, permanent or temporary stallholders, hawkers, home based canteens, Dhabawalas, manufacturers, processors, re-packers, food stalls arrangements in religious gatherings, slaughterhouses, storage houses, retail and wholesale traders etc.

Milk producers who are not a member in the Dairy Co-operative societies should also register under the Authority.

License holders who already registered under any previous acts and expiry date have not over by August 5, can continue with the existing license. Once the date expires, they can register under the FSSAI.

District Surveillance Officer Dr Rajesh B V said that the authority already conducted meetings with various associations concerned including hotel owners’ association and Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry. FSOs are distributing pamphlets regarding the registration process to different FBOs.

The FSSAI will soon launch awareness programme for Food Business Operators, media and public.