New Delhi: “At present, India imports more food products than it exports. The reason was lack of harmonized food standards in the country, which resulted in rejection of food products exported as they did not conform to international standards. Indians were consuming inferior and low quality food products as there were no standards to adhere to,” said Mr. K Chandramouli, Chairperson, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Mr. Chandramouli was speaking at a workshop on ‘Harmonization of India’s Food Standards with Codex Standards and other International Best Practices’ organized by CIFTI-FICCI and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) here today. The workshop aimed at creating awareness on the concept of harmonization and also to encourage industry experts to volunteer working with FSSAI in revising the national food safety standards for harmonization with Codex and other international best practices.
On harmonization of food standards with Codex standards, Mr. Chandramouli said, “We have divided food into two categories – proprietary and standard. At present our proprietary food basket has a major share, we want to move the proprietary food into the standard food basket by setting food safety standards and implementing them at the earliest. We must also acknowledge that standards once set, must be reviewed continuously and for that a system needs to be put in place.”
Mr. Chandramouli pointed out that at present there were many product approvals on which the notifications was pending although the decision was taken long time back. Hence he suggested, “FSSAI should be allowed to directly notify the public and then comments could be collected and sent to both the Health and Law Ministries for review.”
He appealed to the industry to first get the product approved from the authority and then go for import. There have been instances when the imported products were lying in storage while the approvals were awaited causing financial loss to the importer.
Mr. Sanjay Khajuria, President, CIFTI, stated that Codex alignment was vital for Indian food industry for ensuring food safety, providing responsible consumer information, keeping the industry competitive and harmonizing on global level.
He added, “Harmonized regulatory framework could enable India to increase its share in global food trade, which currently stands at a dismal 2%. Speed to market is a key competitive advantage on which India is losing out and there was a need to optimize the cost of innovation and remove regulatory barriers.”
Mr. Chandramouli was speaking at a workshop on ‘Harmonization of India’s Food Standards with Codex Standards and other International Best Practices’ organized by CIFTI-FICCI and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) here today. The workshop aimed at creating awareness on the concept of harmonization and also to encourage industry experts to volunteer working with FSSAI in revising the national food safety standards for harmonization with Codex and other international best practices.
On harmonization of food standards with Codex standards, Mr. Chandramouli said, “We have divided food into two categories – proprietary and standard. At present our proprietary food basket has a major share, we want to move the proprietary food into the standard food basket by setting food safety standards and implementing them at the earliest. We must also acknowledge that standards once set, must be reviewed continuously and for that a system needs to be put in place.”
Mr. Chandramouli pointed out that at present there were many product approvals on which the notifications was pending although the decision was taken long time back. Hence he suggested, “FSSAI should be allowed to directly notify the public and then comments could be collected and sent to both the Health and Law Ministries for review.”
He appealed to the industry to first get the product approved from the authority and then go for import. There have been instances when the imported products were lying in storage while the approvals were awaited causing financial loss to the importer.
Mr. Sanjay Khajuria, President, CIFTI, stated that Codex alignment was vital for Indian food industry for ensuring food safety, providing responsible consumer information, keeping the industry competitive and harmonizing on global level.
He added, “Harmonized regulatory framework could enable India to increase its share in global food trade, which currently stands at a dismal 2%. Speed to market is a key competitive advantage on which India is losing out and there was a need to optimize the cost of innovation and remove regulatory barriers.”
Mr. P Karthikeyan, Assistant Director (QA), FSSAI, emphasized the need to identify improvement areas; harmonization of national standards with Codex and other international best practices; create an approach to undertake required changes for harmonisation and develop ‘new standards’ and revise the ‘existing standards’. He invited all the stakeholders including industry, government institutions, FSSAI experts, commodity experts, academicians, consumer organizations and trade bodies to be a part of the harmonization process by joining the working group and explained in detail its procedure.
Staying current and meeting the ever-changing consumer needs, high cost of innovation, and consumer seeking more choices, were some of the challenges underlined by Mr. Shaminder Pal Singh, Chair FICCI Codex Cell.
He explained, “At Codex while formulating standards, we emphasize on inclusiveness, transparency, democratic approach and consensus. We aim at attaining rational standards and Codex finds many of its general principles in line with the new Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) which was passed by Indian Parliament.”
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