UN food safety consultant terms FSSAI's new rule a benchmark for India

The Distance Industries Centre, Thiruvalla, Pathanamthitta, organised a two-day Technology Clinic for Agro-Food Processing Enterprises. It took place in the town's Hotel Elite Continental and was inaugurated by Mathew T Thomas, member of the legislative assembly, Thiruvalla.

The event had various sessions with experts speaking on a number of topics, including food safety, packaging, processing, etc. N Anandavally, the United Nations' food safety consultant shared her critical views on food safety rules and regulations in India.

Speaking on the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006, she said, “The new rule given by FSSAI is a benchmark Act till date for India. The set of regulations is partly inspired by the international ones. The Indian set of safety standards is a very systematic, practical approach set by the experts.”

Commenting on the new rules set by FSSAI, she said, "Though the earlier regulations were good, it majorly focussed on the end product. The current set of regulations has taken care of food safety at every step, including the manufacturing and processing aspects”.

Anandvally, also a member of World Health Organisation (WHO), said the Indian regulations are in compliance with international standards. To make it work is now in the hands of manufacturer and consumers. The manufacturers need to implement it on their own on a daily basis, and the consumers should be aware of it.

As far as government education and training is concerned, she said, "It's not always the government's duty to educate and train. There are a lot of small-time manufacturers and producers. Training and educating them won't be possible always.”

“It is the producers and manufacturers who should take initiative for their own development. The only thing government should focus on is auditing, verifying the commodities as per the safety regulation enforcement and implementation standards,” Anandvally said.

She, however, said the government could appoint a core team in every state or area to train and educate them and ask them to share the techniques to small producers, manufacturers and traders. Through this, they can educate people in their local languages and even uneducated farmers will benefit from it, adding that the improved support system and infrastructure is a must for strong food safety mechanism in the country.

Flour manufacturer fined for misleading advertisement

In the first instance in the country, a Delhi-based leading manufacturer of flour has been slapped with a hefty penalty of `7 lakh for issuing misleading adverts for its brand product Rajdhani Besan. The maximum fine for such violation is `10 lakh.
Sources in the Union Health Ministry said that the adjudicating officer SS Parihar (Additional District Magistrate of Northwest Delhi) agreed with the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India’s (FSSAI) allegations that Rajdhani Flour Mills Ltd, had violated rules governing food advertising as per Section 24 of FSS Act, 2006 in its advertisement for its brand Rajdhani Besan.
The Section pertains to misleading advertisements and the Food Safety and Standards (Packing and Labelling) Regulations (FSSR), 2011.
The errant company reportedly couldn’t substantiate its health claim made in newspaper advertisements which had a heart logo with slogan kar lo dil se dosti.
“The imposition of fine is a major victory for the food regulator in the sense that it would send a message among many companies to not to make false claims about their products in their ads and packs at the cost of the health of the consumers. They must give scientific evidence to substantiate their claims,” a senior FSSAI official said.
“The FSSAI since last year after scrutinising the advertisements placed in the newspaper, television and other media has initiated proceedings in 38 brands spanning health drinks, biscuits, cereal and oil for violating rules governing food advertising.”
The FSSAI had in November started initiating prosecution proceedings against 19 brands such as Rajdhani Besan, Complan, Pediasure, Bournvita Little Champs, Maggie Noodles, Top Ramen, Nutrichoice biscuits, Horlicks Juniors and Heart Care among others. “We had given the promoters of the brands a fortnight’s deadline to respond to the allegations regarding various violations of code of advertisement for food items, supplements and propriety foods. But many have failed to do so,” the official added.
Chandra Bhushan, deputy director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said, misbranding is a huge problem in the country. “The companies target especially children and the health conscious, which is a very emotive issue.”
He said the Advertising Standards Council of India is ineffective in putting curbs on such misleading ads. He said that a fine of `10 lakh is very small and penalty should be proportionate to the turnover.