Food safety gets a boost in state

BHUBANESWAR: The state government has decided to set up a new directorate of food safety to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import, official sources said on Wednesday.

"The directorate would be headed by commissioner, food safety, in consonance the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act. Its mandate would be to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption," secretary, health and family welfare, P K Mohapatra told TOI.

Though the FSS Act, which repealed central laws like Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, Fruit Products Order, 1955, Meat Food Products Order, 1973, Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947, Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order, 1988, Solvent Extracted Oil, De-Oiled Meal and Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967, Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992, was enacted in 2006, the state government was yet to go for a full-fledged directorate of food safety. The director, public health, was holding additional responsibility, official sources said.

"Creation of the new directorate would help establishment of a single reference point for all matters relating to food safety and standards. It would enforce different provisions of the law," a health department officer informed. This would be 12th directorate under the health and family welfare department.

"The scope of work in the field of food safety has increased and calls for putting in place an effective regulatory framework to deal with various aspects," pointed out Mohapatra. "All establishments dealing with food shall have to register in tune with the law," he added.

With a view to give more teeth to the new directorate, the state government has also started work on strengthening and upgrading the public health laboratory here. Currently, the laboratory does not have a food analyst, forcing the government to send food samples for testing to Kolkata.

"We plan to develop it into a state-of-the-art laboratory by installing latest equipment and deploy qualified manpower. We have submitted a proposal Centre in this regard. Pending the Centre's nod, we will go ahead and develop it," Mohapatra said, adding, "The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India would extend technical expertise."