The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued guidelines and requested all states and Union Territories (UT) to conduct periodic inspection and surveillance every three months initially for major fruit and vegetable markets, soft drinks and ready-to-serve fruit beverages as per the Supreme Court Order dated October 22, 2013 in the matter (Writ Petition No. 681 of 2004 - Centre for Public Interest Litigation versus Union of India).
FSSAI only fixed the maximum residue limit (MRL) as per Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011. The amount of Chlorphyrifos shall not exceed the tolerance limit prescribed in Column 4 of Table at Point No 29 under 2.3.1 (2) of the said regulation.
The implementation and enforcement of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 rests with state/UT government. Random samples of food items including carbonated drinks are being drawn by the state food safety officers (FSO) and sent to the laboratories recognised by FSSAI for analysis. In cases where samples are found not to be conforming to the provisions of the Act and Regulations made thereunder, penal action is taken against the offender.
This was stated by Ghulam Nabi Azad, minister of health and family welfare, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
Periodic inspections, sampling and prosecutions only will stream line the implementation. Implementation differs from state to state. FSSAI needs to focus on this too.
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