FSSAI move will kill Indian food processing industry: AIFPA

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) advisory on taking product approval has ruffled the feathers of the food processing industry which argues that there is no transparency in the food approval system in India and such a move will “kill” the sunshine sector. A Bureaucracy Today report.

In 2006, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was set up as a statutory body to look into all food-related laws under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which repealed several archaic legislations governing the Indian food sector for long. The new guidelines were aimed at addressing the issues of food safety and food adulteration.

However, the Indian food processing industry feels that the objectives of the Food Safety Act 2006 have lost their steam. “The key principle of the Act was that all norms and regulations related to food safety would be transparent and vibrant and would be formulated on a scientific risk-based system but it seems the FSSAI has moved away from that,” All India Food Processors' Association (AIFPA) President Amit Dhanuka tells Bureaucracy Today.

VAGUE SYSTEM

Criticizing the FSSAI’s product approval advisory which has come into limelight following the Maggi controversy, Dhanuka says, “The food product approval system in India is very vague. Nowhere in the world, there is product approval required. The word ‘approval’ itself takes us back to the pre-Independence days. The Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 has no provision prescribed for product approval. The FSSAI cannot compel a food business operator to obtain approval for food products just by posting an advisory on its website and without making any rules or regulations under the Act.” 

The FSSAI has laid down an online process for applications by companies seeking approval for their products. The application requires the manufacturer to furnish details of the ingredients used, the place and process of manufacture and the source of raw materials, including water. 

Questioning the logic of the information required to be furnished for product approval, the AIFPA President asks, “Suppose one uses water supplied by the Delhi Jal Board. Now if the water used is found contaminated, how can the FSSAI hold the manufacturer solely responsible?”

CREATE SAFETY EVALUATION SYSTEM 

He says if the FSSAI really wants to do something, it must create a proper mechanism of safety evaluation system, that also for health food and dietary supplements where people might make some kinds of claims. “For normal food like snacks, it is not required. Suppose an SME or MSME has been manufacturing snacks for 12-15 years and then suddenly one day it is told to take product approval without giving any timeline or recall the product, it is not justified. The move will kill the industry,” Dhanuka says. 

B Sesikeran, former Director of the National Institute of Nutrition, echoes similar views. “A complicated food approval process hampers the process of innovation of new products in the market,” he says.

Recently, Hindustan Unilever and Indo Nissin Foods withdrew products from the market pending product approval from the FSSAI. 

The industry experts say the way things are taking place in the food processing sector is “very unfortunate”. A Delhi-based ready-to-eat food manufacturer on condition of anonymity tells this reporter, “The attitude of the food regulatory authority is disturbing. It is taking one-sided decisions.” Without specifying any company, he says, “Some companies were compelled to withdraw their products from the market. But no lab test reports were handed over to the companies and nor were they given any chance to represent themselves.” 

UPGRADING SYSTEM

Dhanuka says instead of compelling manufacturers to go in for product approval, the FSSAI should first upgrade its own system. “The FSSAI needs to upgrade its system. The implementation of all the guidelines has to be right. Its laboratories should have proper infrastructure in place. There has to be a standard protocol maintained for sampling and testing and the lab infrastructure itself.”

Recently at a conference held in New Delhi, Union Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had said, “...a lot needs to be done as the FSSAI has created environment of fear in the industry. It needs to streamline its regulations as its steps are stopping innovations in the processing sector.” 

Putting his weight behind the Minister’s concern over “fear” in the food processing sector following the regulatory steps taken by the FSSAI, Dhanuka says, “The way panic has been created in the market following the Maggi controversy, it seems the FSSAI is trying to portray the entire food processing sector as criminals. A perception has been created that all manufacturers are producing junk food. But the regulatory body should see that India is still an agrarian economy and its food processing sector since the time of the late Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, has been termed the sunshine industry. If food processing does not take place, India can neither achieve food security nor can it control inflation.” 

DISCOURAGING INVESTORS

The AIFPA President says the current market scenario has also discouraged investors. “The stakeholders are regretting as to why they have invested in the Indian food processing industry. All future projects have been put on hold. No one wants to invest in the industry further as there is no transparency in the system at all. Everything looks dim at the moment but we hope necessary rectifying measures will soon be taken and things will improve,” Dhanuka hopes.