India needs Food Safety Management System but with joint efforts: Expert

India needs to put in place a science-based, logical, practical, globally-recognisable Food Safety Management System (FSMS). But to bring in this is not the job of the food authority in the country, according to Dr D B Anantha Narayana, CSO, Ayurvidye Trust, Bengaluru. 

“With India emerging as food basket for the globe both for bringing food and food ingredients into the country and initiating exports, the need for building expertise skills and competencies in food safety management needs no emphasis and is not a new brainer. Therefore in the context of India’s new food law, it needs handholding and joint efforts,” observed Dr Narayana.

Food safety is a multifaceted subject which gyrates around safety assessment. The big task is to identify the risks and reason out measures to reduce or eliminate risks. “There is also the need to determine acceptable levels of risk in case complete elimination is not possible, developing strategies to contain, dilute, communicate, train personnel involved in the chain, putting in systems of checks and balances and ensuring management of these aspects,” he stated. 

It is rather easy to develop standards and leave it to the industry to implement, which does not ensure safety fully. In a number of sectors of food business, standards may be almost impossible or do not exist. In such a scenario, determining acceptable levels of ‘unsafe aspects / characteristics’ scientifically is difficult, even if such levels are determined testing may be very difficult. It is also expensive and the cost of enforcing such standards may be counterproductive, according to him. 

Analytical methods to address challenges posed by the pathogens, contaminants, toxicants, additives, and allergens amongst other unsafe characteristics are an ongoing exercise presenting problems to both the regulator and the FBOs (food business operators). 

Ensuring safety of food supplied to consumers in the country is one of the jobs of the government. Its role is to put in place the required systems to ensure safety. In the pre-FSSA regime, safety of foods was looked through the lens of regulations, standards, testing, prosecution, prevention of adulteration and punishment. “But now with Food Safety and Standards Act, there is no need to set up standards for everything but setting up a system to build and maintain safety in the entire supply chain till the food reaches the consumer is a hallmark of this regulation,” pointed out Dr Narayana.