'FSSAI-industry collaborations to push food safety progressing rapidly'

The FSSAI-Industry collaborations, to strengthen science based food safety capability built in India are progressing rapidly, said Paul Hepburn, Programme Director Food & Refreshment, Safety & Environmental Assurance Centre (SEAC), Unilever, UK.

Delivering a on "Food safety Assessment – Novel Ingredients and Additives", Hepburn said that with the advent of global food supply chains, there is a growing list of novel ingredients and food additives which need safety assessment.

Hepburn outlined the critical importance of novel ingredients and additives for ensuing food safety, quality and food security, and explained the scientific safety evaluation principles that enable inclusion of these at safe levels.

The concept of 'exposure' – milligrams of the ingredient or additive per kg body weight of consuming human being, helped the audience appreciate basics of risk assessment. He showcased risk assessment tools and shared compelling safety evaluation case studies e.g. plant sterols for cholesterol control.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Hindustan Unilever (HUL) had collaboratively set up CHIFSS (CII-HUL Initiative on Food Safety Sciences) and had subsequently signed a MoU with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in 2016 in order to promote science based food safety.

Pawan Agarwal, CEO, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India emphasized on how the Innovations in the food industry and increasing consumer interest in food safety, and the introduction of novel foods that are added to human foods, makes it imperative for the authority to have the safety evaluation of all the new ingredients through a rigorous scientific and risk assessment based framework.

He shared how FSSAI, as per Food Safety and Standards (Approval of Non-Specified Food and Food Ingredients) Regulations, 2017, regulated the approval process and safety evaluation of novel food ingredients.

Geetu Verma, Executive Director – Foods, Hindustan Unilever Limited took the audience through the journey of CHIFSS over the last two years.

She highlighted the areas where CHIFSS was active and how CHIFSS was firmly establishing a scientific and robust food safety environment in the country.

The Public lecture was attended by stakeholders including eminent scientists, government officials and professionals from academia and Industry along with students from related fields. Subsequently