Food Safety & Standards Authority (FSSAI) of India
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In brief
The Times of India, Jun 08 2015
Additives with no specific FSSAI standard require product Approval
What is the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India?
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was set up under the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006 which was passed in August, 2011. The Act was brought in to create out a single independent statutory body for food laws, standards and enforcement. It replaced various central laws dealing with food production standards and adulteration. These included the food adulteration act 1954, and various food production orders like fruit products order 1955, meat food products order 1973, milk products order 1992 and so on. The FSSAI is now the statutory body that regulates standards for manufacturing, distribution, sale and import of all kinds of food in India.
How does the FSSAI function?
The health ministry is the FSSAI's administrative ministry. Along with the FSSAI headquartered in Delhi, there are food safety authorities working at state and UT levels to enforce the provisions of the Act. The state food safety commissioner appoints food safety officers (FSOs) for various adminis trative areas of the state. The FSOs are entitled to inspect any place where food is man ufactured, exhibited or stored for sale. They can take samples for analysis, seize food articles or account books that appear to be in contravention of the Act and initiate the process of prose cution if necessary .
There are designated officers for each district for food safe ty administration. They issuecancel licences, maintain records of inspec tions, investigate com plaints received by the FSO and so on.
What happens if a food business operator is found violating the act?bb
If the designated officer has reasonable grounds for believing that a food business operator has failed to comply with the norms then heshe is sent an improvement notice mentioning the noncompliance. If the business operator fails to improve the standards, then hisher li cence may be suspend ed. If the business op erator still doesn't improve the quality , the designated officer, after giving a show cause notice to the li censee, can cancel the licence. The business operator can appeal against the order to the state commissioner of food safety.
What is an emergency prohibition notice and order?
On the written advice of the designated officer, the com missioner of food safety can issue emergency pro hibition of a food item if there is a health risk. Any person who knowingly con travenes this order can be jailed for a maximum of two years or fined up to Rs 1 lakh. The emergency pro hibition order ceases to op erate if the designated officer is satisfied that the food business operator has taken sufficient measures to justify the lifting of such an order.
What is product approval?
Food products including ingredients and additives for which there is no standard notified by FSSAI require product approval. Even for already approved products, minor compositional changes in ingredients require product approval. Similarly, approved products with changed claims on the label require approval. Traditionalethnic food, traditionally consumed in the country, mentioned in the food safety regulation like chiwda, halwa, banana chips, jalebi, rasaogolla, idli, dosa and so on are not required to get product approval provided they contain only the permitted quantity of food additives.
2015: junk food for children
Mar 18 2015
Abhinav Garg
Junk food curbed, not banned in schools
High Court orders strict implementation of new guidelines by govt body
Availability of food items high in fat, sugar and salt such as noodles, pizzas, burgers and carbonated drinks is set to be restricted within 50 metres of schools across the country . Refusing to ban such foods in schools, Delhi high court on Tuesday gave its nod to guidelines prescribed by Food Safety & Standards Authority (FSSAI) of India that identify certain category of food and drinks as harmful for children advocating these be “regulated restricted“.
But, neither the high court bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw nor the FSSAI agreed to the plea of petitioner Uday Foundation to include the term “junk food“ in the guidelines and ban these explicitly . The court said according to Food Adulteration Act, there is no such provision.
The guidelines were fra med by a court-appointed expert committee under aegis of FSSAI on the subject of “making available quality and safe food in schools“.The panel identified foods high in fat, sugar and salt that must be limited by schools in canteens.
It said schools must promote nutrition awareness and encourage food items including sandwiches, fruit salads, paneer, vegetable cutlets, upma, idli, uthapam, khandvi, poha, low fat milkshakes, etc. While approving the gui delines the court gave Centre and FSSAI three months time to convert these into law and start enforcing it. The court also focused on Delh schools and directed the state government to frame fresh rules on the basis of the FSSAI norms so that schools can ignore these at their own peril. It has empowered stu dents, parents and teachers to lodge a complaint with the government if they find un restricted sale of harmfu food in their canteens. “A direction from the ad ministrator, Delhi, may also serve the purpose of viola tion of such guidelines being actionable under Delhi School Education Act. We di rect the administrator, Delhi to issue directions, on or before April 30, 2015, for com' pliance by schools with the guidelines and from time to time exercise supervisory powers over the schools,“ the court said.
Declining the plea of Uday Foundation to insert additional directions in the guidelines prepared by the panel, the high court said, “When an expert body con stituted for framing guidelines to make available qualil ty and safe food in schools has framed them, we do not consider it appropriate to tinker with them.“
The PIL by Uday Foundation through its founder Rahul Verma had sought an immediate ban on junk food and carbonated drinks in all unaided and private schools. It further urged the court to initiate measures to discourage availability of fast food within 500 yards of schools in Delhi, apart from a canteen policy.
After preliminary hearings the HC had set up a panel to examine dietary habits of schoolchildren on the question of banning sale of junk food in and around educational institutions.
The panel examined harmful effects of junk food and recommended guidelines. It included environmentalist Sunita Narain, nutritionists, doctors, scientists and representatives of the food industry , the latter included after their association approached the court arguing their stand must also be accommodated.
