Food safety is the key to achieve better public health. The high incidence of foodborne illness is a burden on public health and contributes significantly to the cost of health care. Though most of the foodborne illnesses are rare and often not reported in India, however, a nationwide study reported an alarming 13.2 per cent prevalence at the household level. Therefore there is a need for a comprehensive approach for safer and nutritious food for Indian citizens. Safer food promises a healthier lifestyle, longer lives, less costly healthcare and more resilient food industry.
The Indian food industry is regulated by the number of legislations covering licensing, sanitation, and permits. Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, established by the Government of India, was a vital step in the direction of developing the standards for food and regulating and monitoring the manufacture, processing, storage, distribution, sale, and import of food to ensure the availability of safe and nutritious food for human consumption.
Organic Food Safety Regulations in India
India is a signatory to World Trade Organisation (WTO) on food trade and therefore has to abide by guidelines of Codex Alimentarius Commission(CAC), a collection of international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice covering all the main foods tailored to the Indian context and known as Codex India. Before the 2006 Act in India, food-related matters were controlled by various authorities and ministries through several central acts. Those involved the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954, Fruit Products Order 1955, Meat Food Products Order 1973, Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order 1947, and the Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order 1988, among others.
In 2006, these regulations were consolidated and brought under one act, the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an autonomous statutory body created for defining science-based standards for articles of food, and regulating the manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import of food items to ensure the availability of safe and nutritious food for human consumption. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India is the Administrative Ministry for the implementation of the FSS Act.
Since the last five years, the demand for organic products has been on the rise in India. Witnessing this growth, the FSSAI decided to standardize the organic food and labelling standards in India. The mandate regulates manufacture, distribution, selling or import of ‘organic foods' as per the provisions laid under Section 22 of the Food Safety Standards Act, 2006. Under this provision, the FSSAI recognises already established two systems of certification i.e. Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) implemented by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
To ensure the safety of products labelled as organic, the FSSAI recognises single ingredient products where all requirements being met as per the specified standards to be labelled as ‘Organic’ or ‘PSG-Organic’. In the case of multi ingredient products where min. 95 per cent of ingredients are of certified origin, can be labelled as ‘Certified Organic’ or ‘PSG-Organic’. Organic Food is not required to be recertified on import to India if there is bilateral or multilateral agreement based on the equivalence of standards as per National Programme for Organic Production.
A better understanding of problems like foodborne illness, the types of food vehicles that are responsible for such illness, as well as the sources and routes of food contamination, including gaps in food production, distribution, preparation, and storage practices, is key to the development of technical standards for food and is vital to effectively promote general awareness about food safety and food standards.
Food safety is an issue with prominent non-health sectors such as the food industry, agriculture, regulation authorities, food distributors and the general public. The establishment of the Act 2006 has paved the way for easier access to and utility of food safety regulations by the food and agricultural industry as well as health officials. The strengthening of food safety policies and effective enforcement is necessitated. Additionally, efforts to enhance inter-sectoral public health approaches will be necessary to further strengthen food safety in India.
(The author is founder and CEO of Naturevibe Botanicals)