The FSSAI has claimed that the Food Safety Compliance System (FoSCoS) is running smoothly barring some migration and mapping issues. The new licensing and compliance portal was launched pan-India from November 1, 2020, replacing the Food Licensing and Registration System.
FSSAI also claimed that FoSCoS will be free from all major issues soon while releasing a note on the present status of the newly employed system.
Under the new system, FSSAI says that the format of FSSAI licence and registration has been made common across the country, was converted to PDF form and also being dispatched to FBOs via mail directly. Also, an online module within FoSCoS was developed for reactivation of the rejected applications along with reduction in number of steps involved in processing of licence by authorities.
The FSSAI has also asked the state Food Safety Commissioners and Regional Directors, to form a licensing and registration help desk at their headquarters for answering queries of the FBOs.
FSSAI has said that now FoSCoRIS is fully integrated with FoSCoS. “It means, if a designated officer allocates an inspection on FoSCoS, it will be visible to the concerned FSO on the FoSCoRIS mobile app and vice versa,” said an official with the FSSAI.
The official added that all state authorities were advised to conduct inspection only through FoSCoRIS App, as this will help in building a national database of the inspections conducted and help in risk based inspection.
Meanwhile, FSSAI claimed that the new system has provided customised reports for enforcement agencies along with audit reports. About online submission of annual return, the FSSAI has said that the system is fully operational and the authority has already approved the mandatory submissions of annual returns from the next fiscal.
The apex regulator has stated that the change from system of free text licensing which was human check dependent to a listing approach to ensure zero error and a structured database is also running smoothly, wherein the applicants have to choose the correct food category and select the standardised food products from the available list of products in that category.