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Parliamentary committee puts FSSAI in dock for not ensuring food safety
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Friday, 17 August, 2018, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
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The Parliamentary Committee on Health has put FSSAI in the dock for allegedly not ensuring food safety in India. The committee, while examining the functioning of the country’s apex regulator, said that there was weak enforcement in the country, and that food adulteration was rampant. The committee also recommended that there should be a uniform system of administration for food safety.
The committee presented the report to Parliament recently. It has recommended that FSSAI should be restructured to include more people with scientific backgrounds, even at the top positions of chairman and chief executive officer.
The Committee, in the report, stated that the indicators of food safety showed that the objective of formation of FSSAI had not been fulfilled, as the quality of foodstuff was deteriorating and the use of contaminants is increasing day by day. The report said that adulteration and the use of hazardous chemicals for artificial ripening of fruits and vegetables had witnessed a tremendous increase in the recent past.
In its assessment, it added that the policies and the existing food laws were inadequate and weakly enforced. This poor implementation of the food law resulted in rampant food adulteration and various food scandals.
“Substandard quality food has been reaching the market and causing irreparable damage to public health. The fundamental right to pure food has been compromised and long since forgotten. Food Safety, nutrition and food security are intricately interlinked. Poor food safety infrastructure inadvertently poses a threat to public health, as nutritious and safe food is fundamental to good health,” the report stated.
However, the committee also recognised the fact that many state governments lacked food safety departments, which resulted in a lacklustre approach to food safety.
The report stated that the implementation and enforcement of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 rested primarily with the State/Union Territory (UT) governments, for which regular surveillance, monitoring and inspection are required to be undertaken by them.
“The Committee however notes that many states do not have a separate food safety department. Food adulteration, lack of quality checks, misleading labelling, sale of defective food products, etc. that have become the norm these days are primarily an offshoot of the absence of a dedicated and robust food safety apparatus at the state level,” the report said.
Further, the committee noted that there was no uniformity in the food safety infrastructure across the country. Some states did not even have a food safety department and a food safety appellate tribunal. The food testing laboratories lack functional equipment as well as technical manpower.
“This inadequate arrangement has failed to control food adulteration in the country,” said the report.
The Committee recommended the removal of this existing inconsistency and introduction of a uniform structure across the country.
“The Central Government should work in cooperation with the state governments to establish a uniform food safety regulatory regime in the country. It is also very important for the food testing laboratories across states and UTs to follow a uniform procedure, methodology and guidelines so that consistent results are obtained,” the report said.
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