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FSSAI to form committee for deliberation on product approval, says CEO
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Wednesday, 30 July, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
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fiogf49gjkf0d The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided to constitute a committee of experts to suggest the future course of action with respect to regulations for such issues as product approval.
This was stated by D K Samantaray, chief executive officer of the country’s apex food regulator.
The decision was taken after Mumbai High Court’s recent observation regarding the legality of the advisories issued by FSSAI.
All stakeholders (consumers, food scientists and industry representatives) would have equal representation on the panel, which would be headed by an eminent scientist.
During an interaction with food business operators (FBO), Samantaray stated that the High Court held that the advisories were not the way to undertake regulatory tasks, and added that it urged FSSAI to issue regulations instead.
“So we will now issue regulations. We are setting up a task force to help us draft this regulation,” he added.
“Two of its members would represent the industry; two would represent consumers, two would represent the state governments (which are the enforcement authorities) and two would be scientists,” Samantaray stated.
“Of the scientists, one would be a medical professional, and the other would have a background in food technology background,” he added.
Samantaray said, “To help the industry and consumers, FSSAI issued a series of advisories. The last was in May 2013, where it had defined categories for product approval.”
“In one of the advisories that category 1a would include foods which are in compliance with the Codex Alimentarius Commission, with the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), with the Australian and New Zealand standards and the European Union (EU) standards would be given product approval on the go. The industry must apply for it with documents,” he said.
“The products included in category 1b are not compliant with the standards laid down by the Codex Alimentarius Commission and USFDA, but for the past 20 years, Indians have been eating them. the product has now been standardised, and there are documents stating that it is safe,” Samantaray stated.
“Category 1d of the advisory states that anybody makes products listed under categories 1a and 1b and another manufacturer wants to make the same product, he has to file an application informing FSSAI what he wants to use and obtain the clearance,” he added.
Then there is category 1c, wherein those foods are included about whose safety FSSAI isn’t sure.
“One such product, which came to us, contained 200 ingredients. We have to undertake research to find out whether it is toxic or not, and whether it has gone through the entire test that a standard product has to go through before its safety is assured,” he said.
Samantaray stated, “In the context of the larger issue of product approval, which is connected to imports, manufacturers, etc., the point industry should understand is that under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954 (which preceded the Food Safety and Standards Act [FSSA], 2006), only 377 food products were standardised. This means the regulator has been notified, and consequently, these products can be produced. Codex has 3,500 standards.”
“Section 22 of the FSS Act states that food which is genetically modified, nutracueticals, dietary products, medicinal foods, and proprietary food cannot be produced except by following the regulations made by the government,” he said.
Samantaray explained that because the kind of reservations consumers have (for example objections to GM food), anybody could produce any kind of food without regulations, and these included proprietary foods as well.
He added that proprietary foods are those foods that are not unsafe, but not standardised. “To bring a non-standardised product which is eaten into the food chain is a serious matter,” he stated.
“Somebody who is in charge of food safety has to ensure the consumers that what consumer is eating is safe. Now how do we know to test the product? For every food product, there are separate testing parameters. So those which have been standardised for them parameters have been set up,” Samantaray stated.
“So if you look at any food, you would find ingredients, additives, colours and flavours, and they would always have level deflections. For example, even salt and sugar beyond a limit is not safe for consumption,” he added.
“Safety in food is always concerned with parameters and limits within what you eat. And these parameters are not the same for every country, as our food consumption patterns are different,” Samantaray stated.
“These patterns are studied and complied by the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) makes study then they provide for the regular daily allowance (RDA). All that needs to be taken into account to set up standards,” he elaborated.
He stated that a number of imported chocolates contained vegetable oil, while Indian standards did not allow this at all.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission said, “Five per cent vegetable oil is allowed, but Indian standards, even under PFA, maintained nil amount. Many such imported chocolates were found after test having 36-70 per cent vegetable oil.”
Samantaray maintained that product approval has a procedure to follow. He said, “The standard procedure is that you apply for the product approval, it would go to the scientific panel, then to the scientific committee, then to authority, then to the health ministry, then to the law ministry, and then it would be notified and objections would be called for, after standards would be notified with WTO.”
Harmonisation
Meanwhile, FSSAI, to streamline the subject of product approval, has also started work for the standardisation and harmonisation of Indian standards with those of the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
So far, 200 such standards have been completed, while more are nearing completion. By August, the FSSAI aims to completing around 11,000 standards.
Also, the FSSAI is said to have almost standardised the food additives into milk, wheat flour and rice and the fortification of the vitamins.
“We have prioritised some sectors, and we are working in that direction. Our effort is to implement regulations in a more transparent and efficient manner. The industry can suggest as well, which sector they want to prioritise,” said Samantaray.
Further elaborating on the subject, Samantaray said, “We’re working towards making the regulations flexible to accommodate the new ideas. We want to expand the standardised food basket, and one of steps in this regard was harmonisation with the Codex standards.”
“In the last authority meeting, the harmonisation of about 200 such standards were taken place. Now they would be sent to government for notification. By August, we intend to standardise about 11,000 products. So from the earlier 377 standards (during the PFA regime), we have taken a big leap to over thousands of standards,” he added.
“Once the products are standardised, the industry is free to use them. Our standards would be free as they would be minimum standards. That is the way we would go. We want to work with the industry to provided safe and wholesome food to the consumers,” Samantaray stated.
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