Question : Metal Content in Food Products

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

(a) whether any ambiguity exists in the norms for determining the permissible upper limit of heavy metal content in food products as notified by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the exemptions have been made for the producers/farmers of raw food, making only the vendors and traders responsible for any lapse; and

(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor and the corrective steps taken in this regard?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
(SHRI JAGAT PRAKASH NADDA)
(a) & (b): The relevant provision in section 20 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 prescribes, inter alia, that no article of food can contain heavy metals in excess of such quantities as may be specified by regulations. The limits of contaminants in the food products, have, accordingly, been prescribed in the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011. However, Section 18 (3) of the FSS Act, 2006, states that the provisions of this Act are not applicable to any farmer or fisherman or farming operations or crops or livestock or aquaculture, and supplies used or produced in farming or products of crops produced by a farmer at farm level or a fisherman in his operations.
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