Question : Food Standards and Safety

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government undertakes survey of food items every year across the country, if so, the details thereof;
(b) the steps taken by the Government regarding food standards and safety and regulating the manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of food to ensure consumer safety;
(c) the measures taken by the Government for checking sale of adultered food and misbranded products in the market and achieve zero cases of unsafe and substandard food samples; and
(d) whether there is an acute shortage of licensing and enforcement officers in the States which has severely affected food safety measures and if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)
(a): Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has informed that it has been regularly conducting surveys of mass consumption food items across the country to check status of compliance of prescribed standards and to take appropriate remedial actions. FSSAI conducted Pan India Milk Survey in the years 2011, 2016 and 2018. It also conducted Milk Products Survey and Edible Oil Survey across the country in the year 2020. In the year 2021, FSSAI has conducted Honey Survey.

(b) & (c): A number of steps taken by FSSAI in this regard are as below:
• FSSAI has framed various Regulations under FSS Act, 2006 which includes quality and safety parameters of various food products in order to ensure the availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.
• State Food Safety Departments are primarily responsible for implementation and enforcement of the FSS Act and Rules and regulations framed there under. State machinery comprises of Commissioner of Food Safety, Designated Officers & Food Safety Officers.
• Regular surveillance, monitoring, inspection and sampling of all food products are carried out by Food Safety Officers of States/UTs to check the compliance of provisions of FSS Act, 2006, Rules and Regulations made there under.
• To meet the testing requirements, FSSAI has a network of 240 notified NABL accredited food testing laboratories both under public and private sectors for testing at primary & appellate levels.
• To evolve the overall approach to compliance, FSSAI adopts a Risk Based approach towards inspections and surveillance aligning with global standards. Risk Based Inspection System (RBIS) contributes to strengthen and protect safe food supply and fair trade practices and prevent fraudulent practices.
• FSSAI has developed State Food Safety Index to measure the performance of States on various parameters of Food Safety. The Index is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model that provides an objective framework for evaluating food safety across all States/UTs.
• To strengthen food safety ecosystem in States/UTs, FSSAI signs MoUs with States/UTs for providing technical and financial support for strengthening food safety mechanism, food testing infrastructure and scaling up various eat right initiatives. A sum of Rs. 64.65 crore was released for approved proposals to 24 States/UTs.
(d): For effective implementation of provisions of FSS Act, 2006, Rules and Regulations made there under, FSSAI has worked out ideal number of Designated Officers and Food Safety Officers for each State/UT. FSSAI has advised all States/UTs to create and fill up required number of Designated Officers (DOs) and Food Safety Officers (FSOs) in their area of jurisdiction.