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Tools and Techniques to detect ratio of material in blends to ensure compliance and address food fraud; Rapid testing solutions for ‘Safety profiling of Products’ as well as Technology driven tools for botanicals and nutraceuticals to ensure traceability are some of the areas where industry and academic institutions need to collaborate to strengthen the food safety ecosystem - Mr Arun Singhal, Chief Executive Officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
Jul 29, 2021

Tools and Techniques to detect ratio of material in blends to ensure compliance and address food fraud; Rapid testing solutions for ‘Safety profiling of Products’ as well as Technology driven tools for botanicals and nutraceuticals to ensure traceability are some of the areas where industry and academic institutions need to collaborate to strengthen the food safety ecosystem - Mr Arun Singhal, Chief Executive Officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

Speaking at the inaugural session of the 16th edition of CII’s Food Safety Quality and Regulatory summit held today in partnership with the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Mr Arun Singhal, Chief Executive Officer of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) mentioned that simplification of regulatory regime is a key priority for FSSAI towards strengthening the food safety ecosystem.

Speaking on the need for strengthening the food safety ecosystem at the State level, Mr Singhal highlighted that technical as well as financial assistance is being extended to States & UTs by FSSAI towards creating necessary infrastructure, mobilizing resources to carry out manual special camps inspections, awareness drives etc and skill development. Additionally, there is a special focus on building microbiological testing capabilities across the States. He also mentioned that FSSAI is increasingly focusing on periodic risk-based inspections, third party inspections as well as increased surveillance. Further, FSSAI has introduced a scheme for approving rapid analytical food testing (RAFT) devices/kits/methods and so far, 65 such kits have been approved by FSSAI.

Mr Singhal further mentioned that the ‘Eat Right India’ campaign is focussed towards building a shared culture for food safety and wholesome nutrition. Under the initiative, FSSAI is mainstreaming various areas like fortification, limiting Transfats, limiting HFSS (High Fat, Salt and Sugar), for better nutritional outcomes. Several benchmarking and certification programs are in place to build capacities of food businesses in both organised and unorganised sector like street food markets, local dhabas, petty food vendors, local mandis etc to strengthen the food safety ecosystem. Focussing on the importance of training, he highlighted that over 5 lakh Food Safety Supervisor have been trained under the FoSTaC program and around 3 lakh Food Safety Supervisors were trained for safety and hygiene practices during COVID-19.

Mr Singhal appreciated efforts made by CII towards spearheading industry engagement on the initiative under its ‘Product Reformulation’ and ‘Eat Right Pledge’. Mr Singhal also remarked that CII resource Centerslike CHIFSS, CeSRAC and ReCHAN are playing an important role in steering industry engagement around food safety and CII should also continue to scale its efforts to hand hold MSME on food safety and hygiene.

Focussing on Smarter Food Safety solutions post COVID-19, Mr Frank Yiannas, Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response, Food & Drug Administration, highlighted that the future food safety framework that would encompass tech-enabled traceability; smarter tools and approaches for prevention and outbreak responses; business model innovations and retail modernization; as well as a food safety culture as a shared responsibility.

Highlighting the need for ‘One Health Approach’ towards attaining Sustainable Development Goals, Ms Hikuepi (Epi) Katjiuongua, PhD, Senior Agriculture Economist, Food and Agriculture Global Practice, World Bank Groupmentioned the interlinkages within the food system and the relevance of integrated solutions to reduce risk and improve response through coordinated interventions in multiple sectors. She highlighted Food Safety as a low hanging fruit to help operationalize One Health on the ground. Enhanced participation of private sector was identified as another key lever towards operationalizing One Health.

Mr Deepak Iyer, Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on FMCG & President, India Business Unit, Mondelez International highlighted the need for sustainable solution for plastic waste management like bio-degradable alternatives. As a case in point, Mr Iyer highlighted pilot being conducted by Mondelez in partnership with TRASHCAN and HasiruDala to recycle MLP into WoW boards that can be used in furniture making. It was highlighted that this not only helps develop a sustainable solution for environment but also helps generate a value-added stream from waste. The need for commercial uptake of such solutions was stressed upon.

Highlighting the initiatives taken by CII’s Food and Agriculture Center of Excellence Mr Mayank Jalan, Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on Food Processing and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying & Managing Director, Keventer Agro Limited, mentioned that for more than a decade, CII FACE has been building Capacity of all stakeholders on food safety. The Pandemic made us progress to a virtual mode of interventions, and we have utilized frameworks of Eat Right India created by FSSAI to mitigate food safety risks comprehensively across stakeholders and food sectors including Midday Meals, Street Food Vendors, Anganwadis, Railways Base Kitchen, Schools, and others. In the last 3 years we covered 15 states, 25 locations through 40 clusters impacting more than 1.8 crore meals annually.

The 16th edition of CII’s Food Safety Quality and Regulatory summit being held in partnership with Food Safety Standards Authority of India focuses on the theme of ‘Powering Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory Programs with Next Generation Tools, Techniques and Technology’.

The summit is spread over five days and has a line-up of 35 plus globally renowned speakers discussing global best practices around Next Generation Food Safety Technology, Tools and Techniques; Plastic Waste Management; Rapid Testing to Support Real time Action and surveillance efforts; Addressing Scientific Gaps in Setting MRLs.

29 July 2021
New Delhi

 

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