TSPSC Group – I Mains,2024 Material useful for Paper - I : General Essay & Paper V : Food safety and Food quality standards, Food Laws and Regulations Science and Technology
TSPSC Group – I
Mains,2024
Material useful for Paper
- I : General Essay
&
Paper V : Science and
Technology
Food safety and Food quality standards,
Food Laws and Regulations.
For Examination guidance purpose only
For any clarification
please refer to the prescribed text books
Time
: 3 Hours
Marks : 150
Note : Answer all
questions. Answer ONE question from each section.
Answer to each
question should be limited to around 1000 words. All questions carry equal
marks .
For GENERAL ESSAY PAPER :
Syllabus
:
Section-I
1. Contemporary Social Issues and Social Problems. 2. Issues of Economic Growth
and Justice.
Section-II
1. Dynamics of Indian Politics. 2. Historical and Cultural Heritage of India.
Section-III
1. Developments in Science
and Technology. 2. Education and Human Resource Development
========================================================
Paper V : Science and Technology :
Syllabus:
II. Modern Trends in application
of knowledge of Science:
1. Crop Science in India;
Characteristics of Plants - Crop plants, Forest species, Medicinal Aromatic
plants, Useful and Harmful plants and utility for mankind.
2. Concept of Biotechnology
and application of genetic engineering and Stem Cell Research. Biotechnology in
Agriculture (bio-fertilizers,
bio - pesticides, bio- fuels, tissue culture, cloning) and Environment (Biotechnology in Environmental cleanup
process)
3. Food bio-technology, Food safety
and Food quality standards, Food Laws and Regulations.
Recent trends in organic
farming and farm mechanization. Safe Drinking Water – Defluoridation and other
Techniques.
4. Microbial infections;
Introduction to bacterial, viral, protozoal and fungal infections. Basic
knowledge of infections caused by different groups of micro organisms-
diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, tuberculosis, malaria, viral infections like
HIV, encephalitis, chikungunya, bird flu- preventive measures during out
breaks.
5. Vaccines: Introduction to immunity,
Fundamental concepts in vaccination and traditional methods of vaccine
production ( production of DPT and Rabies vaccine), Production of modern
vaccines (production of Hepatitis Vaccine).
========================================================
Food safety and
Food quality standards, Food Laws and Regulations
1)Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006
2)The Legal Metrology Act, 2009
3)Bureau of Indian Standards
4)Agmark
5)Consumer Protection Act,1986
6)Codex India
7)International Standards Organisation (ISO)
8)WTO
9) Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)
and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)
10) Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act, 1963:-
a) Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development
Authority (APEDA)
b) Spices Board
c) Coffee Board
d) Tea Board, and
e) Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).
=============================================================================
What is ‘Food’ (as per FSSAI Act)?
Ans:
Food means any substance, whether processed, partially
processed or unprocessed, which is intended for human consumption and includes
primary food to the extent defined in the Act, genetically modified or
engineered food or food containing such ingredients, infant food, packaged
drinking water, alcoholic drink, chewing gum, and any substance, including
water used in the food during its manufacture, preparation or treatment but
does not include any animal feed, live animals unless they are prepared or
processed for placing on the market for human consumption, plants, prior to
harvesting, drugs and medicinal products, cosmetics, narcotic or psychotropic
substances.
================================================================================
Judgement of Hon’ble
Supreme Court of India about the importance of pure food:-
[(2013) 16 SCC 279. This
writ petition dealt with the harmful effect of soft drinks on human health.
While referring to various the provisions of FSS Act 2006, the Supreme Court
held that there is a paramount duty cast on the States and its authorities to
achieve an appropriate level of protection to human life and health which is a
fundamental right guaranteed to the citizens under art 21 read with art 47 of
the Constitution of India]
Recognizing the importance of pure food, the Hon’ble
Supreme Court in the case of Centre for Public Interest Litigation vs Union of
India had held that right to life also includes right to pure food and thereby
raised the status of this right to that of fundamental right.
Right to Life, the
most important fundamental right of every citizen guaranteed under Article 21
of the Constitution of India, includes in it the right to healthy food and
therefore any food article which is hazardous or injurious to public health is
a potential danger to fundamental right to life.
Article 21 read
with Article 47 of the Constitution of India, casts a primary duty on the state
and its authorities to achieve an appropriate level to protect human life and
health. Availability of food without insecticides and pesticides residues,
veterinary drugs residues, antibiotic residues and other harmful substances is
one of the essential consumer rights covered under the United Nations
Guidelines on Consumer Protection adopted by United Nations in the year 1985.
However, there are still many food articles such as milk, rice, meat, fish,
vegetables, fruits containing harmful substances which can cause serious health
hazards. Due to physiological immaturity of the children and greater exposure
to soft drinks, they are uniquely susceptible to pesticides’ effects.
The Supreme Court in its judgment in the abovementioned
case also referred to Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights 1966 to highlight the role of State in ensuring food
safety.
==========================================================================
Background :
Multiplicity of food laws, standard setting and
enforcement agencies pervaded different sectors of food, which created
confusion in the minds of consumers, traders, manufacturers and investors.
Detailed provisions under various laws regarding admissibility and levels of
food additives, contaminants, food colors, preservatives etc., and other
related requirements had varied standards under these laws. The standards were
often rigid and non-responsive to scientific advancements and modernization.
Such ecosystem was having detrimental impact upon the growth of the nascent
food processing industry and was not conducive to effective fixation of food standards
and their enforcement. A subject group on Food and Agro Industries (appointed
by the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry in 1998), had recommended
a comprehensive framework on food with a Food Regulatory Authority concerning
both domestic and export market. Besides, a Joint Parliamentary Committee on
Pesticide Residues had emphasized in its report in 2004, on the need to
converge all existing food related laws and to have a single regulatory body in
this area. A great concern over condition of public health and food safety in
India was expressed by this Committee in its report. Thereafter, in April 2005,
the Standing Committee of Parliament on Agriculture in its 12th Report
recommended that the process for passing the much-needed legislation on
Integrated Food Laws should be expedited.
The then Member-Secretary, Law Commission of India was
tasked to comprehensively review of the food laws of developed and developing
countries and other relevant international agreements and instruments on the
subject. The Member-Secretary after in-depth survey of the laws and policies of
various countries, recommended that the approach of the new food law must
include the overall perspective of promoting nascent food processing industry
given its income and export potential. Besides as per the international trend
towards modernization, it was also suggested that an integrated food law should
be passed after repealing all the existing acts relating to food. There was
also intention to shift the approach of food law from regulation and control to
self-regulation and focus was more on the responsibility of manufacturer,
recall, genetically modified and functional foods, emergence control, food
safety and good manufacturing practices and process control. In this
background, the Group of Ministers constituted by the Government of India, held
extensive deliberations and approved the proposed Integrated Food Law with
certain modifications. The Integrated Food Law was named as ‘The Food Safety
and Standards Bill, 2005’. The main objective of the Bill was to bring out a
single statute relating to food and to provide for a systematic and scientific
development of Food Processing Industries.
It proposed to establish the Food Safety and Standards
Authority of India (FSSAI), which would fix food standards and regulate/monitor
the manufacturing, import, processing, distribution and sale of food, so as to
ensure safe and wholesome food for the people. The Food Authority would be
assisted by Scientific Committees and Panels in fixing standards and by a
Central Advisory Committee in prioritization of the work. The enforcement of
the legislation was to be through the State Commissioner for Food Safety, his
officers and Panchayati Raj/Municipal bodies.
The Food Safety
and Standards Bill,2005 inter alia incorporated the salient provisions of the
Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954 and was based on international
legislations, instrumentalities and Codex Alimentaries Commission (which
related to food safety norms).
In a nutshell, the Bill took care of international
practices and envisaged an overarching policy framework and provision of single
window to guide and regulate persons engaged in manufacture, marketing,
processing, handling, transportation, import and sale of food.
The main features of the Bill were: (a) Movement from
multi-level and multi-departmental control to integrated line of command; (b)
Integrated response to strategic issues like novel/ genetically modified foods,
international trade; (c) Licensing for manufacture of food products, which is
presently granted by the Central Agencies under various Acts and Orders, would
stand decentralized to the Commissioner of Food Safety and his officer; (d)
Single reference point for all matters relating to Food Safety and Standards,
regulations and enforcement; (e) Shift from mere regulatory regime to
self-compliance through Food Safety Management Systems; (f) Responsibility on
food business operators to ensure that food processed, manufactured, imported
or distributed is in compliance with the domestic food laws; and, (g) Provision
for graded penalties depending on the gravity of offence and accordingly, civil
penalties for minor offences and punishment for serious violations.
The Bill was contemporary, comprehensive and intended to
ensure better consumer safety through Food Safety Management Systems and
setting standards based on science and transparency as also to meet the dynamic
requirements of Indian Food Trade and Industry and International trade.
===============================================================================
Accordingly, the
Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 (FSS Act) was passed in 2006 and FSSAI,
established under this Act, became functional from January 2009.
The FSS Act and Rules were notified and commencement
of new regime started from August 2011.
With the commencement of this Act, various central Acts
relating to food safety were repealed:-
[ Acts which were repealed
: Acts such as Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954, Milk and Milk Products
Order 1992, Meat Food Products Order 1973, Vegetable Oil Products (Control)
Order 1947, Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order 1988, Fruit Products Order
1955 Solvent Extracted Oil, De-Oiled Meal and Edible Flour (Control) Order
1967, etc, stood repealed with the passing of the FSS Act 2006]
====================================================================================
FSSAI has launched various outreach programmes including
the ‘Eat Right India’ Movement. As reported in the newspapers, it has also
started programme in collaboration with various resident welfare associations
to train the domestic workers and to make them aware about practices that need
to be adopted for safe, hygienic and nutritious food at home. Such programmes
are commendable which are needed to be conducted across India. The authority
conducts regular street food festivals under ‘clean street food hub programme’.
In this process street food clusters are identified across the country that
would be jointly audited with state authorities for cleanliness and hygiene.
Clusters are encouraged to comply with food safety standards and those meeting
the criteria are given ‘clean street food hub certificate’
Despite passing of more than a decade of enactment of FSS
Act, a regulatory vacuum exists in the import of GM Food. FSSAI has neither put
the regulations for such approvals in place nor taken any measures to stop the
imports. The FSSAI should urgently finalize ‘Guidelines for safety assessment
of food derived by GM Technology’. FSSAI should also work to upgrade the GM
food testing infrastructure and make use of the already present laboratories in
the country and equip them with latest technology. Whereas, for organic food,
the FSSAI has recently framed regulations which makes it mandatory for the
domestic producers to certify their food as organic. This will remove
non-certified/fake products from the market. A separate certification mechanism
should be in place for small farmers to minimize their costs.
Multiplicity of standards and certification from
different agencies is a cumbersome compliance and process for the industry.
There is a need to address the existing overlap between standards. BIS and
AGMARK Standards should be reviewed to explore the extent to which they can be merged
into the FSS Act/Standards/Regulations. The main idea behind FSS Act was
consolidation of food laws but varied standards defeat this very idea. It is
important to have only one certification procedure under the FSS Act. Any
changes in the Packaging and Labeling regulations should be timely disclosed to
the FBOs so that they get enough time to conform to the changed standards. The
regulations should be implemented in a phased manner rather than haphazardly.
Proper training to the FBOs is essential for enforcement of the labeling norms.
The FSSAI should work on labeling based on colors and symbols. The traffic
light labeling system as practiced in other countries for packaged food items
in India may be adopted. This labeling will enable people specially the less
educated consumers to have a better idea of the nutritional content of the
packaged foods. Food with high salt, sugar and fat content will be marked red
which is a sign for unhealthy food, amber for moderate, and green for low
(healthy).
=========================================================================
Introduction :
The emphasis was on ONE NATION ONE FOOD LAW-FSSAI. The
Food Safety and Standards Authority ( FSSAI) of India has laid down science
based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture,
storage, distribution, sale and import, to ensure availability of safe and
wholesome food for human consumption. The FSS Act 2006, replaced all the other
food laws existing in the system including Prevention of Food Adulteration
(PFA) Act 1954, Food Product Order etc. This is an integrated Food Law and has
created unified framework for food regulations which has shifted primary
responsibility of safety to food businesses and hence assuring food safety
across the food chain and ensuring uniform application of standards and
practices across the country. This was further extended by reviewing the Bureau
of Indian Standard Act (BIS) and AGMARK, which lay down the provisions for
voluntary food product certification, based on specifications encompassing
enhanced quality requirements. The Unit also focused on the role of
international organizations like Codex Alimentarious, WHO, FAO, WHO, SPS and
TBT working in the area of Food Standardization, Quality, Research and Trade.
==========================================================================
FSSAI:-
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is
an autonomous body established under the Ministry of Health & Family
Welfare, Government of India, responsible for protecting and promoting public
health through the regulation and supervision of food safety. FSSAI of India
has laid down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate
their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import, to ensure availability
of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.
FSSAI has been established under the Food Safety and
Standards Act, 2006 which is a consolidating statute related to food safety and
regulations in India. This Act replaced all the other food laws existed in the system
including Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) ACT, 1954 , Food Product
Order, (FPO), The Vegetable Oil Product Order, 1998 etc.
This is an integrated Food
Law and has created unified framework for food
regulations which has shifted primary
responsibility of safety to food businesses and hence
assuring food safety across the
food chain and ensuring uniform application of standards
and practices across the country.
Thus, ONE NATION ONE FOOD LAW.
The main goal of FSSAI is to:
i)Lay down science-based standards for articles of food
ii)To regulate manufacture, storage, distribution, sale
and import of food
iii)To facilitate food safety
The implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Act,
2006 formally repeals the
following laws:
i) The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA), 1954,
ii) The Fruit Products Order, 1955,
iii) The Meat Food Products Order, 1973,
iv) The Vegetable Oil Products (Regulation) Order, 1998,
v) The Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order 1988,
vi) The Solvent Extracted Oil, De-Oiled Meal and Edible
Flour (Control) Order, 1967,
vii) Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992,
viii) Any other order issued under the Essential
Commodities Act, 1955 relating to food.
====================================================================================
Important definition under FSSAI
- Act means the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006,
- Rules means the Food Safety and Standard rules, 2011,
What is adulterant ?
Ans:
Adulterant means any material which is or could be
employed for making the
food unsafe or sub-standard or misbranded or containing
extraneous matter.
What are contaminants ?
Ans:
Contaminants means any substance, whether or not added to
food, which is
presented in such food as a result of the production
(including operations carried
out in crop husbandry, animal husbandry or veterinary
medicine), manufacture,
processing, preparation, treatment, packing, packaging,
transport or holding of
such food or as a result of environmental contamination
and does not include
insect fragments, rodent hair and other extraneous
matter;
What is Food ?
Ans:
Food means any substance, whether processed, partially
processed or
unprocessed, which is intended for human consumption and
includes primary
food to the extent defined in the Act, genetically
modified or engineered food
or food containing such ingredients, infant food,
packaged drinking water,
alcoholic drink, chewing gum, and any substance,
including water used in the
food during its manufacture, preparation or treatment but
does not include any
animal feed, live animals unless they are prepared or
processed for placing on
the market for human consumption, plants, prior to
harvesting, drugs and
medicinal products, cosmetics, narcotic or psychotropic
substances.
What is Food additive?
Ans:
Food additive means any substance not normally consumed
as a food by itself
or used as a typical ingredient of the food, whether or
not it has nutritive value,
the intentional addition of which to food for a technological
(including
organoleptic) purpose in the manufacture, processing,
preparation, treatment,
packaging, transport or holding of such food results, or
may be reasonably
expected to result (directly or indirectly), in it or its
by-products becoming a
component of or otherwise affecting the characteristics
of such food but does
not include
̄contaminants or substances added to food for maintaining or
improving nutritional qualities.
What is Processing aid?
Ans:
Processing aid
means any substance or material, not including apparatus or
utensils, and not consumed as a food ingredient by
itself, used in the processing
of raw materials, foods or its ingredients to fulfill a
certain technological purpose
during treatment or processing and which may result in
the non-intentional but
unavoidable presence of residues or derivatives in the
final product.
What is Advertisement?
Ans :
Advertisement means any audio or visual publicity,
representation or
pronouncement made by means of any light, sound, smoke,
gas, print, electronic
media, internet or website and includes through any
notice, circular, label,
wrapper, invoice or other documents;
What is Food business ?
Ans:
Food business means any undertaking, whether for profit
or not and whether
public or private, carrying out any of the activities
related to any stage of
manufacture, processing, packing, storage,
transportation, distribution of food,
import and includes food services, catering services,
sale of food or food
ingredients;
Who is Food Business Operator ?
Ans:
Food business operator in relation to food business means
a person by whom
the business is carried on or owned and is responsible
for ensuring the
compliances of this Act, rules
and regulations made there under.
Food Safety and
Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2018:
As per this regulation, every manufacturer and packer of
fortified food shall give an
undertaking on quality assurance and submit evidence of
steps taken in this regard
to the Food Authority or such other authority which the
Food Authority may
designate. Further all fortified food, whether
voluntarily fortified or required to
undergo mandatory fortification shall be manufactured,
packed, labeled, handled,
distributed and sold, only in compliance with the
standards specified under the
provisions of the Act and regulations made. And such
products shall be packaged in
a manner that takes into consideration the nature of the
fortificant added, for example:
Every package of food, fortified with Iron shall carry a
statement “People with
Thalassemia may take under medical supervision”.
Food Safety and
Standards (Organic Food) Regulation, 2017:
Under this regulation, the organic food offered or
promoted for sale shall also comply with all
the applicable provisions of one of the following
systems, namely:—
i) National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP);
ii) Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India).
iii) Any other system or standards as may be notified by
the Food Authority from
time to time.
Apart from this, labeling of such products may carry a
certification or quality
assurance mark of one of the systems mentioned above
along with the Food Safety
and Standard Authority of India’s organic logo.
==========================================================================
List of food business falling under the purview of
Central Licensing Authority (FSSAI) :-
1)Dairy units including milk chilling units equipped to
handle or process more than
50,000 litres of liquid milk/day or 2500 MT of milk solid
per annum.
2)Vegetable oil processing units and units producing
vegetable oil by the process of
solvent extraction and refineries including oil expeller
unit having installed capacity
more than 2 MT per day.
3)All slaughter houses equipped to slaughter more than 50
large animals or 150 or
more small animals including sheep and goats or 1000 or
more poultry birds per
day.
4)Meat processing units equipped to handle or process
more than 500 kg of meat per
day or 150 MT per annum.
5)All food processing units other than mentioned under
(I) to (IV) including relabellers
and repackers having installed capacity more than 2
MT/day except grains, cereals
and pulses milling units.
6)100 % Export Oriented Units.
7)All Importers importing food items including food
ingredients and additives for
commercial use.
8)All food business operators manufacturing any article
of food containing ingredients
or substances or using technologies or processes or
combination thereof whose
safety has not been established through these regulations
or which do not have a
history of safe use or food containing ingredients which
are being introduced for
the first time into the country.
9)Food Business Operator operating in two or more states.
10)Food catering services in establishments and units
under Central government
Agencies like Railways, Air and airport, Seaport, Defence
etc.
===================================================================================
Legal Metrology Laws
Before reading about the legal metrology laws, you must
know what legal metrology stands for. In India, legal metrology is the new name
of Standards of Weights and Measures. The Standard of Weights and Measures
Act,1976 was enacted primarily to establish standards of weights and measures,
to regulate trade or commerce in weights, measures and other goods that are
sold or distributed by weight, measure or number. It is based on the metric
system and international system of units recognized by International Organization
of legal metrology (OIML). India is one of the members of OIML. This
Act was subsequently replaced by the Legal Metrology Act,
2009 with the aim of protecting consumer interests and other stakeholders
including industry.
1)The Legal Metrology Act, 2009:-
The Legal Metrology Act, 2009 repeals and replaces the
Standard of Weights and Measures Act, 1976 and the Standards of weights and
Measures (Enforcement) Act, 1985.
2)Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act:-
The Export Inspection Council (EIC) was set up by the
Government of India under
Section 3 of the Export (Quality Control and Inspection)
Act, 1963 (22 of 1963), in
order to ensure sound development of export trade of
India through Quality Control and Inspection and for matters connected thereof.
The Council, constituted by the
Central Government, is the apex body and has powers to
constitute specialist committees
to assist it in discharge of its functions. Accordingly,
the Council has constituted
Administrative Committee to advise it on administrative
matters and a Technical
Committee to advise it on technical matters.
===================================================================================
Further, besides Export Inspection Council (EIC),
following units have been set-up by
the Ministry of Commerce for ensuring promotion and
quality control of export of
food item, under the Export (Quality Control and
Inspection) Act, 1963:
a) Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development
Authority (APEDA)
b) Spices Board
c) Coffee Board
d) Tea Board, and
e) Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).
=======================================================================
There are a few voluntary schemes of certification aimed
at providing quality and safety
of foods.
1)The Bureau of Indian Standards
2)The Agmark Grading and Marketing Act
3)Rules and Consumer Protection Act, 1986
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS):
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), empowered by the
Bureau of Indian Standards
Act, 2016, operates product certification schemes by
which it grants licenses to
manufacturers covering practically every industrial
discipline from agriculture and textiles
to electronics. BIS is functioning under the
administrative control of Ministry of Consumer
Affairs, Food & Public Distribution. The
certification allows the licensees to use the
popular ISI mark, which has become synonymous with
quality products for the Indian
and neighboring markets for over 55 years.
While the scheme itself is voluntary in nature, the
Indian Government has, in public
interest, enforced mandatory certification on various
products through various quality
control orders issued from time to time, under various
acts. While BIS continues to grant
licenses on application, the enforcement of compulsory
certification is done by the
authorities notified in such quality control orders.
Overseas applicants can also be granted
BIS certification for use of ISI mark for their products
under the Foreign Manufacturers
Certification Scheme (FMCS).
In this connection, the Food Safety and Standards
(Prohibition and Restriction on Sales)
Regulations, 2011 has prescribed mandatory certification
under the BIS Act for the
following products:
i)Infant formula (IS14433)
ii)Milk cereal based weaning food (IS1656)
iii)Processed cereal based weaning food (IS11536)
iv)Follow up formula(IS15757)
v)Packaged drinking water(IS14543)
vi)Packaged mineral water(IS13428)
vii)Milk Powder(IS1165)
viii)Skimmed Milk Powder(IS13334)
ix)Partly Skimmed Milk Powder(IS14542)
x)Condensed Milk,Partly Skimmed and Skimmed Condensed
Milk (IS1166)
The main objectives of BIS, include:-
a) harmonious development of standardization, marking and
quality certification
b) to provide a new thrust to standardization and quality
control, and
c) to evolve a national strategy for according
recognition to standard integrating them
with the growth and development of production and
exports.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has
published ISO 22000:2005 -
Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) – Requirements for
any Organization in the
Food Chain, with a view to provide framework for
systematically managing safety in
food supply chains. BIS has adopted this International
Standard as IS/ISO 22000:2005.
This standard integrates the principles of Hazard
Analysis and Critical Control Point
(HACCP) system developed by Codex Alimentarius Commission
and combines the
HACCP plan with Prerequisite Programmes (PRPs) and is
fully compatible with Quality
Management Systems (QMS) as per ISO 9001: 2000.
BIS has also launched Food Safety Management Systems
(FSMS) Certification IS/ISO
22000:2005 scheme which envisages grant of FSMS
Certification license to organizations
according to IS/ISO 22000.
AGMARK:-
The word Agmark is derived from Agricultural Marketing.
The Agmark standard was
set up by the Directorate of Marketing & Inspection
(DMI), Ministry of Agriculture,
Government of India by introducing an agricultural
produce Act in 1937. The word
Agmark ensures about quality and purity of the food
products. The quality of the product
is determined with reference to the size, variety,
weight, colour, moisture, fat content
etc. Agmark standards differentiate between quality and
2-3 grades are prescribed for
each commodity. Grades help farmers to get prices for
agricultural commodities as per
the quality produced by them and consumers get the
desired quality.
Till date, grade standards for 222 agricultural
commodities have been notified. These
include fruits, vegetables, cereals, pulses, oilseeds,
vegetable oils, ghee, spices, honey,
creamery butter, wheat atta, besan, etc. Directorate of
Marketing & Inspection (DMI) is
implementing the scheme of certification of agricultural
commodities for domestic trade
and export and this scheme is voluntary. But, Food Safety
and Standards (Prohibition
and Restriction Sale) Regulation, 2011, has prescribed
mandatory certification for Blended
Edible Vegetable Oils and Fat Spreads. However, in case
of Til Oil, Carbia Callosa,
Honey dew, Tea and Ghee, FSSAI has prescribed few
conditional restrictions.
The certification scheme is implemented through 11
Regional Offices, 27 Sub Offices,
11 Regional Agmark Laboratories and Central Agmark
Laboratory (Apex laboratory) of
the Directorate. Out of twelve laboratories , 08
laboratories at Nagpur , Mumbai, Chennai
,Kochi, Kolkata, Delhi, Jaipur and Kanpur have been
accredited with the National
Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration
Laboratories (NABL) as per the
International Standard ISO 17025.
================================================
Consumer Protection Act, 1986:-
In order to protect the consumers from exploitation and
to save them from adulterated
and substandard goods and deficient services, the
Consumer Protection Act came into
force on 15th April, 1986 and it applies to the whole of
India except the State of
Jammu and Kashmir. A Statutory Consumer Protection
Council has been set-up under
the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, implemented by the
Ministry of Consumer Affairs
Food and Public Distribution. The main aim of the council
is to redress the grievances
of the consumers about quality of purchased goods,
including food articles. The Act
also provides setting up of such Councils at State
/District level.
==================================================
World Trade Organization (WTO):-
The World Trade Organization came into being in 1995. One
of the youngest of the
international organizations, the WTO is the successor to
the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in the wake of the
Second World War. While
the WTO is still young, the multilateral trading system
that was originally set up
under GATT is well over 50 years old.
The past 50 years have seen an exceptional growth in
world trade. Merchandise
exports grew on an average by 6% annually. Total trade in
2000 was 22-times the
level of 1950. GATT and the WTO have helped to create a
strong and prosperous
trading system contributing to unprecedented growth.
The system was developed through a series of trade negotiations
or rounds, held under
GATT. The first rounds dealt mainly with tariff
reductions but later negotiations
included other areas such as anti-dumping and non-tariff
measures. The last round, the
1986-94 Uruguay Round, led to the WTO’s creation.
What are the benefits of WTO trading systems?
The ten benefits of the WTO trading system include:-
1) The system helps promote peace
2) Disputes are handled constructively
3) Rules make life easier for all
4) Freer trade cuts the costs of living
5) More choice of products and qualities
6) Trade raises incomes
7) Trade stimulates economic growth
8) The basic principles make life more efficient
9) Governments are shielded from lobbying
10) The system encourages good government
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Codex India :-
“Codex India”– the National Codex Contact Point (NCCP)
for India, is located at the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Government of India. It coordinates and
promotes Codex activities in India in association with the National Codex
Committee and facilitates India’s input to work of Codex through an established
consultation process. National Codex Contact Point (NCCP) The National Codex
Contact Point acts as the liaison office to coordinate with the other concerned
Government departments (at Central and State level), food industry, consumers,
traders, research and development institutions and academia, through the
National Codex Committee and its Shadow Committees. It ensures that the
government is backed with an appropriate balance of policy and technical advice
upon which to base decision relating to issues raised in the context of the CAC
and its subsidiary bodies. What are the core functions of NCCP-INDIA? Let us
get to know about them. The NCCP has to perform the following core functions,
established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission for National Codex Contact
Points: act as a link between the Codex Secretariat and India Member Body
coordinate all relevant Codex activities within India receive all Codex final
texts (standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other advisory texts) and
working documents of Codex sessions and ensure that these are circulated to
those concerned
=======================================
Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)
and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT):-
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures: The Agreement on
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) sets out the basic rules for food
safety and animal and plant health standards. It allows countries to set their
own standards. But it also says regulations must be based on science. They
should be applied only to the extent necessary to protect human, animal or
plant life or health. And they should not arbitrarily or unjustifiably
discriminate between countries where identical or similar conditions
prevail.
Member countries are encouraged to use international
standards, guidelines and recommendations where they exist. However, members
may use measures which result in higher standards if there is a scientific
justification. They can also set higher standards based on appropriate
assessment of risks as long as the approach is consistent, not arbitrary. The
agreement still allows countries to use different standards and different
methods of inspecting products.
===========================================
International Organization for Standardization (ISO):
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
is a worldwide federation of
national standards bodies from more than 164 countries,
one from each country.
ISO is a non-governmental organization established in
1947. The mission of ISO is
to promote the development of standardization and related
activities in the world with
a view to facilitate the international exchange of goods
and services, and to develop
cooperation in the spheres of intellectual, scientific,
technological and economic activity.
ISO’s work results in international agreements which are
published as International
Standards.
What are the main objectives of FSSAI ?
Ans : i)Lay down science based standards for articles of
food
ii) to
regulate manufacture, stoage, distribution, sale and import of food
iii)to
facilitate food safety
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FSSAI
:-
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
also referred to as the ‘Food Authority’ was established in September, 2008
under the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act,2006 (Act No.34 of 2006),
primarily for laying down science-based standards for articles of food and to
regulate their manufacture, storage , distribution, sale and import to ensure
availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption, its detailed
mandate is given in Section 16 of the FSS Act, 2006.
The Act was operationalized with the notification of Food
Safety and Standards Rule, 2011 and six Principal Regulations with effect from
the 5th August, 2011. Since then FSSAI has taken a long stride and
has made considerable progress in meetings its mandate under the Act.
In line with the motto of ‘inspiring trust, assuring safe
and nutritious food; the Food Authority has worked relentlessly to fulfil its
mandate through the following approach:-
1)Setting globally benchmarked regulations and standards
2)facilitating compliance through licensing/registration,
inspection, sampling , audit, surveillance and improved laboratory network
3)regulating imports for ensuring safety of imported food
products
4)building capacity of regulatory staff, laboratory
personnel as well as food business operators and food handlers
5)promote eat right initiatives in the true spirit of
convergence
6)Embracing technology to streamline processes
7)forging strategic partnerships to generate and exchange
knowledge and best practices
8)actively participate on Codex meetings and forge bilateral
agreements with foreign governments and international organizations to promote
co-ordination of work on food standards and other food related issues.
Scientific
Panels:
Section 13 of the FSS Act,2006 provides for establishment of
subject specific Scientific Panels which consists of independent scientific
experts. The following Scientific Panels
act as the risk assessment bodies and give their scientific opinion.
1)Food Additives,
Flavourings, Processing Aids & Material in Contact with Food
2)Pesticides Residues
3)Antibiotic Residues
4)Genetically Modified Organism and Foods
5)Functional Foods, Nutraceuticals, Dietetic Products and
other similar products
6)Biological Hazards
7)Contaminants in the Food Chain
8)Labelling and Claims / Advertisements
9)Method of Sampling and Analysis
10) Fish and Fisheries Products
11)Cereals, Pulses & Legume and their products
(including Bakery)
12)Fruits and Vegetables and their products (including dried
fruits and nuts)
13)Meat and Meat Products including Poultry
14)Milk and Milk Products
15)Oils and Fats
16)Sweets, Confectionery, Sweetners Sugar & Honey
17)Water (including flavoured water ) & Beverages
(non-alcoholic)
18)Nutrition and Fortification
19)Spices and Culinary Herbs
20)Packaging
21)Alcoholic Beverages
=====================================================================================
All Food
Business Operators (FBOs) in India are
required to be registered or licensed under Section 31 of the Food Safety &
Standards Act,2006 to commence or carry on any food business. The Food Safety
and Standards (Licensing and Registration ) Regulations, 2011 regulate the
procedure for grant of licence and regulation to FBOs. Eligibility criteria
have been specified for issuance of Central Licence, State Licence and
Registration. In case of Central / State Licence, a Unique Licence Number is
granted for different kinds of businesses for carrying out food business at a
particular premise for which licence has been granted. The FBOs are required to
buy and sell food products only form, or to, licensed / registered vendors and
maintain record thereof.
Hygiene
Rating Scheme:
The
Hygiene Rating Scheme is a technology-driven , user-friendly Scheme where food
establishments are given a rating on a scale of 1 – 5 (in smiley symbols) for
their hygiene and food safety compliance. This scheme encourages food
businesses to ensure high standards of hygiene and sanitation and allows
consumers to make informed food choices. This scheme is currently applicable to
:
i)Food
Service Establishments (such as restaurants, cafes, diners and other eating
places)
ii)Sweet
Shops
iii)Bakeries
iv)Meat
Shops
Eat
Right India Initiative :
Safe foods
and healthy diets are critical in the context of India’s high burden of food
borne diseases , under-nutrition, micro-nutrient deficiencies and growing
incidence of obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension,
diabetes, heart related diseases etc. In view of this and to bring about social
and behavioral change, FSSAI has launched ‘East Right India’ Movement covering
a wide spectrum of activities, both regulatory and non-regulatory on food
safety and nutrition.This movement was launched on 10th July , 2018
by engaging with key stakeholders and citizens. This initiative aligns with
Government’s focus on public health through its three key programmes, namely
Swachch Bharat Mission, Ayushman Bharat and Poshan Abhiyaan. The Eat Right
India Movement envisions safe and nourishing food for all Indians produced in
environmentally sustainable systems.
Apart from
regulatory measures, several benchmarking and certification programs have been
introduced to ensure compliances of food safety and hygiene standards by the
Food Business Operators, including unorganized businesses like local dhabas,
petty food vendors, fruits and vegetable sellers and street food vendors
etc.
BHOG :
(Blissful Hygienic Offering to God):
BHOG is an
initiative to encourage Places of Worship to ensure the health and welfare of
the pilgrims, by educating food handlers in the premises and vendors in the
surrounding area about proper food safety and hygiene. Under this initiative,
places of worship where offerings are cooked/handled are identified, audited ,
and basic training is imparted to the food handlers. After successful
completion of all the steps, the identified place of worship is recognized
/certified. During 2021-22, 527 places of worship in various states/UTs
including Gujarat, HP,J&K, Karnataka, MP,Maharastra, Meghalaya, Odisha,
Tamil Nadu, UP , Uttarakhand, Chandigarh and Delhi were certified.
Codex:
The Codex
Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is a joint inter-governmental body of the Food
and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Health Organisation (WHO) of the
United Nations with about 189 members (188 Member countries and one Member
Organisation (EU). Codex has worked since 1963 to create harmonized
international food standards to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair
trade practices. India is a member of
Codex Alimentarius Commission since 1964 and continues to be a partner in the
international food standards development process. India actively participates
in the Codex meetings and cooperates in hosing and co-hosting Codex Committee
meetings to ensure that India’s concerns/issues are taken into consideration
while developing international standards.
===========================================
India’s
federal system of government works through the central authority and states for
better administration on various subjects. Both the national government and the
states have the power to make laws, and both have autonomy on certain subjects.
Food is
one of the important subject on the concurrent list of the Indian federal
system. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is entrusted
with ensuring public health by promoting food safety.
The Food
Authority at the centre and the State Food Safety Authorities jointly share
this responsibility as delineated by the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
While Food Authority provides policy intervention, direction and coordination
at national level, States/UTs conduct food safety enforcement at the field
level.
Since Food safety and compliance is a crucial
matter and a shared responsibility, it is pertinent to ensure coordination of
state authorities (FDA) with centre (Food Safety & Standards Authority) for
creating a nationwide transformation of food system for safe, healthy and
sustainable food.
To
incentivize States and Union Territories (UTs) to enhance food safety within
their regions, FSSAI announces the State Food Safety Index (SFSI) annually for
each financial year since 2019 The SFSI is a unique, benchmarking model
developed by India to evaluate the performance of states and union territories
(UTs) on a set of well-defined criteria for food safety. Each criterion is
further elaborated with detailed checkpoints.
States and
Union Territories are free to implement these criteria using methodologies best
suited to their state. The Index is based on performance of State/ UT on five
significant parameters, namely, Human Resources and Institutional Data,
Compliance, Food Testing-Infrastructure and Surveillance, Training &
Capacity Building and Consumer Empowerment.
The Index
is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model that provides an
objective framework for evaluating food safety across all States/UT
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