Lok Sabha Question No. 2126 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-11-29
Subject: Quality of Fast Foods
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: OM BIRLA

## Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

## Department of Consumer Affairs

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2126

TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.11.2016

## QUALITY OF FAST FOODS

## 2126.  SHRI OM BIRLA:

## Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the processed food items are being sold in violation of hygiene norms across the country and if so, the measures being adopted by the Government to monitor the quality of fast food sold by MNCs and others;
- (b) whether the Government has formulated any guidelines to maintain a specific standard in the fast food sector;
- (c) whether many soft drinks and tinned food companies do not strictly adhere to the code in  matter  of  printing  the  contents  of  the  product  outside  the  container  and  if  so,  the details thereof; and
- (d) whether the Government proposes to make it mandatory for all the soft drink producers and  tinned  food  companies  to  print  the  contents  of  caffeine,  calories  and  other ingredients on bottles/cans/packets, etc. and if so, the measures taken to implement the decision early?

## ANSWER

## miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k jkT; ea=h ¼Jh lh vkj pkS/kjh½

## THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)

(a) & (b) :  The  safety standards of different categories of food items, including processed food, have been notified under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, Food Safety and Standards (Food Products and Food Additives)  Regulations,  2011  and    Food  Safety  and  Standards  (Contaminants,  Toxins  and  Residues) Regulations,  2011  etc.  Further,  the  hygienic  standards  such  as  Good  Hygiene  Practices  (GHP),  Good Manufacturing Practices and personal Hygiene, are prescribed under the Schedule IV of Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011.

Every  Food  Business  Operator  in  the  country  has  to  follow  and  comply  with  various  norms  and standards prescribed under FSS Act, 2006, Rules and Regulations made thereunder.

The implementation and enforcement of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 primarily rests with State/UT Governments.

Regular  surveillance,  monitoring,  inspection  and  random  sampling  of  all  the  food  items  are  being done by the State Food Safety Officers. The samples taken are sent to the laboratories recognised by FSSAI for analysis. In cases samples are found to be not conforming to the provisions of the Act and the Rules and Regulations made thereunder, recourse is taken to the penal provisions under Chapter IX of the Act

(c)  &  (d)  :  Mandatory  labelling  requirements  for  pre-packaged  foods  ,  including  list  of  ingredients, nutritional information, energy value  in K cal etc. is  prescribed under sub-regulation 2.2.2 of Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011.  Requirement of declaration on the label that product contains caffeine is also prescribed in sub-regulation 2.4.5 (38) of these Regulations. Further, it has recently  been  made  mandatory  to  declare  amount  of  caffeine  on  the  label  in  respect  of  non-alcoholic carbonated beverages.

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