Lok Sabha Question No. 827 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-23
Subject: Food Standards and Safety
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Ramesh Bidhuri, Anumula Revanth Reddy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA U NSTARRED QUESTION NO. 827 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23 RD JULY, 2021

## FOOD STANDARDS AND S AFETY

## 827. SHRI RAMESH BIDHURI: SHRI ANUMULA REVANTH REDDY:

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

(a) whether the Government undertakes survey of food items every year across the country, if so, thedetails 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 HEALT H AND FAMILY WELFARE (DR . BHARATI PRAVIN PAW AR )

(a):Food  Safety  and  Standards  Authority  of  India  (FSSAI)  has  informed  that  it  has  b regularly conducting survey s of mass consumption fooditemsacross the country to check status of  compliance  of prescribed  standards  and to take  appropriate  remedial  action s.  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 20 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 an safety parameters of various food products in order to ensure the availa bility 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  F ood  Safety,  Designated  Officers  &  Food Safety Officers.

- Regular  surveillance,  monitoring,  inspection  and  sampling  of  all  food  products carried out by Food Safety Officers of States/UTs to check the compliance of provi of FSS Act, 2006, Rules and Regulations made there under.
- To meet the testing requirements, FSSAI has a network of 240 notified NABL accredit food testing laboratories both under public and private sectors for testing  at p appellate levels.
- To  evolve  the  overall  approach to  compliance,  FSSAI adoptsa  Risk  Based  approach towards  inspections  and  surveillance  aligning  with  global  standards.  Risk  Ba Inspection System (RBIS) contributes to strengthen and protect safe food supply and fair trade practices and prevent fraudule nt practices.
- FSSAI hasdeveloped State Food Safety Index to measure the performance of States o 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, FS SAI signsMoUs with States/UTs for providing technical and financial support for strengthening food safety mecha foodtesting 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 m 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  r number  of  Designated  Officers  (DOs)  and  Food  Safety  Officers  (FSOs)  in  their  area jurisdiction .