Food safety regulating body to include more food commodities under its list

Chennai:
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has standards regulating 350 food commodities and plans are on to bring in more commodities under the purview of regulating body, according to chairman of FSSAI K Chandramouli.
Speaking during the launch programme of ‘Food Safety for all’, a mass contact education programme on food safety, standards and unsafe food, Chandramouli said that FSAAI is planning to increase the list of food commodities so that it corresponds to international level.
FSSAI, which has been created 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, also is planning to regulate 5.5 crore food business operators in the country, he said.
“We are trying to identify each and every operators and have them registered and licenced so that it is easy to track them,” he said. He said this is easy to say but difficult to implement and FSSAI is taking the help of Consumer Association of India in this regard. He said the creation of awareness, publicity and knowledge is important in this regard.
Interestingly, the state’s role in ensuring food safety was hailed by Chandramaoili as he said Tamil Nadu has adequate number of food inspectors, to implement the Food Safety regulations.

Tamil Nadu Co-operation, Food and Consumer Protection secretary M P Nirmala stressed on the need for food safety while underlining that it is not to target poor but to ensure that poor have healthy food.
Former chief election commissioner and trustee of Consumer Association of India N Gopalaswami stressed on the need for enforcement to ensure safety of food.
Chandramouli also flagged off the their first mass contact education programme on food safety, standards and unsafe food at the Ethiraj College here. A Food Safety Express van fully loaded with all materials including audi-visual and audio equipment will embark on a journey across selected districts of Tamil Nadu including Chennai, Vellore, Trichy, Madurai and Coimbatore. The four-month journey will conclude on May 1, 2013.
A bilingual portal http://foodsafe.caiindia.org was also launched during the occasion.