Next time consumers have any complaints against food items available in the market, through scientific testing they trace the origin of problems to producers or marketing companies.
According to the new food safety guidelines being drafted by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSA), there may be provisions of testing and tracing the origin of the food products right back to firm level.
?We are examining various food laws abroad and also concerns and interests of all the stakeholders in the food supply chain, from the producers to the consumers,? Dr. P I Suvrathan, chairman, FSSA said on Monday. He said after deliberations with all the stakeholders, a draft guidelines would be released over the next 2-3 months.
Addressing an industry interface organised by FICCI, Suvrathan said that next three months would be preparatory time for FSSA. ?We will be looking at the systems in the US, Europe, the UK and New Zealand and figure out how transparency has been built into the food safety and standards in these countries,? he said.
FSSA would also have to deal with the huge task of putting in place the minimum levels of compliance of food laws, administrative efficiency, transparency and an independent audit system. ?We would also have to tackle the question of bringing down the 85,000-odd cases pending in various courts under the Prevention of Food Adulteration act,? he said. The food sector in India have been governed by many laws under different ministries. This multiplicity in law in food sector resulted in many problems in the area of food standards maintenance.