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PACPROCESS-DRINKTECH 2019 SHOWDAILY 14 DECEMBER 2019 | SUPPORTED BY PACKAGING SOUTH ASIA & INDIFOODBEV
CONSUMER DEMAND WILL PUSH HEALTHIER PRODUCTION
FSSAI focuses on safety and health
of them are not aware of best
hygiene practices. Many have
minimal knowledge that food
becomes unsafe without excel-
lent hygiene practice. FSSAI
adopts a cluster approach for
small FBOs rather than tackling
individual venders.
Agarwal explained that FS-
SAI offers training, in case it
comes across issues like availa-
bility of potable water, and lack
of electricity, power supply,
and waste disposal systems. It
works with municipal authori-
ties to make all these things
happen.
MANDEEP KAUR
E
stablished under the
Food Safety and Stand-
ards Act 2006, the Food
Safety and Standards Authority
of India (FSSAI) is establishing
food safety regulations in India.
The FSSAI lays down science-
based standards for articles of
food and regulates their manu-
facture, storage, distribution,
sale, and import to ensure the
availability of safe and healthy
food for consumption. Recent-
ly we got a chance to interact
with Pawan Agarwal the chief
executive officer of FSSAI. He
made us aware of some of the
new projects, systems, stand-
ards, and regulations and their
implementation.
NATIONAL FOOD LABORATORY AT
GHAZIABAD
Inaugurated by Harsh Vard-
han, union minister of Health
and Family Welfare, the FS-
SAI opened the National Food
Laboratory at Ghaziabad in the
New Delhi NCR on 23 August
2019. Speaking about the new
laboratory, Agarwal said, “It is
one of the two premier referral
laboratories under the direct
administrative control of FS-
SAI. The national lab is a result
of a Public-Private-Partnership
(PPP) –  the first-of-its-kind in
the food laboratory sector.
The other referral laboratory,
which is in Kolkata, has also
been upgraded.”
“The laboratory is equipped
with very sophisticated and
advanced technology for food
testing. It is one of the best
food labs in the country. The
lab also includes training cent-
ers by Merck and Thermo Fish-
er. In this complex, we are go-
ing to have high-quality testing
facilities and training facilities,”
he added.
NEW REGULATIONS
and their implementation
CLEAN FOOD HUBS
Pawan Agarwal, chief executive officer, FSSAI
The FSSAI issued many new
rules in recent years. Since
some of these regulations are
struggling with concerns raised
by industry, their implementa-
tion may take time. Agarwal
stated that developing an en-
tire ecosystem takes a while,
and there is always a time lag
of 6 months to 1.5 years in set-
ting standards and their practi-
cal implementation. 
  Agarwal said, “It’s an on-
going process. New develop-
ments will take place from
time to time and they will be
reviewed and improved. The
standards are coming into ef-
fect either from 1 January or
from 1 July 2019. We normally
give at least six months for a
new standard to come into
force so that businesses have
enough breathing time to get
into the standard’s regime. For
example, if we notify a stand-
ard now, it will only come into
effect from July 2020. In some
cases, businesses request more
time for transition, and we
consider their requests in such
cases.
INDUSTRY REACTION TO
PROPOSED LABELING
REGULATIONS
FSSAI came up with new labe-
ling regulations that have cre-
ated considerable agitation in
the food and beverage indus-
try. “These regulations bring
very comprehensive changes
in labeling. However, one of
the most contentious issues in
labeling rules is front and back
labeling, which gives, based
on the thresholds, color-coded
labels for salt, sugar, and satu-
rated fat.”
The industry has expressed
its concern about the thresh-
olds set by FSSAI and request-
ed it to recalibrate these levels
based on Indian consumption
patterns. Of the discussions
held with the industry and
sharing FSSAI’s action plan,
Agarwal said, “We are on the
same page to decide minimum
thresholds beyond which the
food is declared or labeled as
‘unhealthy.’ The work includes
conducting a survey on food
products in the country, assess-
ing the quantity of salt, sugar,
and fat in them to judge the
current reality and then taking
steps towards reducing them.”
CLUSTER APPROACH FOR SMALL
FOOD BUSINESS OPERATORS
Reaching out to small food
business operators (FBO) in the
country is very difficult as most
“FSSAI has also taken other
initiatives like clean food hubs,
and the authority is aiming for
clean and fresh fruit and veg-
etable markets. In all these
initiatives, there is a matrix on
which we measure whether
they are doing all things cor-
rectly. Our inspection model
includes pre-audits to find out
the current situation, interven-
tions to improve the situation,
and a post-audit which is pre-
ceded by the training of the
vendor as well as infrastruc-
tural improvement of that area
in case required. After the post-
audit, if we find them good, we
declare it a clean food hub.”
FOOD FORTIFICATION
In October 2016, FSSAI op-
erationalized the Food Safety
and Standards (Fortification of
Foods) Regulations, for fortify-
ing staples such as wheat flour
and rice (with iron, Vitamin B12
and folic acid), milk and edible
oil (with Vitamins A and D)
and double-fortified salt (with
iodine and iron) to reduce the
high burden of micronutrient
malnutrition in India. Agar-
wal shared, “We are following
a comprehensive fortifications
strategy to promote it in the
open market. So far, we have
got a success rate in fortified