(Daily News Scan - DNS English) Food Sample Survey - FSS
Important Points:
Recently a data was released on enforcement of norms by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) saying that out of 1.06 lakh food sample surveyed, 3.7 percent food samples were found to be unsafe, 15.8 percent were substandard and 9 percent were having labelling defects. This data released was for 2018-19, and it was the first year when data was separately collected for unsafe, substandard and labelling defects separately.
FSSAI released data on enforcement efforts by states/UTs in the country. The data released includes samples analyzed, cases launched, conviction and penalties by UT’s during the year 2018-19. During the year, a total of 1, 06,459 samples were analyzed. The data this year for unsafe food will help the food safety authority to take precise and corrective measures.
In comparison to the data analyzed in 2017-18, this year has seen a growth of 7% in the number of samples analysed. Around 25% more samples were found non conforming compared to the previous year indicating a better targeting of enforcement efforts by UT’s and states. An increase has been seen in civil cases launched by 36%, while an increase of 67% was noticed in the number of cases where the penalties were imposed. In comparison to the previous year the amount of penalty has been increased by 23% during the year2018-19.
Talking about the performances of the states in this survey the top ten states that performed well were Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh. On the contrary the non performing states include Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Odisha, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Telangana and Uttarakhand. The reason behind the poor performance of some states is said to be due to not putting in place full time officers for food and safety and lack of proper food testing laboratories despite of the food safety law coming in force a decade ago.
Food safety issue is not only limited to adulteration but it also extends beyond. Fooborne diseases are many in number almost accounting to be 31 in number. The global burden of foodborne diseases is comparable to those of the major infectious disease HIV/AIDS malaria and tuberculosis. The most frequently caused foodborne illness was diarrheal diseases agents. The global burden of food borne disease caused by 31 hazards in 2010 was in millions.
In order to fight these food borne issues, improvement in food safety is required throughout the food chain with more coordinated efforts and greater focus. Most importantly enforcement efforts have to be better targeted and preceded by surveillance efforts to identify hotspots and problem areas. FSSAI is working with states and UT’s and increasing the capacity of state food laboratories and enabling use of private food labs for testing food samples.
Now let’s know some points about FSSAI – FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS AUTHORITY OF INDIA.
- It is an autonomous statutory body established under Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. It is administered by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- Its work is to protect and promote public health through regulation and supervision of food safety.
- Among its main function is framing of regulations to lay down the standards and guidelines in relation to articles of food.
- Granting license and certification of food safety to food related businesses. It also lays down procedure and guidelines for laboratories in food business.
- It also collects data regarding contamination in food products, identification of emerging risks etc.
- Most importantly it promotes general, awareness about food safety and food security.
