The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is up with several important draft regulations which are ready for implementation in the next six months.The FSSAI is also accelerating the work of scientific panels and committees employed for standard making. For this, committees and the panels are meeting more regularly than before. This was informed by V N Gaur, interim chairman and the CEO, FSSAI, in an exclusive interaction with FnB News.One biggest effort would be towards developing a draft standard for sampling analysis. “We have to revive the older DGHS (Director General of Health Services) manual. Method validations are needed to be looked at. New technologies have come in but we are still following the old methods,” he said.Gaur informed that by mid-December the panel report on sampling analysis would be ready which would be then forwarded to the scientific committee for review. Also, the draft on import regulation is nearing completion. Another draft on risk-based analysis is also nearing completion. A draft on flavours is also in the pipeline.Further, a pilot project for recall is scheduled for completion in the next three months. For this, companies like the GS1 and Nestle have been asked for expertise. “Established food chains and medium food enterprises are being roped in for the project to execute the test. However, some issues regarding the size, cost, and recall of products spread in different regions are to be sorted out,” the CEO informed.The Authority is also looking out for a systematic approach in surveillance. The FSSAI has already floated an EoI (Expression of Interest) whereby, either one or two agencies would be appointed to perform surveys on different food items in different parts of the country. The agencies would be taking random samples, giving status reports after sampling and inspections for identifying commonly occurring adulterants / contaminants. Infrastructure and machinery strengthening is also on the top of the agenda and Gaur is pleased with the fact that the state governments are cooperating tremendously.Gaur pointed out that there was a huge requirement of laboratories in the country, however, the stress would now be on self-compliance.“Even the smallest of the manufacturer wants to get his product tested. For every two to three hour journey there should be a laboratory present for the basic testing. For every five districts there should be a basic lab for chemical and microbiological testing, i.e. in the ratio of 1:5. For every 10 districts we should have a full-fledged laboratory capable of testing samples for chemical, microbiological, heavy metals and pesticides analysis. We have identified 72 government-owned food labs for food testing.“Out of these, we want to make 62 full-fledged labs capable of testing various parameters, fulfilling the 1:10 parameter. We have done a gap-analysis survey of all the labs to know which areas need more attention and the report has been sent to the states,” Gaur said.Whether these labs would be established in a set time-frame, whether private sectors and public institutions be involved would have to be looked into. In addition, the Authority intended to develop 125 labs in the country. Human resource development would be an important agenda for laboratory expansion. In this regard, the FSSAI would be organising an entrance examination for public analysts in January. Also, a team of experts has been employed to set the syllabus and other aspects for the lab professionals.Training programmes have always been stressed upon by the FSSAI. The Authority is focussing on training programme of the staffers and the industry in a big way. Changing the mindset of the industry and the regulator to accomplish food safety would be an important task for the FSSAI.The Authority is also seeking to engage the industry in a big way. Gaur said that NIFTEM (National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management) will be the apex body in organising training programmes and its services could be utilised as think-tank for the industry.
source: fnbnews
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