TFMA suggests ways to TN's food safety chief to redress FSSA hardships

Source:http://www.fnbnews.com

A meeting on the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006, took place in Chennai recently. It was chaired by Kumar Jeyanth, commissioner, food safety, health and family welfare department, Government of Tamil Nadu. Colonel C R Dalal, director (enforcement), Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), New Delhi, attended the meeting, where a Memorandum was submitted by the Tamilnadu Foodgrains Merchants Association (TFMA). S P Jeyapragasam and S V S S Velshankar, TFMA's president and secretary respectively, represented the Madurai-based association at the meeting.
The TFMA office-bearers, who had earlier presented the memorandum to Ghulam Nabi Azad, health and family welfare minister, Government of India; S Gandhi Selvan, minister of state for health and family welfare, Government of India, and K Chandramouli, chairman, FSSAI, said, “We welcome the Act and Rules and Regulations (FSSR, 2011) enacted by the Centre, but feel that the shortcomings in the Act were overlooked while framing the same. If these hardships are not overcome, farmers, manufacturers of food products and small and big traders of food products would have no choice but to consider pursuing another occupation.”
Jeyapragasam and Velshankar requested Jeyanth and Dalal to seek an audience with the concerned minister and food safety officials on behalf of the government of the southern state and take up the TFMA's demands (which are listed as follows):

• FSSAI sought suggestions to redress the shortcomings in the Act before March 31, 2012. As per the notification, we had submitted a 600-page document containing our demands for the review of the standards of agricultural food products. The country's apex food regulatory authority has not announced its findings till date
• Our association, and various other bodies, have sought the formation of a new committee to remove the shortcomings in the Act. Paying heed to our demand, FSSAI has constituted a new committee, and we welcome its announcement. We also requested the authority to provide a representation to our association in the committee
•    As the fines and punishments have been revised harshly several times, a situation has arisen where honest traders could be threatened by officials in several places. Hence to rectify this situation, a committee comprising representatives of farmers and traders must be set up to reduce fines and punishments, and FSSAI should strive to amend the Act in Parliament after reviewing the recommendations of this committee. We request the state government to urge the Centre to amend the Act
• As per the Act, the owners of wedding halls and cooks who undertake catering at functions have to obtain registration and licenses. Some officials insist that cooks who have already registered obtain a temporary license also. This must be done away with. To instruct cooks and suppliers who undertaking catering at marriages to get medical certificates is not correct. It is also not suitable for our country, therefore we request you to kindly reconsider this
• We welcome that food product manufacturers who use water for manufacture of food items should use only good and safe water in their manufacturing process. At the same time, local bodies should take efforts to provide good and safe water. Dust, insects, mosquitoes, cockroaches and rats are the creations of bad maintenance of our environment. Commercial establishments will follow it only if local bodies bear this in mind and maintain a good environment
• We are neither opposing the objectives of the Act nor its implementation, but we recommend it be modified in accordance with our country’s economy. The present Act has been framed to suit the developed Western countries. This Act must be modified taking into account the average expenditure on food incurred by Indians in their monthly budget
• A food item is treated as adulterated when its standard is less than what is stipulated in the Act, although it is suitable for human consumption. It has to be revised and to be treated as sub-standard. The punishment is similar to adulterated food and this must be exempted
• The procedure for getting registrations and licenses under the Act must be simplified to enable manufacturers and traders of our country to easily follow them
• The fees for registrations and licenses prevailing in other countries must be studied and fixed according to our country’s condition. Fines and punishments for traders who fail to register themselves and delay to get licenses are to be reduced
• The Act provides for anyone to take samples of food products. This will enable unsocial elements to threaten the traders and manufacturers of food products. Hence the sample-taking procedure should be reviewed and it should be ensure that only officials take the samples
• We are not opposed to the enforcement of the Act, but would like the standards of food products prevalent in our country to be revised to suit the food products. Awareness has to be created in the minds of farmers, consumers, manufacturers and traders of food products. Then only the Act can be put into force. Or else this will result in lot of confusion
•