FSSAI Introduces the Food Safety Mitras Scheme

FSSAI has introduced the Food Safety Mitra (FSM) Scheme as a way to engage motivated individuals with the food safety ecosystem at the ground level.

A Food Safety Mitra is an individual, professionally certified by the FSSAI and who will assist with compliances related to the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, Rules and Regulations in three avatars, depending on their respective roles and responsibilities. The three roles are

• Digital Mitra
• Trainer Mitra
• Hygiene Mitra

This new scheme will open up opportunities for the youth of the country in the areas of online licensing and registration of food businesses, food safety training and hygiene auditing. These Mitras would mainly focus on small and medium food businesses to assists them in these areas. The FSSAI is of the opinion that this would lead to ease of doing business by creating a transparent and organised ecosystem supporting food business. Food Businesses on the other hand would be able to get these trained service providers at fair prices which would lead to lowering the cost of compliance.

FSSAI has put together an online portal for the same https://fssai.gov.in/mitra/. The registrations for Digital Mitra has already begun on the web platform. A detailed brochure for the Food Safety Mitra scheme, containing the structure and fees, etc. is available at https://fssai.gov.in/mitra/doc/fs,.pdf

The FSSAI has also requested the Food Safety Commissioners of all the States/UTs to give the widest publicity to this initiative and to promote the enrolment of motivated individuals on the said portal in all the States and UTs.

Further, to kickstart the scheme the Food Safety Commissioners can count on the assistance of the Network of Professionals of Food and Nutrition in India (NetPro.FaN) chapters in their respective states and UTs (where they exist). At the initial stage the training and assessment, for the said scheme, to individuals will be provided by the FSSAI through its Regional Offices so as to enable the scheme to be implemented in an effective manner while at the same time promoting awarness about it among the general public.

The FSSAI has also requested its Regional Offices to conduct face to face training of the Digital Mitras in their respective regions. After the successful completion of the training programme, the participants would be assessed in person and awarded ‘Certificate of Completion’ by the Directors. The first batch of training and assessment would be completed in the month of October 2019.