FSSAI is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the commencement of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. FSSAI has already released a number of innovative initiatives and new standards for some foods are on the anvil. Keeping in mind food safety the FSSAI has decided to tighten regulations for some easily contaminated foods. Just recently the FSSSI tightened regulations for instant noodles, bread, and packaged water and milk and honey are next on their list.
There have been a number of reports about adulterants in milk and honey and FSSAI is working towards better regulatory standards for these foods. The FSSAI has already begun taking a quality milk survey these days. They have also undertaken talks with stakeholders and milk cooperatives and based on these have drafted a milk regulation that is awaiting approval before being made public.
After the new standards for milk are out they will concentrate on honey as a number of concerns have been expressed about contamination in honey. There are doubts also about whether all the honey labeled as ‘pure honey’ is actually as pure as labels claim. Presently there are no standards for honey and no tests that can detect and identify all the added ingredients in honey. Therefore FSSAI is working on a number of tests for honey and will select the best one that will help to identify whether the honey is natural, pure or not.
According to sources, the FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal has expressed satisfaction at the extent of food safety awareness that can be seen across the country. He has stated that till recently consumers were not even aware of food safety leave aside the FSSAI. The CEO, FSSAI was pleasantly surprised when on a recent visit to Kashmir he found the local media running food safety programmes on a daily basis.
He learned later that Kerala and Tamil Nadu were also running programmes on food safety through media which is spearheading food safety awareness in these states. In fact, it is through media that the consumers have become aware of food safety and it is heartening to see this as it is a step in the right direction. FSSAI’s recent 10 point initiatives have also been framed with the idea of taking food safety awareness to every household, school, office, etc. in every nook and cranny of the country.
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