FSSAI has issued an order dated 27 October 2020 related to the Constitution of Food Safety Coordination Committee (FSCC) for managing food safety emergency situation in the country.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has developed framework of national Food Safety Emergency Response (FSER) system which outlines multi sectorial coordination, their roles, responsibilities and management actions during food safety emergency situation as envisaged under Section 16(3)(v) and (vi) of FSS Act 2006 which specifically mandates the Food Authority to search, collect, collate, analyse and summarise relevant scientific and technical data particularly relating to identification of emerging risks; and to introduce a rapid alert system.
The framework of FSER system helps to ensure cooperation and collaboration by all interested parties and facilitates the sharing of information among responsible agencies. Such a system also enables food authorities to focus on prevention and preparedness, rather than only reacting to individual events, and therefore, has a greater long-term sustainability. The detailed framework of FSER system is placed at Annex 1.
Under this framework, in order to manage food safety emergencies, Food Safety Coordination Committee (FSCC) has been constituted and comprises of members of various Ministries and government departments. It will be chaired by FSSAI CEO Arun Singhal and other members as follows:
- CEO, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) — Chairperson of FSCC Committee
- Executive Director (Compliance Strategy/Training), FSSAI
- Advisor (Science & Standards), FSSAI
- Joint Secretary, Department of Health, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare or his representative
- Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare or his representative
- Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce (EP Agri Division), Ministry of Commerce or his representative
- Joint Secretary (Cattle Dairy Development), Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHD) or his representative
- Joint Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution or his representative
- Joint Secretary (Fisheries), Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHD), Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, Dairying or his representative
- Joint Secretary (Nutrition), Ministry of Women & Child Development (MWCD) or his representative
- Joint Secretary (Livestock Health), Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHD), Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, Dairying or his representative
- Director, Export Inspection Council of India (EIC) or his representative
- Director, National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) or his representative
- Representative of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
- Director (Imports), FSSAI
- Head of Food Safety Emergency Cell, FSSAI- Member Secretary/Convenor
The key roles and responsibilities of the Committee are as follows;
- To take decisions for controlling and management of food safety emergency situations based on the recommendation of FSRAC
- Direct the planned measures to related agencies in implementing control and monitoring actions
- Monitor, evaluate and review the measures used that are fit to the situation.
- Consider and make a decision when the situation has been controlled in order to increase or decrease the response level, including incident closure.
- Advice for policy making for management and control of food safety emergency situation from time to time.
Source : FSSAI
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