Food regulation is not a one-sided affair, and it is imperative to migrate from a hazard-based system to a risk-based system, according to S N Mohanty, chief executive officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Mohanty was delivering the keynote address on Thursday at the two-day Federation of Indian Chambers of Chambers and Industry (FICCI) Food World India 2012, the sixth global convention for food business and industry.
"When a risk-based approach is adopted, inspection will become prioritised. To put it simply, the regulatory authorities across India urge food business operators (FBOs) all over the country - estimated to be about 5 crore now and likely to double in the next two or three years - to up their guard. There is no dichotomy between the regulators and the FBOs. Co-production will be the keyword. Both will have to be on the same page. The onus of self-regulation and compliance will now be on the FBO," he said.
He further said, "It wouldn't be possible to migrate seamlessly to the risk-based approach without making sure that the FBOs have noted that it applies to both products seeking import clearance and those which will be sold in the domestic market, and risks are of two types, namely inherent risks and controllable risks."
Uniformity in licensing is another aspect the chief of the country's apex food regulator dwelled upon. He said, "Bundled licensing software, which enables the process and the product to be along the same lines, is being rolled out for each state, because it would be impossible to streamline the process without computerising it. The data available online is inadequate, and that has held the sector back for a long time. Moreover, the ability to create standards is also limited. With the passage of time, all the provisions of the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954, will be repealed, so the inadequacies will be ironed out, and import control will also become smooth."
Product approval has not been clearly defined under Section 22 of the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006 and Regulations, 2011, which came into effect on August 5 last year. Genetically-modified foods await notification. The onus for food safety is not on the FSSAI but on the FBO, according to Mohanty.
"Obtaining a no-objection certificate may take some time because the product available in the market is not necessarily safe and may have to undergo preliminary scrutiny. Certain minimum checks are mandatory," Mohanty said, adding that the nutritional matrices will be taken into consideration while determining the type of scrutiny. Some foods may just have a quick pass-through, while closer scrutiny will become mandatory for others.
He spoke about proprietary foods, a term rapidly gaining currency now, but from the perspective of the apparent ambiguities. It encompasses novel food, food additives, and functional foods. As for traditional foods, he said, "In India, the main issue hindering their approval is inadequate resources, including manpower."
Since it is a science-based process, an obvious drawback is the fact that there isn't enough laboratory infrastructure. "There are 60 National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)-accredited labs, and another 55 are being set up currently. By the end of the Twelfth Plan, there will be about 200 labs. In addition, there will be 70 intermediate labs, and 30 referral labs."
Among the proposed scientific panels, according to Mohanty, are panels dedicated to fisheries and spices (the latter being a category in which there is immense potential for export growth). There is a proposal to set up a national food science body, whose primary objective is risk analysis. "The licensing regime, the food safety management system (FSMS) plan and safety audit are interlinked," he said.
"There is a huge communication gap. The modernisation and strengthening of laboratories is the need of the hour, and the Centre has earmarked funds for this purpose. There should be an orientation programme for the industry by the industry," Mohanty concluded.
The second half of the session was a panel discussion on the industry's expectations of the Act. The panelists were M M Chitale, vice-president, Association of Food Scientists and Technologists (India) [AFST(I)]; Raji P Srivastava, food safety commissioner, Punjab, who spoke about the implementation of the Act and the industry's expectations; A S Upadhyay, joint director, export inspection agency, ministry of commerce and industry, Government of India, whose topic was quality control and food safety audits under FSSAI for domestic and international trade; J Padmaja, member, scientific panel for methods of analysis and sampling and assistant director, National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, who spoke about how FSSA encourages safety and innovation; and S N Bhat, food regulatory affairs manager, Nestle Pvt. Ltd, who spoke about the approval of additives (drawing pointers from the Food Code).
