Industry Odisha Bureau, May 22: In a bid to improve transparency as well as create a nationwide digital monitoring system for food safety, the Government of India (GoI) is reportedly bracing up for centralising the food surveillance role under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) instead of the role being played hitherto by the state governments.
Reportedly, such an important proposal was discussed during the 49th Central Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting chaired by FSSAI CEO Rajit Punhani and attended by Food Safety Commissioners (FSCs) from all the States and Union Territories (UTs).
Notably, the Food Safety Officers (FSOs) at the state-level are, at present, entrusted with the responsibilities of both “surveillance sampling for routine testing” and “enforcement sampling for legal action”.
Thus, “discretionary targeting of businesses” and “inconsistent enforcement practices” by the state-level FSOs are being alleged, sources said.
At present, 2,997 FSOs against the 4,208 sanctioned posts across the country are reportedly looking after the food safety surveillance responsibilities.
Post centralisation, the two chief responsibilities would be bifurcated thenceforth, following which the “surveillance sampling for routine testing” would be placed under the jurisdiction of FSSAI officials, while the “enforcement sampling for legal action” would be looked after by the state-level FSOs, sources informed.
Once the proposal is officially passed and implemented across India, the state-level FSOs “could not collect routine surveillance samples directly from the markets.”
On the other hand, the FSSAI “would select third-party agencies selected through a bidding process who would purchase food products from the market like ordinary consumers for surveillance testing. The samples would be tested at Centre-approved laboratories, and the results would be uploaded to a centralized national database,” sources said.
It has further been said, “In case of a food product found unsafe, the national digital system would instantly alert the concerned State’s FSC with batch-level details for quicker enforcement action.”
