New set of Food Safety rules on anvil

With an aim to widen the scope of ensuring safety of food products, the government is all set to introduce a new set of regulations from next year, replacing the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
    
"Under the existing provisions, small operators like street vendors cannot be licensed. The new regulations will require them to undergo a simple registration process at the base level, say the panchayats or municipalities," said PI Suvarathan, chairperson of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
    
The new set of rules aims to integrate the whole licensing system. The food processing will be classified as High-risk products (meat, milk, edible oil and the like) and low-risk products (rice).
    
"Companies with inter-state operations will be brought under a common regulatory system. Besides, there will be specific regulations covering safety of foods distributed by Railways and the Civil Aviation," Suvarathan said.
    
According to the new regulations Food Safety Officers will be appointed who would do surveillance and prepare reports on quality of various food products keeping in mind the interests of consumers.
    
"We (FSSAI) have already suggested to states to set up separate Food Safety Department by each of them which would monitor food processing in their respective areas," he said.