Life Imprisonment For Food Adulteration Under Food Safety And Standards Act
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, he said the Food Safety and Standards Act passed by the Parliament in 2006 will come into force in next 3-4 months.
The Act integrates multiplicity of provisions under various food related laws. It will among other things regulate food safety standards and uniform licensing in the country.
Of the 101 sections in the Act, so far 43 have been notified and the rest will be notified shortly, he said.
The delay, he said, was mainly because several subjects were not under the Health Ministry and had to be brought under a common ambit.
Source : PTI
FSSAI to issue Integrated license for all food products w.e.f Jan2010
Earlier food manufacturers were subjected to plethora of acts and laws e.g PFA Act , Weight and measurement Act ,Act for milk , Act for Edible Oils , Act for meat processing units etc .These laws would be merged into single entity and would be implemented in phased effective from January next year .
The licence for the larger industries would be issued from the government of India while the state governments will issue the licence for smaller industries. 'Since licences for smaller industries were issued by bodies like panchayats and municipalities, we are now working on getting all these integrated into one licence,' Mr Suvrathan said. Mr Suvrathan is the CEO of the FSSAI .
FSSAI is working on comprehensive Act which is being formulated with analysing present standrads in other countries and Codex Alimentarius.Each sectors has been studied and standards matched with best practises across the globe .
Labelling and Advertising laws are also under review .
source :IANS
Food Safety and Standard Authority Of India - Role s and Resposibility
Highlights of the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006
Various central Acts like
- Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954
- Fruit Products Order , 1955,
- Meat Food Products Order , 1973,
- Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947
- Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation)Order 1988,
- Solvent Extracted Oil,
- De- Oiled Meal and Edible Flour (Control) Order,1967
- Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992
etc will be repealed after commencement of FSS Act, 2006.
The Act also aims to establish a single reference point for all matters relating to food safety and standards, by moving from multi- level, multi- departmental control to a single line of command. To this effect, the Act establishes an independent statutory authority – the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India with head office at Delhi. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the State Food Safety Authorities shall enforce various provisions of the Act.
Duties and functions of the Authority
FSSAI has been mandated by the FSS Act, 2006 for performing the following functions:
- Framing of Regulations to lay down the Standards and guidelines in relation to articles of food and specifying appropriate system of enforcing various standards thus notified.
- Laying down mechanisms and guidelines for accreditation of certification bodies engaged in certification of food safety management system for food businesses.
- Laying down procedure and guidelines for accreditation of laboratories and notification of the accredited laboratories.
- To provide scientific advice and technical support to Central Government and State Governments in the matters of framing the policy and rules in areas which have a direct or indirect bearing of food safety and nutrition .
- Collect and collate date regarding food consumption, incidence and prevalence of biological risk, contaminants in food, residues of various, contaminants in foods products, identification of emerging risks and introduction of rapid alert system.
- Creating an information network across the country so that the public, consumers, Panchayats etc receive rapid, reliable and objective information about food safety and issues of concern.
Provide training programmes for persons who are involved or intend to get involved in food businesses. - Contribute to the development of international technical standards for food, sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards.
- Promote general awareness about food safety and food standards.
Bakery manufacturers need to follow up with food authority for labelling , adultrants , additives and their permissible levels etc .