Wanna get our awesome news?

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Subscribe!

Actually we won’t spam you and keep your personal data secure

As the voice of the Indian restaurant industry, we represent the interests of 500000+ restaurants & an industry valued @ USD 4 billion. Whether a chain or independent restaurant, the NRAI is here to help every step of the way. Join us!

News

Only 10% of imported foods need be checked, says FSSAI

on

New Delhi: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is all for change and relaxing rules under new CEO Pawan Agarwal.

The latest easing of norms is in the testing of imported food consignments. From testing 100% of imported edibles the food regulator wants to move to a policy of testing just 10% of the consignments. This will be based on risk-based sampling.

“The risk of a food or beverage is determined by three parameters: category of the food, country from where it has been sourced and credibility of the importer and manufacturer,” said Agarwal.

Sources in FSSAI say that as of now the list of high- and low-risk imports will be adopted from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), the nodal authority of export-import policies. According to DGFT there are 14 items on the list of high-risk products, these include milk and dairy products, cereals, baby food, tea and coffee among others. All products under the high-risk The risk of a food or beverage is determined by three parameters: category of the food, country from where it has been sourced and credibility of the importer and manufacturer PAWAN AGARWAL, CEO, FSSAI category are subjected to testing under FSSAI-prescribed guide-lines.

The DGFT’s list of safe or low-risk products include alcohol and tobacco. “We will soon devise our own list ,” said Agarwal.

Sources in the food authority say that all milk and dairy products will continue to be tested because they are perishable. “It is important to check the date of expiration of the product,” said the source mentioned above.

As far as the parameter of the source country for import is concerned, Agarwal said: “It would be the risk score of the country of origin. We will take out the data on background of each country in terms of exporting high and poor quality products to India. Mostly this list would include the under-developed or lesser developed countries”.

Another round of risk sampling would be done after check-ing the credibility of the import-er followed by the check on the reputation of the manufacturer involved.

“We welcome this move as it will increase ease of doing business. The fact that FSSAI is cognizant of the important of the importer and the manufacturer is good. Alcohol is the least risky as most of it is imported from reputed brands that have honed their reputation over years,” said Anil Kumar Bhushan, deputy secretary general of ISWAI, an association of Indian wines and spirits manufacturers.

 

Source: Hindustan Times