The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is reporting a positive shift in food safety compliance across the country. FSSAI chief Rajit Punhani noted that following a nationwide crackdown on restaurants and packaged food items, inspections by state governments have increased significantly. This has led to substantial improvements in food safety standards in recent months, indicating a slow but steady change in the food safety landscape in India.
Though he did not give a time frame for the implementation, he said they will need time for issuing the notification.
“It is when there are violations that gets highlighted in the media. Analogue Paneer To Be Banned Nationwide? Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh Gujarat, Karnataka and a few others have already banned analogue paneer — made mostly of vegetable oils, starches, emulsifiers and other additives. The warning about high sugar, salt and fat is likely to come in red hexagon labels — the court will take the final call. If a product is high in fat or high in sugar or high in salt, it will be there on the warning label. Whether these labels come in local languages will depend on the manufacturer. “We first have to issue a draft notification. Then we have to invite comments. On the whole, for the consumer, it is safer to buy products from stores or local vendors, he added.
Because of processes involved, Punhani said, sugar Salt Warnings In the other key development in food safety, the Supreme Court-ordered warning labels in front of food packages will take some more time. Because there’s a lot of trade affected because of this, we have to put it on the WTO website. Because all the manufacturers will have to change their labels,” he added, and then we will have to give some time for relabelling.
In recent months, more than 100,000 notices have been issued and around 5000 licenses have been suspended. More than 600 people have been arrested and around 1900 convictions made, he added. Penalties have been imposed in about 33,000 cases. asked if FSSAI planning for a blanket ban, Punhani said they are having an all-states meeting on September 24 While some states have already banned analogue paneer. The deadline is September 30.
There is also another factor, he said. There are many inspections in which things are found to be okay, Punhani told NDTV in an exclusive interview. So it is not that everyone is violating but the violations get highlighted,” he said. “Overall that ecosystem of compliance is gradually coming in and we notice now that the percentage of violations is coming down,” he added. “Once all the states give us feedback and if there’s a consensus, then we will also ban analogue paneer across the country,” he said. Analogue dairy products are available worldwide and analogue cheese is very popular in certain countries, Punhani said. “But in India, because paneer is one of our major sources of food and protein, so eight states have already banned it because they want to ensure that their consumers get only milk-based paneer,” he added. These warnings, he said, will be very clear so it is “very simple for the consumer to make out that this is a warning symbol”. E-Commerce platforms will also have to change, showing manufacturing and expiry dates up close on the sites, he said.
