Indian food safety and standards Act, 2006

Dr. A.K. Singla,Dr. A.K. Singla, SMO , FSSAISMO , FSSAI

ILRI workshop on safety of animal source foods with an emphasis on the informal sectors, New Delhi, India,

8 February 2011

DEFINITION OF ‘FOOD’ AS PER FSS ACT

• “Food "means any substance, whether processed, partially processed or unprocessed, which is intended for human consumption and includes primary food, Genetically modified or engineered food or food containing such ingredients, infant food, packaged drinking water, alcoholic drink, chewing gum, and any substance, including water used into the food during its manufacture, preparation or treatment but does not include any animal feed, live animals unless they are prepared or processed for placing on the market for human consumption, plants , prior to harvesting, drugs and medicinal products , cosmetics, narcotic or psychotropic substances.

•Primary food means an article of food, being a produce of agriculture of horticulture or animal husbandry and dairying or aquaculture in its natural form, resulting from the growing, raising, cultivation, picking, harvesting, collection or catching in the hands of a person other than a farmer or fisherman.

FOOD SAFETY - Why needed ?

• Food safety means an assurance that the food is acceptable for human consumption according to its intended use

• “Standard”, in relation to any article of food, means the standards notified by the Food Authority.

• It is of vital importance to all consumers & food business operators- engaged in production, processing, distribution & sale.

• It provides confidence to consumers that the food they buy and eat will do no harm to them and that they are protected from adulteration/fraud.

FOOD SAFETY & STANDARDS ACT,2006

•The Food Safety & Standards Act was enacted by Government of India on 24th August, 2006

•For implementation/ enforcement , the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was constituted on 5.09.2008.

• Mandate :

Laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import, to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

SINGLE ACT FOR CONSOLIDATION OF LAWS RELATING TO FOOD

Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954

Fruit Products Order, 1955Fruit Products Order, 1955

Meat Food Products Order, 1973Meat Food Products Order, 1973

Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947

Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order, 1998, Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order, 1998,

Solvent Extracted Oil, De-oiled Meal and Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967

Solvent Extracted Oil, De-oiled Meal and Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967

Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992 Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992

Any other order issued under Essential Commodities Act, 1955 relating to food.

Any other order issued under Essential Commodities Act, 1955 relating to food.

A SINGLE REFERENCE POINT

With the enactment of FSSA-2006 , the Govt. of India has created Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) as a single reference point for all matters relating to food safety & standards , by moving from multi-level, multi-departmental control to a single line of command….

DUTIES & FUNCTIONS OF FSSAI

Framing of Rules, Regulations, Standards and Guidelines in relation to articles of food.

Procedure and the enforcement of quality control on any artcle of imported into India

Guidelines for accreditation of certification bodies engaged in certification of Food Safety Management System for food businesses.

Guidelines for accreditation of Laboratories and their notification.

Providing Scientific advice and technical support to the Central Government and State Governments in matters of framing the policy and rules in areas which have a direct or indirect bearing of food safety and nutrition

Cont.

DUTIES & FUNCTIONS OF FSSAI (Contg.)

Collect and collate data regarding food consumption, incidence and prevalence of biological risk, contaminants in food, residues of various contaminants , identification of emerging risks and introduction of rapid alert system Creating Information Dissemination Network across the country about food safety & issues of concern

Capacity Building through training programmes for various stakeholders in food safety and standards

Contribute to the development of International Technical Standards for food , Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Standards

Promote general awareness about Food Safety and Food Standards

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ACT

Emphasis on gradual shift from regulatory regime to self compliance through food safety management system.

Enforcement of the Act by the (i) Central Licensing Authority, (ii) State Licensing Authority in each state/ UT through the State Food Safety Commissioners , Designated Officers & Food Safety Officers for Licensing, inspection & sampling etc. (iii) Registering Authority - Panchayati Raj/Municipal bodies

No License for Petty/small food business operators - Only registration is mandatory

A single License for one or more articles of food and also for different establishments/ premises in the same area

Regulation of food imported in the country

Harmonisation of domestic standards with international food standards

Cont.

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ACT (cont.)

Covering Health Foods, food supplements, nutraceuticals

New justice dispensation system for fast track disposal of cases of contravention and compensation in case of injury or death of consumer

Graded penalty depending upon the gravity of offences for selling food not of the nature/ substance or quality, substandard food, misbranded food including misleading advertisement

Liability of food safety officers ( Section 39 of FSSA) where vexatiously and without reasonable ground seizure of food or adulterant is found with penalty up to Rs. One Lakh.

A single reference point for all matters relating to food safety & standards , by moving from multi-level, multi-departmental control to a single line of command

ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM

CENTRAL LICENSING AUTHORITY

FSSAI Head Quarters

(Licensing)

ZONAL DIRECTORS & OTHER OFFICERS (for inspections &

Monitoring)

STATE GOVERNMENTCOMMISSIONER OF FOOD SAFETY

34 STATES/UT

LICENSING AUTHORITY

FOOD SAFETY OFFICER(for Inspection and

Monitoring Food Business operators)

DESIGNATED OFFICERLICENSING AUTHORITY

• City municipal corporation,• town Panchayat,• Gram panchayat

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, FSSAI

REGISTRATION AUTHORITY

REGISTRATION/LICENSING SYSTEM

PROPOSED REGISTRATION

Petty retailer, hawker, itinerant vendor or a temporary stall holder or small scale or cottage or such other industries relating to food business or tiny Food Business Operator are exempted from obtaining licence under the Act. But for food safety, Registration is mandatory.

Such food business operators where annual turnover is not exceeding Rs. 12 lacs &/ or whose :

(i) production capacity of food (other than milk and milk products and meat and meat products) does not exceed 100 kg/litre per day or

(ii) production or procurement or collection of milk is up to 500 litres of milk per day or

(iii) slaughtering capacity is 2 large animals or 10 small animals or 50 poultry birds per day or less

To be done by Local Bodies/ Panchayats/ Municipalities.Cont.

REGISTRATION/LICENSING SYSTEM ( Contg.)

PROPOSED STATE LICENSING SYSTEM

Dairy units - More than 500 ltrs milk upto 50,000 ltrs

Slaughtering units- Large animals : more than 2 upto 50 Small animals : more than 10 upto 150 Poultry birds : more than 50 upto 1000Meat units – upto 500 kg of meat per day

(upto150 MT per annum)

Vegetable oil processing units – upto 2 MT per day

All food processing units other than mentioned above including relabellers & repackers – upto 2 MT /day except grains, cereals & pulses milling units.

Retail chains – operating in not more than 2 states

REGISTRATION/LICENSING SYSTEM

PROPOSED CENTRAL LICENSING SYSTEM

(1)Dairy units including milk chilling units equipped to handle or process more than 50,000 litres of liquid milk/day or 2500 MT of milk solid per annum.

(2)Vegetable oil processing units and units producing vegetable oil by the process of solvent extraction and refineries including oil expeller unit having installed capacity more than 2 MT per day.

(3) All slaughter houses equipped to slaughter more than 50 large animals or 150 or more small animals including sheep and goats or 1000 or more poultry birds per day

(4)Meat processing units equipped to handle or process more than 500 kg of meat per day or 150 MT per annum

(5)All food processing units other than mentioned under (i) to (iv) including relabellers and repackers having installed capacity more than 2 MT/day except grains, cereals and pulses milling units.

Cont.

REGISTRATION/LICENSING SYSTEM

PROPOSED CENTRAL LICENSING SYSTEM

(6) 100 % Export Oriented Units

(7) All Importers importing food items for commercial use.

(8) All Food Business Operators manufacturing any article of Food which does not fall under any of the food categories prescribed under these regulations or deviates in any way from the prescribed specification for additives therein.

(9) Retail chains operating in three or more states

(10) Food catering services in establishments and units under Central government Agencies like Railways, Air and airport, Seaport, Defence etc.

NOTE - The Prelim Notification of the Draft Regulations had been done on 20th Oct,2010 seeking comments from the public by 21st Nov., 2010. The comments are being examined and Final Notification shall be issued shortly .

Quality control on Meat & Meat products under MFPO-1973

INTRODUCTION

Meat & Meat Products are highly perishable in nature and can transmit diseases from animals to human-beings (Zoonotic Importance).

Meat deteriorates faster in India than in cold countries being a hot country having humid climatic conditions

Production of meat is governed under local by-laws as slaughtering is a state subject and Slaughterhouses are controlled by local health authorities. The current meat production is estimated at 1.9 million MT, out of this about 21% is exported.

Processing of meat products is licensed under Meat Food Products Order (MFPO) , 1973 which was hitherto being implemented by Ministry of Food Processing Industries w.e.f. 19.03.2004 on being transferred from the Directorate of Marketing Inspection, Ministry of Agriculture.

Since 2.12.08, the work related to implementation of MFPO is being enforced from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India from its 4 regional offices located in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi and also from sub office Chandigarh.

OBJECTIVES

To regulate production and sale of meat food products through licensing the manufacturer(s),

Enforce sanitary and hygienic conditions prescribed for production of wholesome processed meat products,

Exercise strict quality control at all stages of from production to consumption, sampling and analysis of meat products

In process Meat inspection system – Ante mortem and Post mortem inspection of animals being slaughtered in Category “A” units, physical inspection of meat being processed in preparation of meat & meat products by Qualified Veterinarians .

Issue of Veterinary Health Certificate for exports

SCOPE

Under the provision of MFPO-1973 ,all manufacturers of meat food products engaged in the business of manufacturing, packing, repacking, relabeling meat food products meant for sale are licensed but excludes those manufacturers who manufactures such products for consumption on the spot like a restaurant, hotel, boarding house, snack bar, eating house or any other similar establishment

Meat products containing fragments of meat ( Less than 10%) are exempted from the purview of Licensing

Meat products having short shelf life which are prepared for immediate consumption on the same day which can not be stored under normal refrigerated conditions are also exempted from the purview of Licensing

CATEGORISATION

Depending on the source of meat the manufacturers are licensed under category A, B & C. Presently, 330 units are licensed under MFPO-1973 as on 31.12.2010. Region-wise details are given below: -

REGION CATEGORY A

CATEGORY B

CATEGORY C

TOTAL

Western Region 15 39 49 103

Southern Region 18 39 37 94

Northern Region 15 40 43 98

Eastern region 7 9 19 35

Total 55 127 148 330