Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

Why in news?

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has recommended the use of Quick Response (QR) codes on food products to help visually disabled populace.

About FSSAI

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an autonomous statutory body established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSS Act).
• Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the administrative Ministry of FSSAI.
• Headquarters: Delhi.

Initiatives of FSSAI

• Heart Attack Rewind – It is the first mass media campaign of FSSAI. It is aimed to support FSSAI’s target of eliminating trans-fat in India by the year 2022.
• FSSAI-CHIFSS – It is collaboration between FSSAI and CII-HUL Initiative on Food Safety Sciences to promote collaborations between Industry, Scientific Community, Academia for food safety.
• State Food Safety Index (SFSI): The FSSAI developed the State Food Safety Index (SFSI) to measure the performance of states on five significant parameters of Food Safety. The parameters include Human Resources and Institutional Data, Compliance, Food Testing – Infrastructure and Surveillance, Training & Capacity Building and Consumer Empowerment.
• Eat Right India Movement: It is an initiative of the Government of India and FSSAI to transform the country’s food system in order to ensure safe, healthy and sustainable food for all Indians.
• Eat Right Station Certification: The certification is awarded by FSSAI to railway stations that set benchmarks (as per the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006) in providing safe and wholesome food to passengers.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Consider the following statements regarding FSSAI:

1. It is a statutory body established under National Food Security Act, 2013.
2. It works under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer