The country has not addressed all issues of food safety and nutrition, though the food industry has “correctly diagnosed the disease and created a treatment regimen,” said outgoing Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) chief executive Pawan Agarwal, in a social media post addressed to food companies.
Agarwal said government funding on food safety has been raised about five times with 500 new positions being created at FSSAI. “At times, we appear slower than the others. But eventually, we have to be ahead… this is not like a sprint, but more like marathon,” he wrote, asking all companies to reinforce food safety and transparency.
The regulator is expected to soon introduce new food labelling norms, a move that has the Rs 2.3-lakh crore foods industry worried. Agarwal, who has moved into the role of secretary in the consumer affairs ministry, said in the letter—which is also addressed to other stakeholders in the foods industry—that the FSSAI has “disrupted the conventional role of a regulator to enabler” and adopted the food system approach.
Source: ETRetail
