State Food Safety Index: FSSAI

Why in News

Recently, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare has released the 3^rd State Food Safety Index (SFSI).

• Also, 19 Mobile Food Testing Vans (Food Safety on Wheels) have been flagged off to supplement the food safety ecosystem across the country.

Key Points

• About the Index:
  
  • The index is developed by FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) 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.
  • The Index is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model that provides an objective framework for evaluating food safety across all States/UTs.
  • The first State Food Safety Index for the year 2018-19 was announced on the first-ever World Food Safety Day on 7^th June 2019.
• Ranking of States:
  
  • Among the larger states, Gujarat was the top ranking state, followed by Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
  • Among the smaller states, Goa stood first followed by Meghalaya and Manipur.
  • Among UTs, Jammu & Kashmir, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and New Delhi secured top ranks.
• Importance of Food Safety:
  
  • Access to sufficient amounts of safe food is key to sustaining life and promoting good health.
    
    • Foodborne illnesses are usually infectious or toxic in nature and often invisible to the plain eye, caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances entering the body through contaminated food or water.
    • An estimated 4,20,000 people around the world die every year after eating contaminated food and children under 5 years of age carry 40% of the foodborne disease burden, with 1,25, 000 deaths every year.
  • Food safety has a critical role in assuring that food stays safe at every stage of the food chain - from production to harvest, processing, storage, distribution, all the way to preparation and consumption.
    
    • Food production is responsible for up to 30% of global greenhouse-gas emissions contributing to global warming.
• Related Initiatives:
  
  • Indian:
    
    • 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.
      • It is aligned to the National Health Policy 2017 with its focus on preventive and promotive healthcare and flagship programmes like Ayushman Bharat, POSHAN Abhiyaan, Anemia Mukt Bharat and Swachh Bharat Mission.
    • 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.
    • The Eat Right Research Awards and Grants to encourage and recognize high-quality research in the area of food safety and nutrition in India has also been launched.
    • The results of PAN-India survey for identifying the presence of industrially produced trans fatty acid content in the selected foods has been released. Overall, only 84 samples, i.e. 1.34%, have more than 3% industrially produced trans fats from the total of 6245 samples.
    • In an effort to engage industry on the issue of plastic in food packaging, 24 food businesses signed a pledge on becoming “Plastic Waste Neutral” by collecting, processing and recycling of 100% post-consumer plastic waste from across the sources.
  • Global:
    
    • The Codex Alimentarius, or "Food Code" is a collection of standards, guidelines and codes of practice adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
    • The Codex Alimentarius Commission is a joint intergovernmental body of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO).
      
      • Currently, it has 189 members and India is a member.

Source: PIB