4th State Food Safety Index (SFSI): FSSAI

In News

• Recently, on the occasion of World Food Safety Day, the Union Health Minister of India announced the State Food Safety Index awards.

State Food Safety Index (SFSI)

• Developed By: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in 2018-19.
• Aim: 
  • To measure the performance of states on various parameters of Food Safety.  
  • Creating a competitive and positive change in India’s food safety ecosystem.
• Five significant parameters for Ranking:
  • Human Resources and Institutional Data, 
  • Compliance, 
  • Food Testing – Infrastructure and Surveillance, 
  • Training & Capacity Building and 
  • Consumer Empowerment.  

Major Highlights

• Large States: Tamil Nadu topped the list among larger states, followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra.
• Smaller States: Goa was the winner, followed by Manipur and Sikkim, 
• Union territories: Jammu and Kashmir emerged top, followed by Delhi and Chandigarh.
• States that showed significant improvement were also felicitated.
• Other Points:
  • To motivate smart cities to develop and execute a plan that supports a healthy, safe, and sustainable food environment through adoption of various Eat Right India initiatives. 11 winning smart cities of the EatSmart Cities Challenge were also fecilitated.
  • AyurvedaAahar logo, which contains the initials of Ayurveda and Ahara, the first in Devanagari and the second in English, with five leaves symbolising five elements of nature was also launched. This logo will help in easy identification of ayurvedic foods.
  • A guidance document on Food Borne Disease Outbreak Investigation and Microbiological Process Control, and Sampling and Testing of Fish and Fishery Products was released.

Significance of SFSI

• The Index is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model that provides an objective framework for evaluating food safety across all States/UTs.
• The index will help in providing safe and nutritious food to Indian citizens.
• These science based standards/parameters for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import ensures availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

Challenges for Food Safety in India

• Good collaboration between governments, producers and consumers which can  help ensure food safety and stronger food systems is lacking.
• Urbanisation and changes in consumer habits have increased the number of people buying and eating food prepared in public places. 
• Unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances causes more than 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhoea to cancers. 
• Such foods create a vicious cycle of disease and malnutrition, particularly affecting infants, young children, elderly and the sick. 
• Globalisation has triggered growing consumer demand for a wider variety of foods, resulting in an increasingly complex and longer global food chain. 
• Climate change is also predicted to impact food safety due to uneven rains causing an effect on quality and quantity of crops.

Way Ahead

• The government should keep working to ensure health security for all through initiatives such as health and wellness centres and strengthening of district hospitals under the national health mission.
• Governments need to make food safety a public health priority, as they play a pivotal role in developing policies and regulatory frameworks and establishing and implementing effective food safety systems.

Source: IE