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FSSAI’s Star Rating

Posted on April 20, 2022 by admin1  802

In News 

  • The implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI’s) health star rating (HSR) on packaged foods could take at least a year. 

About FSSAI’s Star Rating

  • In February 2022, the FSSAI decided to adopt the “health-star rating system”, which gives a product 1/2 a star to 5 stars, in its draft regulations for front of package labelling (FOPL). 
  • The decision was based on the recommendations of a study by the IIM Ahmedabad the regulator had commissioned in September 2021.
  • It aims to  help consumers reduce their intake of unhealthy foods.
  • Instances of Usage and studies :
    • The health star rating (HSR) system adopted in countries like Australia and New Zealand has not resulted in any meaningful behaviour change.
    • There is “ still no evidence of HSRs having a significant impact on the nutritional quality of people’s food and beverage purchases”.
  • A systematic review carried out in 2019 that evaluated HSR labels through three randomised controlled trials found that they didn’t impact food purchases, such as calories or sugar or sodium purchased.

What is FSSAI?

  • Established under Food Safety and Standards, 2006, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) handles food-related issues including ensuring the safe availability of food for human consumption. 
  • It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare that is responsible for promoting and protecting public health through various regulations and supervisions of food safety.

FSSAI Major Initiatives

  • Heart Attack Rewind: It is aimed to support FSSAI’s target of eliminating trans fat in India by the year 2022.
  • Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO): To enable the collection and conversion of used cooking oil to biodiesel.
  • 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.
  • Swasth Bharat Yatra:  It is a Pan-India cycle movement called as ‘Eat Right India’ aimed to create consumer awareness about eating safe and nutritious food.

CODEX

  • The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is an international food standards body established jointly by the food and agriculture organization (FAO) and the world health Organization (WHO). 

Source:TH

 
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