(GIST OF YOJANA) Impact Of Food Processing On Employment Generation And Skill Development

(JULY-2024)

Impact Of Food Processing On Employment Generation And Skill Development

Introduction:

National food control systems are designed to meet the specific criteria embodying the needs and priorities of countries to ensure the safety of food for human consumption. Each country develops its own national systems to address the specific needs and priorities of the country. This implies a focus on the standards that must be met by domestic production and sales, as well as for international trade. Although governments may use a number of different policies and administrative tools to ensure the safety of food, the core objectives of regulatory systems are similar around the world. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines the primary objectives of a national food control system as the following:

protecting public health by reducing the risk of food-borne illness;
protecting consumers from unsanitary, unwholesome, mislabeled, or adulterated food;
contributing to economic development by maintaining consumer confidence in the food system and providing a sound regulatory foundation for domestic and international trade in food.

National Food Control System

The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 consolidates various acts and orders that had earlier handled food related issues in various ministries and departments. FSSAI’s mandates encompass a wide range of responsibilities, including formulating science-based standards for food products, additives, processing aids, contaminants, packaging and labelling requirements, etc.

Standard Setting Process and Harmonisation

The Food Authority lays down science-based standards for articles of food with the support of its subsidiary bodies, namely, Scientific Panels (SPs) and the Scientific Committee (SC), established under Sections 13 and 14, respectively, of the FSS Act, and other working groups that may be set up by the Scientific Committee from time to time.
The process of developing a science-based standard is driven by the principle of food safety and assessment of the associated risks. A standard could be of a general nature that applies to all product categories and are often referred to as a horizontal standard.
Such standards include provisions forfood additives; limits on contaminants, toxins, antibiotic residues, pesticide residues, etc.; microbiological criteria; packaging and labelling requirements, etc.
On the other hand, standards that are specific to a product or a product category are referred to as vertical standards. The vertical standards mainly prescribe the identity and quality characteristics of a food product or product category.

Enforcement Machinery and Regulatory Oversight

An effective enforcement ecosystem is crucial for the successful implementation of food safety standards. FSSAI employs a multi-pronged approach to regulatory oversight, combining
traditional inspection mechanisms with innovative self-compliance initiatives and third-party audits. Food safety is a shared responsibility, and state authoritiesplay a major rolein ensuring compliance.
As of date, almost 6 million Food Business Operators (FBO) are part of the food safety network in India. The Food Safety Compliance System (FoSCoS) serves as an integrated online platform for licensing, registration, and monitoring FBOs capacity and compliance. It also aids in promoting easeofdoing businessand enabling comprehensive profiling of businesses.
There are different sets of good hygiene and manufacturing practices specified according to the risk and product matrix, which the food business needs to comply with along with thefood standards and testing requirements. At ground level, a network of Food Safety Officers (FSOs) at State Food Safety Departments and Regional Offices of FSSAI conducts inspections, collects samples, and investigates complaints.
FSSAI has developed a Risk-Based Inspection System (RBIS) that targets Food Business Operators (FBOs) based on risk matrices, optimising regulatory efforts. The inspection process is supported by the Food Safety and Compliance Risk Assessment System (FoSCoRiS) mobile application, which enables real-time monitoring, data collection, and analysis while promoting transparency through features like randomisation of inspection allocations, geo-tagging, and time-stamping of photographs.

Role of Different Autonomous Organisations in Export Trade in India

Export Inspection Council

The Export Inspection Council (EIC) is the official export certification body of India that ensures the safety of products exported from India. It has a mandate to notify commodities that will be subject to quality control and/or inspection prior to export, establish standards of quality for such notified commodities, and specify the type of quality control and/or inspection to be applied to such commodities.
EIC provides mandatory certification for selected food items, namely fish and fishery products, basmati rice, dairy products, honey, egg products, meat and meat products, poultry meat products, animal casing, gelatin, ossein, and crushed bones, as well as feed additives and pre-mixtures, while other food and non¬ food products are certified on a voluntary basis.

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA)

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is an export promotion organisation under the Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Government of India.
It is mandated with the responsibility of promoting and developing the export of its scheduled products, including organic food products.

Coconut Development Board

The Coconut Development Board is a statutory body established by the Government of India (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare) for the integrated development of coconut production and utilisation in the country, with a focus on productivity increase and product diversification.

CAPEXIL

CAPEXIL was set up by the Government of India to promote the export of chemical and allied products from India. It is the competent authority for the exports of crushed bones and gelatin.
It issues the RCMC and shipment clearance certificates, apart from other promotional activities.

SHEFEXIL

The Shellac Export Promotion Council (SEPC) as established by the Government of India to facilitate India’s exports of shellac and lac-based products.
It issues RCMC and health certificates for the export of Guar Gum, apart from other promotional activities.

Conclusion

Food safety is a shared responsibility. India has adopted the ‘Whole of Government’ approach in its national food control system with the involvement of several ministries, State governments, research and academic institutions, and autonomous organisations. Transparency, predictability, cohesiveness, and a risk-based approach are the key guiding principles in setting standards and their enforcement in India. The State food safety authorities have been the backbone of ensuring compliance by food businesses. India has a robust food testing infrastructure spanning across the country, and it is growing every, day.