Facts for Prelims (FFP)
Source: PIB
Context: Union Ministry for Health and Family Welfare unveiled the 5th State Food Safety Index (SFSI) on World Food Safety Day, highlighting India’s commitment to food safety and innovation.
What is Food Safety?
Food safety refers to the practices and measures taken to ensure that food is safe for consumption.
Status of Food safety:
- Approximately 600 million people, nearly 1 in 10 worldwide, fall ill each year due to consuming contaminated food, resulting in 420,000 deaths annually
- Unsafe food leads to more than 200 diseases, including diarrhoea and cancers
- Children under five account for 40% of the foodborne disease burden
About the Report:
- Developed by: FSSAI (a statutory body under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare with a mandate to ensure public health at large)
- 1st State Food Safety Index was released in 2019
- The index is a benchmarking model that provides an objective framework for evaluating food safety across all States/UTs.
- The parameters include Human Resources and Institutional Data, Compliance, Food Testing – Infrastructure and Surveillance, Training & Capacity Building and Consumer Empowerment.
- Top performers in the 5th edition were Kerala (Large states), Goa (small state) and J&K (UTs).
Initiatives taken by FSSAI:
- Food Safety and Standards Regulations 2011(contains Licensing and Registration, Packaging and Labelling, and Advertising)
- Heart Attack Rewind (eliminating trans fat)
- FSSAI-CHIFSS (to promote collaborations between Industry, Scientific Community, and Academia for food safety);
- Eat Right India Movement
- Eat Right Awards
Other initiatives:
- National Health Policy 2017
- POSHAN Abhiyaan
- Anemia Mukt Bharat
- Swachh Bharat Mission.
- Eat Right Station Certification (by Railway Ministry)
- Food Safety Magic Box (do-it-yourself food testing kit for school students)
- Codex Alimentarius, or “Food Code” is a collection of standards, guidelines and codes of practice adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
About World Food Safety Day
It is observed every year on 7th June (facilitated by the WHO and FAO). It aims to raise awareness and encourage actions to prevent, detect, and manage foodborne risks. It was 1st observed in 2019. The theme this year is “Food standards save lives”
