THE CONCEPTUAL AND LEGAL (REGULATORY) BACK BONE OF FOOD SAFETY, TRACEABILITY AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE OF FOODS, AND ITS POSSIBLE FUTURE SCOPE IN INDIA

 

THE CONCEPTUAL AND LEGAL (REGULATORY) BACK BONE OF FOOD SAFETY, TRACEABILITY AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE OF FOODS, AND ITS POSSIBLE FUTURE SCOPE IN INDIA

 

India’s Central Government ( Government of India ) taking due cognizance of the International Scenario and Regulatory Environment with respect to Food Safety and Food Standards in the World, enacted the law, as the Central Act, the FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS ACT, 2006 as the Legal (Regulatory) Back Bone for Food Safety and Food Standards at the National Level in India.

The prologue (introduction of purpose) to the FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS ACT, 2006 reads as follows:

“An Act to consolidate the laws relating to food and to establish the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India for laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import, to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”

This law, having been passed through the both Hhouses ( both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha ) of the Hon’ble Parliament of India, as No:34 of 2006, received the assent of the Hon’ble President of India on 23rd August,2006, and thereafter it was notified by the Government of India in the Official Gazette of India on 24th August, 2006 as having been implemented at National level.

The FSSAI ( Food Safety and Standards Authority of India ) was established under this law, to provide a legally regulated market environment for Foods in India with the required Licensing and issue of Regulations from time to time and enforcement of it under this law.

A number of Food Safety Regulations have been issued under this law by the competent authorities from time to time after enactment of this law to regulate and for enforcement of Food Safety and Food Standards in the Market Mechanism in India till date.

 

IMPORTANCE OF FOOD SAFETY IN THE MARKET:

India is a highly populated nation with about 1.42 billion ( 1420 million or 142 Crores) population as on date. For the health and wellbeing of such a huge human population and in order for no incidents of hazards take place whether in small numbers or in mass scale, and for providing Safe Food to such a huge human population with a Legally Regulated Marekt Mechanism is a National Responsibility of the Nation of India.

Presently the existing Market Mechanisms for Foods in India can be classified into two Broad Categories:

1. Organized Market Mechanism

2. Unorganized Market Mechanism

The Organized Market Mechanism :

The Organized Market Mechanism can be said to include the Manufacturers of Foods and the Food Business Operators, the Food Authority (FSSAI) also including Food Safety Management System, the Food Licensing and Enforcement System, the Food Laboratories, the Food Safety Officers, the Food Safety and Standards Tribunal and Appellate Tribunal as the Adjudication System that provide a legally regulated market of Foods in India under the FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS ACT, 2006 in the contemporary times. ( the Definitions of Food, Manufacturers and Food Business Operators, Food Authority, Food Laboratory,  Food Safety Officer, Tribunal and Appellate Tribunal and Adjudication as defined in the FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS ACT, 2006 should be relied upon).

Over the time, and as the civilization is progressing ahead with science and technology, the people at large are relying more on market based foods hence the Organized Market Mechanism of foods in India is gaining more importance and at the same time more responsibility is coming on the Nation to Regulate and Enforce Food Safety and Standards by the Organized Market Mechanism.

The Unorganized Market Mechanism :

Presently, still there exists a Traditional Unorganized Market Mechanism in India that is not operating under the Legal Frame Work of the FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS ACT, 2006. This Traditional Unorganized Market Mechanism is existing for the social, traditional and historical reasons of human food consumption at Individual, household or social level and its trade as well as business existing with the nature, that can not easily fit to the said legally regulated frame work, without choice. The Traditional Unorganized Market Mechanism is still a huge sized  chunk of the food business and market in India. However over the years gradually the Unorganized Market Mechanism is shifting to the ambit of the Organized and Legally Regulated Market Mechanism. Of course a long way to go to bring the Unorganized Market Segment to the Organized ambit and even in the long run, it can be said some unorganized market mechanism may persist and exist for foods in India given the traditional and historical nature of it that has been existing over the history since ancient times.

IMPORTANCE OF TRACEABILITY IN FOOD BUSINESS:

The “Traceability” in Food Business points to the ability of the Supply Chain of Food to track and trace back each ingredient of the food product and its handling activity with appropriate and truthful documentations and records duly preserved and retrievable to detect its primary origin source, whenever and wherever needed without fail for an article of food placed in the market by a Manufacturer or Food Business Operator. The Traceability ensures fixing up of Responsibility and taking the Remedial actions in cases of malfunction.

Some examples of Traceability for common and general understanding:

“Cow Milk” or “Buffalo Milk” as being sold in the market presently as milk variants by some Dairy Brands. When the Dairy Brand is selling a variant of milk as “Cow Milk” by labelling it as per the law and claiming it to be a “Cow Milk”, such dairy brand seller of “Cow Milk” must have the appropriately documented and recorded data and records to track and trace back and identity as to the batch of milk that was processed by its Dairy, packed and legally labelled as “Cow Milk” was procured from the primary milk source (may be the Dairy Farmer) that had milked the said milk from the Cows only and not any other milch-animal. The Supply Chain Records and Documentations must Track and Trace back the each stage of handling activity of the product to prove that at no stage there has been any adulteration of the product and the Original Identity of the Product has been preserved through out the supply chain. Similar should be the situation of traceability for any Dairy Brand selling a product as “Buffalo Milk” in the market.

Some Brand of Wheat Flour (“Atta”) is selling in the market and advertising in media that the Wheat Flour is processed from the “Sarbati Wheat” ( a specific type of Wheat). In such a case the manufacturer of the said wheat flour should be having appropriate documentations and records preserved to track and trace back that the batch of Whet Flour of the product was processed from the “Sarbati Wheat” procured from the Farmers/Farms that had grown and harvested “Sarbati Wheat” and no other type of wheat.

For Example, Some Brand of Chocolates in the market is claiming in its  ingredients that the “Soya Lecithin” used in the manufacturing of the said chocolate is Non-GMO Soya Lecithin. In such a case the Chocolate Manufacturer should be able to track and trace the recorded documentations to prove that the Soya Lecithin used in the manufacture of the said Chocolate was procured from the Primary Source of Soya Lecithin that was produced from Non-GMO Soya Beans.

HOW THE CUMBERSOME DATA, DOCUMENTATIONS AND RECORDS OF TRACEABILITY CAN BE PREPARED, MAINTAINED AND RETRIEVED (TRACED BACK) IN THE CONTEMPORARY TIMES:

It is understood that preparing, maintaining, preserving and retrieving (tracing back) of the Traceability Information and Records of Foods that are procured from large number of primary sources, processed in large scale and marketed in mass scale will be very cumbersome, complex and very difficult or even close to  non-manageable to be handled by human capability.

In the present times and contemporary times, the Technology and AI (Artificial Intelligence) that can surpass and take care of the human capability limitations, can come to the rescue to make the whole gamut of traceability much easier and well maintained at ease. In this note I am not discussing how it can be done, however it is quite possible and easier to be done with focused and inclined efforts to do so.

THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF REGULATORY COMPLIANCE IN CASE OF FOOD BUSINESS :

As said above,  the FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS ACT, 2006 and the Regulations issued under it by the competent authorities from time to time are in force in India. Thus for the Manufacturers and Food Business Operators of Foods in India, the Regulatory Compliance of the Law and the Regulations issued under it applicable to the Article of Food being placed in the market for human consumption is mandatory. The said law and regulations issued under it have Stringent Penal and Prosecution Provisions in case of non-compliance by any Manufacturer or Food Business Operator.  

The Regulatory Compliance need, of course brings in certain burden of Documentations and Records and Filing need before the competent authorities. This burden can be also quite cumbersome and complex because of the nature of Food Business and its inherent complexity involved. In such a case, use of Technology and AI ( Artificial Intelligence ) comes to the Rescue and makes it quite easier.

FUTURE SCOPE OF LEGAL (REGULATORY) BACK BONE OF FOOD SAFETY, TRACEABILITY AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE OF FOODS IN INDIA:

As said above, there will be huge and unimaginable future scope of Food Safety, Traceability and Regulatory Compliance of Foods in India as even the 1.42 billion population of today which is growing day by day will be much bigger and such number of stomachs have to be filled daily by the Nation with Safe Foods for the Health and Wellbeing of the people.

The cumbersome and complexity of the Documentations and Records for preparing it, maintaining it, preserving it and retrieving it to track and trace back, may be beyond the human capability limitations where as the appropriate use of Technology and AI (Artificial Intelligence) will make it easer and convenient enough to carry forward and achieve the required performance in such respects.

( This is a small article to give a Sensible Feeling to the Readers comprehensibly about the subject matters, where as elaborate discussions on such subject matters could really run through volumes ).


About the Author : Dr. Nimain Charan Biswal is a B.Sc.(Agri. Science and Technology), M.B.A. and Ph.D.(Management Area ) by qualifications; and he has 40 years of work experience in Social, both industrial and Development sectors in diversified fields of Social Importance. He has been educated at Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT)-Bhubaneswar, Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) and Gujarat University (with Resource Support of IIM-Ahmedabad). He is further educated at IIM-Calcutta, XLRI-Jamshedpur, Apple Computer Industries and Spar Inc., USA. He has worked for reputed National and International Organizations in Senior/Top Management Capacities at Board level as well as Managing Director and CEO. He is a management expert covering extensive areas from management in Social Sectors, industrial sectors, management in Agriculture, Dairy and Foods, Agri-Food and Management of Cooperatives, Development Management to management of Public Systems. He is a prominent professional of India and known Internationally as well. He is also a Business and Political Strategist. He lives at Mumbai in India. 

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