Mechanism of Developing & Fixing Food Standards
The food industry in India is undergoing a radical change. Since the times of food shortages, during famines, India has now arrived at an era of food surplus. The quantity of available raw food has exceeded the local demand and is therefore available for trading. The advent of technology in the food sector in the form of processing techniques has infused new vigor; it has led to an increase in shelf life of products, new fortified products and storage solutions etc. Due to these technological interventions processed food is now available from the place of production to far reaches, that too not only within the country but also across international boundaries. These value added food products are fetching good remuneration as compared to raw products and hence more and more people are entering this lucrative sector. But knowingly or unknowingly some of the products being marketed are found to be contaminated, unsafe & spurious resulting in food borne diseases/infections. To ensure that products that are produced for consumers are safe and of high quality, food safety has become a growing concern across the world. Food standards are expected to acquire greater importance, given growing consumer demand for products which are healthy and also due to increasing concerns about the quality of food. This requires the formation of a food standard authority which would aim at protecting consumer’s health and ensuring fair practices in the food trade.
Recently an act came into force called “Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006” which aims to consolidate the laws relating to food and to establish the Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSA) of India. FSSA is the statutory body 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 (http://www.fssai.gov.in/).
India’s food processing sector covers fruits and vegetables; meat and poultry; milk and milk products, alcoholic beverages, fisheries, plantation, grain processing and other consumer product groups like confectionery, chocolates and cocoa products, soya-based products, mineral water, high protein foods etc. The standards for different products have to be different. The institutions involved in developing standards of the food are:
A) In India:
The central government has constituted a committee called the ‘Central Committee for Food Standards (CCFS)’ to advise it on matters relating to standards. It is an inter-ministerial committee having representatives from Dept. of Health &Welfare, Central Food laboratory, Min. of Commerce, Industry & Railways, 3 State and 4 Union Territory representatives, ICMR, Hotel & Consumer representatives and one nominated from Indian Standards Institution.
Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS) - is one of the founder members of ISO & is the formulating body of Indian standards in line with the national requirements. The bureau works on harmonizing the national standards with regional and international standards in order to facilitate the adoption of international standards by all segments of business and industry. Food and Agricultural Division Council (FADC) of BIS is involved in devising the food standards particularly while Technical Information Services Centre acts as a WTO-TBT enquiry point to obtain information on latest developments in food trade standards.
Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) - It formulates grade Standards known as "AGMARK" with relevant quality definitions and grade designation marks. It has a set up for quality certification of agricultural produce through the net work of 22 Regional Agmark Laboratories at different places in the country with Central Agmark Laboratory, Nagpur as the apex laboratory.
B) International:
Codex Alimentarius - The Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) is the international food standards setting body under the FAO and WHO, jointly. The Codex follows the food standards programme recognized by the World Trade Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), which is basically the reference point for food standards applied in international trade.
Codex India: The Directorate General of health services, Min. of Health and Family Welfare has been designated as the nodal Ministry (National Codex Contact Point, NCCP) for liaison with the Codex Alimentarius Commission & to coordinate with the other concerned government departments at central and state level, food industry, consumers, traders, R&D institutions and academia, through NC committee and its shadow committees.
Quality Council of India: QCI (Website: http://www.qcin.org/) is a non-profit autonomous body set up as a joint initiative of GoI and Indian Industry (ASSCHOM, CII, FICCI). It coordinates, guides and implements a national quality initiative through its five bodies namely National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET), National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare providers (NABH) & National Board for Quality Promotion (NBQP).
Export Inspection Council of India (EIC): An apex body, set up under Ministry of Commerce, to provide for sound development of export trade through quality control and pre shipment inspection. It is assisted by EIA’s, having a network of 38 sub-offices and laboratories to back up the pre-shipment inspection and certification and 14 other labs supplement its own labs.
Table 1: Policy regulations and procedures governing the Import-Export of Foods
Enforcement law |
Import |
Export |
PFA Act 1954 |
PFA Act 1954 |
|
Policy/regulations |
|
|
Procedure |
|
|
-
Quality Management Systems Certification Scheme (QMSCS) as per IS/ISO 9001 was launched in September 1991 under the provisions of the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986. The Scheme is being operated in accordance with ISO/IEC Guide 62 – General requirements for bodies operating assessment and certification/registration of quality systems.
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a process control system that identifies and prevents microbial, chemical and other hazards in food. Potential food hazards could be biological (microbes); chemical (toxin); or physical (adulterants). The certification is designed to prevent problems before they occur and to correct them as soon as they are detected. This preventive system is recognized and respected by the scientific community as well as international food quality organizations as the most effective approach to the manufacture of safe food.
BIS offers two Certification schemes to the food industry.
i) HACCP Stand-alone Certification against IS 15000:1998
ii) HACCP based Quality System Certification provides for two Certifications: one audit Certification of Quality System against IS/ISO 9000 and the other Certification of HACCP against IS 15000:1998
ISO 22000 standards define the requirements of a food safety management system covering all the organizations in the food chain from "farm to fork", including the catering and packaging companies. ISO 22000 is a safety standard that is accepted and trusted the world over. Organizations that implement the ISO 22000 standard demonstrate compliance with all relevant regulator food safety requirements. The intention of this standard is to plan, implement, operate, maintain and update a food safety management system aimed at providing food products that are safe for the consumer
BIS has adopted this International Standard as IS/ISO 22000: 2005. This system is designed to allow all types of organizations within the food chain to implement a food safety management system and is a little more comprehensive compared to HACCP system. BIS has also launched certification schemes for FSMS and has formulated guidelines for applicants and other documents for FSMS certification.
-
International Food Standard (IFS) has been created to bring uniformity in the food industry. The IFS is a uniform standard for companies supplying retailer branded food products. The standard ensures food safety and monitors food quality. It applies to all the steps during the processing of food products.
Effective implementation of the regulatory standards and monitoring the quality of the graded and certified foods/food products made available by the manufacturers requires a net work of Testing/Analytical Laboratories with basic modern analytical facilities and technical manpower. A food testing lab should take up all necessary analysis related with food safety (pesticide residue, heavy metals, drug residues, residues of persistent organic compounds, microbiology, allergen testing, mycotoxins, enzymes and hormones, GM content and acrlamide) and food quality (nutritional, minerals, volatile and semi-volatile compounds and additives) analysis.
In India we have a very few laboratories, which are at par with the international benchmarks. According to a pilot study conducted by Min of Food Processing Industries, based on test capabilities, equipments and infrastructure 312 laboratories from all over India were identified. Of the 312 laboratories identified for the study only 127 labs replied to their questionnaire. The 127 labs were then categorized into 4 tiers namely National level (5 labs), Regional level (6), State level (34) and Local level (71).
Table 2: State-wise distribution of 312 food testing laboratories
State |
Government |
Public Testing Laboratory |
Private |
Autonomous |
Not Provided* |
TOTAL |
Andhara Pradesh |
4 |
2 |
1 |
― |
7 |
14 |
Arunachal Pradesh |
― |
― |
― |
― |
― |
0 |
Assam |
― |
― |
― |
― |
4 |
4 |
Chhattisgarh |
― |
― |
― |
― |
3 |
3 |
Delhi |
3 |
7 |
― |
― |
18 |
28 |
Goa |
― |
― |
― |
― |
1 |
1 |
Gujrat |
6 |
4 |
― |
― |
9 |
19 |
Haryana |
1 |
1 |
― |
― |
9 |
11 |
Himachal Pradesh |
― |
― |
― |
1 |
5 |
6 |
Jammu & Kashmir |
1 |
― |
― |
― |
4 |
5 |
Jharkhand |
― |
― |
― |
― |
2 |
2 |
Karnataka |
5 |
7 |
― |
4 |
9 |
25 |
Kerela |
9 |
3 |
― |
1 |
2 |
15 |
Madhya Pradesh |
1 |
― |
― |
― |
11 |
12 |
Maharashtra |
19 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
18 |
48 |
Manipur |
1 |
― |
― |
― |
2 |
3 |
Meghalaya |
― |
― |
― |
― |
1 |
1 |
Mizoram |
― |
― |
― |
― |
― |
0 |
Nagaland |
― |
― |
― |
― |
1 |
1 |
Orissa |
― |
― |
― |
― |
4 |
4 |
Punjab |
5 |
― |
― |
― |
3 |
8 |
Rajasthan |
― |
― |
1 |
― |
15 |
16 |
Sikkim |
― |
― |
― |
― |
― |
0 |
Tamil Nadu |
12 |
1 |
2 |
― |
16 |
31 |
Tripura |
― |
― |
― |
― |
1 |
1 |
Uttar Pradesh |
6 |
2 |
― |
1 |
21 |
30 |
Uttaranchal |
― |
― |
― |
― |
1 |
1 |
West Bengal |
2 |
― |
― |
2 |
15 |
19 |
Pondicherry |
1 |
― |
― |
― |
― |
1 |
Andaman & Nicobar |
― |
― |
― |
― |
1 |
1 |
Chandigarh |
― |
― |
― |
― |
2 |
2 |
Total |
76 |
35 |
5 |
11 |
185 |
312 |
*data not provided for the study
Fig 1: State-wise distribution of food testing laboratories (127 labs)
Source: Ministry of Food processing industry
Lab accreditation mechanism
National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), an autonomous body under the aegis of DST is responsible for assessing the competence of a lab in the country
The whole assessment process is done in 5 stages. First the submission of application form, then a pre-assessment at the lab site to assess the preparedness of the lab, followed by final assessment for its compliance to NABL criteria, then examination by the accreditation committee and finally accreditation is provided to lab for a period of 2 years.
Other than NABL, government has other lab approval schemes in which authorities like APEDA, Export inspection council, Bureau of Indian Standards etc. can also accredit testing laboratories. The approvals are valid for one year.
Human resource development
For generating skilled labor in food testing sector, food courses are being offered by Central Food Technology Research Institute (CFTRI), International Food Technology Training Center (IFTTC), IGNOU, Defense Food Research laboratory, ICAR, Industrial associations like CII, FICCI & SOPA etc. These institutes offer graduate, post-graduate, diploma and certificate courses in various fields of food sector like food analysis, quality assurance, food safety & microbiology, bioengineering, biochemistry, grain science and technology etc. It is seen that the courses offered formidably cater to the organized sector, and there are no specific programmes focusing on the unorganized sector. Moreover there is great emphasis on technology development and up-gradation but no thrust on food safety systems & regulatory requirements.
Inferences
In India, the food industry is of different sizes such as the organized sector, small scale and unorganized sectors. The requisites of standards in each sector are different. Therefore, it is essential to design and develop a mechanism addressing all these sectors. But as felt, in India, international standards, guidelines, and recommendations are increasingly used to guide domestic as well as international trade. The Directorate General of Health Services in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is working to integrate Codex standards into national food laws as much as possible. This is quite contrary to the fact that India is one of the largest agrarian economies producing humongous quantities and varieties of agricultural produce originating from all nicks and corners of all states. The domestic market in itself is quite large. The food value chain has stakeholders ranging from a small farmer to street vendors to retailers to the big industrialists. The protocols thus developed for standardization of food articles should keep in mind the actual users of these standards, the environment, the culture and the present infrastructure of the country where they are to be implemented; which presently it seems is being overlooked. India has a great potential to make benchmarks in developing standards. Take the case of spices. India is home to numerous indigenous spices whose standards are being developed by Indian organizations. In account of this if we can develop standards of spices so why can not we be initiators in developing international standards of other products.
The food testing science and technology is continuously evolving each day. The high-tech instrumentation/techniques to detect the minutest levels of undesirable substances demands sophistication right from the sampling and sample preparation stage. At the same time the food laws, globally, are becoming stringent and demand the industry to cope up with the same. The biggest bottleneck in expanding the food processing sector, in terms of both investment and exports, is lack of adequate infrastructure including skilled human resource. Even at current level of production, farm produce is being wasted every year only because there is dearth of adequate storage, transportation, cold chain facilities and other infrastructure supports, stand alone the testing facilities.
Another major block in implementation of the food standards is that the changing scenario of food standards and their rigid requirements typically do not reach rural India timely. The public knowledge is quite limited such that only few farmers are aware of the procedure. Though agricultural extension services are established all across rural India but they do not provide any information about prevailing national and international standards, nor do they assist farmers in imparting techniques about changing cultivation practices to meet these standards. If India can overcome these hurdles then a time is not far when products from India will achieve universal acceptance with a reputation of having high standards.
References:
-
Comprehensive study of food regulations and standards, food testing infrastructure, Codex Resource system, HACCP/ISO/Organic products certification/ Accreditation system. Ministry of Food Processing Industry.
( http://mofpi.nic.in/) -
Food Safety and Standard Act 2006 (http://www.fssai.gov.in/).
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Quality Council of India (http://www.qcin.org/)
-
Export Inspection Council (http://www.eicindia.org/)
-
Bureau of Indian Standards (http://www.bis.org.in/)
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