Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) CEO G Kamala Vardhana Rao addressed the 42nd Central Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting at Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday and talked about several issues related to food security. He specifically talked about ensuring safe food for students who eat in hostel canteens.
The CEO urged the Commissioner of Food Safety to upgrade the food testing infrastructure that is in place currently and also to increase the number of food testing laboratories in the country. “During the meeting, he directed the Commissioners of Food Safety of States and UTs to organize training for food handlers in the canteens of student hostels and universities to ensure safe and hygienic food for students,” FSSAI said in a statement.
Regarding the upcoming festive season, Rao especially encouraged the states and union territories to try and put efforts into proper surveillance of milk and milk related products. Every year, there are multiple complaints of sweet quality and milk products due to the heavy demand around Diwali, so the CEO’s concern is extremely valid.
Food streets of India was also a talking point during the meeting, where Rao spoke about modernization of 100 food streets initiative. The meeting was attended by more than 50 officials, including Commissioners of Food Safety, senior FSSAI officials as well as representatives of states, UTs, agriculture, food industry and research bodies of India. It was a strong statement made towards improving food safety in Indian canteens, hostels and re-evaluating the food testing infrastructure of the country.
Recently, the FSSAI had laid out instructions to refrain from using newspapers to wrap any sort of food, due to the ink used in the printing of those papers. This meeting has further laid down the specifics and put the onus on states to provide proper training for food safety, especially for the upcoming festive season. Food safety is important for everyone as we are what we eat and when we eat healthy, hygienic and safe food, our body can function at its full capacity.