Arun Singhal, CEO, FSSAI said that the regulator is planning to develop a risk management system for the domestic sector similar to the system already in place for imported products for sampling and inspection. This will include the product details, manufacturer profile, compliance reports to reduce the incidence of unnecessary inspection by food and safety inspectors.
Addressing the virtual ‘India Food & Nutrition Innovation Summit 2021’, organized by FICCI & Thinking Forks Consulting with collaboration from MoFPI, Singhal said that FSSAI has been embracing the use of technology in a big way and all activities are online today.
“Our IT platforms are robust, and we have gone for ease of doing business on these platforms. We are now coming out with the concept of ‘Perpetual License’ so that no renewal of the license would be necessary for the industry,”
Eat Right India: Biggest Innovation of FSSAI
Singhal further added that one of the biggest innovations by FSSAI was the launch of the ‘Eat Right India’ campaign through which consumers would get all information regarding healthy food. “From next year January consumers while visiting the restaurant, will find the menu card to have the serving size along with the calorific information of the serving as well.
We are soon coming out with the Vegan logo. There is a small class of people growing in numbers who are vegans and there was no certification available for vegan foods. We have also come out with regulation for AYUSH aahar as well,”
He highlighted that FSSAI has been focusing on rapid food testing kits. “We are among the very few countries in the world to start the concept of mobile food testing labs and we have the concept of Food Safety on Wheels,”
Manoj Joshi, Special Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Govt of India said that in the last few months with the announcement of the PLI scheme, we have created a window for innovative and organic products which attracted a lot of attention by the innovators. One area of concern under the PLI scheme includes the millets which need attention since there are very few millet-based products in the market. “Innovations in IT, logistics, storage, and primary processing from industry are areas where government support is required and wherever there is a market failure government must come in,”
Challenge of Feeding People Grows, as India’s Population Soars
Hemant Malik, Chair, FICCI Food Processing Committee & CEO-Food Division, ITC Ltd said that as India’s population soars well past one billion, the challenge of feeding its people also grows. Food processing is positioned to be a vital part of the solution. “India’s food processing sector is one of the largest in the world and its output is expected to reach USD 535 billion by 2025-26,”
A Knowledge Paper on ‘Indian Food and Nutrition Innovation’ was also released during the event. The report aims to highlight the gaps when it comes to nutrition, emerging consumer and market trends that are driving consumer choices in Food and Beverage products.
