Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is fully committed to ensuring the availability of safe food products to consumers across the country. Towards this, FSSAI through State/UTs and its Regional Offices conducts regular surveillance, monitoring, inspection, and random sampling of various food products to check compliance with the quality and safety parameters and other requirements as laid down under Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006, and regulations made thereunder. In cases where food samples are found to be non-conforming, penal action is taken against the defaulting Food Business Operators as per the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, Rules and Regulations.

FSSAI carries out special festive drives before the commencement of and around, the festive seasons. Under these special drives, random sampling of adulteration-prone food products especially milk and milk products, such as ghee, khoya, paneer, and sweets particularly during the festive season are carried out. The drives are carried out in the suspected hotspots of adulteration identified through various exercises including intelligence inputs, past sampling & analysis history, complaints & reports on various channels including local media.

Further, for regular inspection and monitoring of the quality of food, FSSAI has also provided financial and technical support to the States/UTs for strengthening the food testing ecosystem which includes the procurement of High End and Basic Equipment, setting up of Microbiology laboratory and managing contingencies, Mobile Food Testing Laboratories, Manpower, National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accreditation etc.

FSSAI has implemented the following initiatives to raise awareness about food safety among consumers, the food industry, and citizens:

1. Website and Social Media: FSSAI’s website and Social Media pages provide accessible information on Standards/Regulations/Advisories related to Food Safety and on detecting food adulterants at home, offering practical tips for consumers.
2. Adulteration Videos: FSSAI has produced a series of videos that visually demonstrate methods for identifying adulteration in commonly used foods. These are available on the FSSAI YouTube channel and promoted on various other media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook from time to time and are showcased at various public events and campaigns.
3. Resources like the DART Book offer simple tests for detecting food adulterants at home.
4. Food Safety Magic Box: This educational toolkit is designed for school students, teachers, and parents, and contains easy-to-use tests for detecting food adulteration through an interactive and engaging way for students to learn about food safety.
5. Food Safety on Wheels (FSWs) or mobile food testing laboratories are deployed to reach remote areas and for conducting food testing and raise awareness.
6. Food Safety Guidebook for Teachers/Students: The lesson plan booklet provides detailed information on how to conduct the different tests on food adulteration. These tests are mapped across the curriculum of the particular grade.

The Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Shri Prataprao Jadhav stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

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HFW/Safe food products-FSSAI/13 December 2024/3

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