Laws concerning hygiene and safety
1. What are the general provisions with regard to articles of food covered under FSS Act?
General provisions with regard to articles of food are covered under the FSS Act, 2006 are:
No article of food should contain any food additive or processing aid unless it is in accordance with the provisions of the Act and Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011.
Food additive means any substance not normally consumed as a food by itself or used as a typical ingredient of the food, whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to food for a technological (including organoleptic) purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packing, packaging, transport or holding of such food results, or may be reasonably expected to result (directly or indirectly), in it or its by-products becoming a component of or otherwise affecting the characteristics of such food but does not include ―contaminants or substances added to food for maintaining or improving nutritional qualities.
Processing aid means any substance or material, not including apparatus or utensils, and not consumed as a food ingredient by itself, used in the processing of raw materials, foods or its ingredients to fulfill a certain technological purpose during treatment or processing and which may result in the non-intentional but unavoidable presence of residues or derivatives in the final product.
No article of food should contain any contaminant, naturally occurring toxic substances or toxins or hormone or heavy metals in excess of such quantities as may be specified by the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011.
No article of food should contain insecticides or pesticides residues, veterinary drugs residues, antibiotic residues, solvent residues, pharmacological active substances and micro-biological counts in excess of such tolerance limit as may be
specified by regulations. No insecticide should be used directly on article of food except fumigants registered and approved under the Insecticides Act, 1968.
No person should manufacture, distribute, sell or expose for sale or despatch or deliver to any agent or broker for the purpose of sale, any packaged food products which are not marked and labelled in the manner as specified by the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and labelling) Regulations, 2011.
Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and labelling) Regulations, 2011. Every food business operator shall ensure that the labelling and presentation of food, including their shape, appearance or packaging, the packaging materials used, the manner in which they are arranged and the setting in which they are displayed, and the information which is made available about them through whatever medium, does not mislead consumers.
No advertisement should be made of any food which is misleading or deceiving or contravenes the provisions of this Act, the rules and regulations made thereunder.
2. Describe various Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011.
Food safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food businesses) regulation, 2011: It details the licensing and registration procedure. The Application for registration should be in Form A for petty food business operator. The Application for registration should be in Form B for Food Business Operator. The Central Licensing Authority is the licensing authority for food business which falls under Schedule 1 of this regulation. The State/UT‘s Licensing Authority is the licensing authority for food business not covered under Schedule 1.
Food Safety and standards (Packaging and Labelling) regulation, 2011: No person should manufacture, distribute, sell or expose for sale or dispatch or deliver to any agent or broker for the purpose of sale, any packaged food products which are not marked and labeled as per the Regulations.
Food safety and standards (Food product standards and Food Additives) regulation, 2011: No article of food should contain any food additive or processing aid except in accordance with the Regulations.
Food safety and standards (Prohibition and Restriction on sales) regulation, 2011: The regulation provides for prohibition of sale of certain admixtures; restriction on use of certain ingredients; prohibition and restriction on sale of certain products and restrictions relating to conditions for sale
Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) regulation, 2011: No article of food should contain any contaminant, naturally occurring toxic substances or toxins or hormone or heavy metals in excess of such quantities as may be specified under the Regulations.
Food Safety and Standards (Laboratory and sampling analysis) regulation, 2011: The regulation provides for recognition and accreditation of laboratories, research institutions and referral food laboratory; notified laboratories for Import and procedure for sampling.
3. Write a short note on HACCP & ISO 9001.
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP):
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a process control system designed to identify and prevent microbial and other hazards in food production. It includes steps designed to prevent problems before they occur and to correct deviations as soon as they are detected. Such preventive control system with documentation and verification are widely recognized by scientific authorities and international organizations as the most effective approach available for producing safe food.
HACCP involves a system approach to identification of hazard, assessment of chances of occurrence of hazards during each phase, raw material procurement, manufacturing, distribution, usage of food products, and in defining the measures for hazard control. In doing so, the many drawbacks prevalent in the inspection approach are provided and HACCP overcomes shortcomings of reliance only on microbial testing.
HACCP enables the producers, processors, distributors, exporters, etc, of food products to utilize technical resources efficiently and in a cost effective manner in assuring food safety. Food inspection too would be more systematic and therefore hassle-free. It would no doubt involve deployment of some additional finances initially but this would be more than compensated in the long run through consistently better quality and hence better prices and returns.
ISO-9000:
Implementation of the ISO standards enables export enterprises in developing countries to offer products or services that meet well-defined needs, satisfy consumer expectations, comply with applicable standards and specifications, as well as conform to requirements in regard to health & safety, protection of the environment and conservation of energy and materials: all these at lower costs and higher levels of efficiency.
Application of ISO 9000 in the Fruit & Vegetable Processing Industry - ISO 9000 series of standards are generic standards and are applicable equally both to manufacturing as well as to service industries. Under individual circumstances these need to be tailored to meet the requirements specific to each industry. The fruit and vegetable processing industry has its own special features such as variable quality of raw material due to its agricultural origin, limited shelf life of both raw materials and final product, importance of packing and storage to maintain the products safe for human consumption, need to maintain proper hygienic conditions during manufacture, storage and distribution as these products are often liable to microbial contamination and toxin development,
importance of safety as these products tend to get contaminated with metallic impurities and pesticides. In addition, food additives are added to enhance appeal and shelf life and if these are not added judiciously or controlled, these may prove to be harmful. These special features need to be given due consideration while orienting ISO 9000 to this industry.
4. Write about Food Safety And Standards Authority Of India and its functions.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI): The Food Authority consists of a Chairperson and 22 members out of which one-third should be women, namely, 7 ex-officio members represent the Ministries or Departments of Central Government viz. Agriculture, Commerce, Consumer Affairs, Food Processing, Health, Legislative Affairs, Small Scale Industries; two representatives from food industry; two representative from consumer organizations; three eminent food technologists or scientists; five members to represent the States and the Union Territories on rotation basis; two persons to represent farmers‘ organizations and one person to represent retailers‘ organizations. The head office of the authority is at Delhi. The mandate assigned to the Food Authority is 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.
FSSAI has been mandated by the FSS Act, 2006 for performing the following functions:
Framing of Regulations to lay down the Standards and guidelines in relation to articles of food and specifying appropriate system of enforcing various standards thus notified.
Laying down mechanisms and guidelines for accreditation of certification bodies engaged in certification of food safety management system for food businesses.
Laying down procedure and guidelines for accreditation of laboratories and notification of the accredited laboratories.
To provide scientific advice and technical support to Central Government and State Governments in the matters of framing the policy and rules in areas which have a direct or indirect bearing of food safety and nutrition.
Collect and collate data regarding food consumption, incidence and prevalence of biological risk, contaminants in food, residues of various, contaminants in foods products, identification of emerging risks and introduction of rapid alert system.
Creating an information network across the country so that the public, consumers, Panchayats etc receive rapid, reliable and objective information about food safety and issues of concern.
Provide training programmes for persons who are involved or intend to get involved in food businesses.
Contribute to the development of international technical standards for food, sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards.
Promote general awareness about food safety and food standards.
5. Explain about BIS & AGMARK.
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS):
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the national Standards Body of India working under the aegis of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India. It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986 which came into effect on 23 December 1986. The organization was formerly the Indian Standards Institution (ISI). One of the major functions of the Bureau is the formulation, recognition and promotion of the Indian Standards. Product Certifications are to be obtained voluntarily. For, some of the products like Milk powder, Milk-cereal based weaning foods, Processed cereal based complementary foods for infants, sweetened condensed milk, packaged, infant milk substitutes, Drinking Water, etc., certification is mandatory because these products are concerned with health and safety.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published ISO 22000:2005 - Food Safety Management Systems – Requirements for any Organization in the Food Chain, with a view to provide framework for internationally harmonized requirements for systematically managing safety in food supply chains. Consequent to publication of ISO 22000, BIS has adopted this International Standard as IS/ISO 22000:2005. This standard integrates the principles of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system developed by Codex Alimentarius Commission and combines the HACCP plan with Prerequisite Programmes (PRPs) and is fully compatible with Quality Management Systems (QMS) as per ISO 9001: 2000. BIS has launched Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) Certification IS/ISO 22000:2005 scheme which envisages grant of FSMS Certification license to organizations according to IS/ISO 22000.
AGMARK:
The word Agmark is derived from Agricultural Marketing. The Agmark standard was set up by the Directorate of Marketing & Inspection (DMI), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India by introducing an agricultural produce Act in 1937. The word Agmark seal ensures about quality and purity of the food products. The quality of the product is determined with reference to the size, variety, weight, colour, moisture, fat content and other factors are taken in to account.
It covers quality assurances of unprocessed, semi processed and processed agricultural commodities. It lays down the specifications for various adulteration prone commodities Viz. butter, ghee, vegetable oils, ground spices, honey, wheat etc., Agmark also covers pulses, cereals, makhana, vegetable oils, fruits and vegetables, roasted bengal gram, vermicelli, macaroni and spaghetti. Blended edible vegetable oils and fat spread are compulsorily required to be certified under Agmark.
Products available under AGMARK are pulses, wheat products, vegetable oils, ground spices, whole spices, milk products, honey, compounded asafoetida, rice, tapioca sago, seedless tamarind and gram flour; grading of these commodities is voluntary. On the other hand grading of commodities like tobacco, walnut, spices, basmati rice, essential oils, onion, potatoes are meant for export is compulsory under AGMARK.
