The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has instructed all States and Union Territories to strengthen surveillance and enforcement against unsafe and adulterated food during the coming festive season.
In an official communication addressed to the Commissioners of Food Safety of all States and UTs and to FSSAI’s Regional Directors, the Authority noted that consumption of sweets, savouries, beverages, edible oils and dairy products such as ghee, khoa and paneer rises sharply around Navratri and Diwali. Such demand, it cautioned, increases the risk of substandard, counterfeit and adulterated products reaching consumers.
The priority categories are milk and milk products, sweets, snacks and savouries (including namkeen, papad and fryums), edible oils, beverages and ghee. States may adjust this list to local consumption patterns, for example flours such as kuttu and singhada atta in northern and western regions.
Designated Officers and Food Safety Officers have been asked to carry out inspections and collect samples, concentrating on identified hotspots and sensitive locations. Where available, Food Safety on Wheels mobile units are to be deployed in major markets or on the basis of intelligence inputs. They will provide on-the-spot testing, raise public awareness and strengthen consumer confidence in festive foods.
All inspection and sampling data, along with outcomes, must be recorded on the FoSCoS/FoSCoRIS platforms in real time.
The communication, issued under the signature of Dr. Amit Sharma, Executive Director (CS).
Written By: Sayan Das
Graphics by: Pramit Hazra
