The center is all set to launch 100 accredited food testing laboratories across the country and an equal number of street food hubs, as informed by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman during a Parliament session.
Setting Up Food Safety Labs
Further adding, “Setting up of 100 quality and safety food testing labs with NABL accreditation will be facilitated.”
Under this initiative, Finance minister Sitharaman has proposed a scheme to develop 100 weekly ‘haats’ or 100 street food hubs in select cities.
When it comes to our country, the quality, safety and standards of the food products are regulated by the Food Safety Standard of India (FSSAI).
Besides this, it also facilitates strengthening the network of food testing laboratories around the country.
All this to ensure the quality of food testing, investing in human resources, carrying out surveillance activities and educating consumers.
Foods and Ingredients Routinely Fail Safety and Quality Tests
But it can not be denied that many foods and ingredients routinely fail safety and quality tests.
In one such incident, authorities in Singapore and Hong Kong ordered some Indian spices taken off the shelves In the recent past.
They came to this conclusion after they were found to have ethylene oxide above permissible levels, which can be toxic.
Another such incident where Nestlé’s popular baby food Cerelac, which is being sold in India was alleged to have added sugar in it compared with the same products being sold in developed countries.
As of 5 May, the regulator had 206 NABL accredited labs as primary food testing labs that are responsible for carrying out analysis of food samples collected under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, revealed by the FSSAI data.
Here mentioned NABL stands for the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories.
The chief executive of Food Future Foundation and former CEO of FSSAI, Pawan Agarwal said, “Setting up 100 more NABL-accredited food testing labs is definitely a good move. This will enhance our testing capabilities and give consumers confidence that they have safe and quality food. However, NABL labs could be private and government ones.”
In addition to this, Sitharaman also proposed financial support for setting up 50 multi-product food irradiation units in the MSME sector.
