Need to Have Higher Domestic Food Safety Standards to Enhance Consumer Trust: Additional Secretary, MoFPI, GoI

Sanoj Kumar Jha, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Govt of India today said that the Indian food processing sector is growing at a rapid pace and food safety plays an important part in this.

He also emphasized the need for having a higher set of food safety standards in order to enhance consumer trust. “Not only for the purpose of exports but also for our domestic purpose and health issues, we need to be sure that the food that we eat and food that we export have to confirm to minimum standards. For domestic consumption, we need to have high food safety standards,” he added.

Addressing the ‘FICCI Conference on Capability Enhancement for Safe Food Business and Accession Ceremony of All India Cadre of Safe Food Business Professionals’, Jha stated that the Indian agriculture sector including the processed food industry proved its importance during the pandemic and post-COVID, a lot of countries are looking forward to having a regime so that they have food security in their country.

Hence, there is a need for the industry to be aware of export-related food safety standards prevailing in various countries. “If we want to export to any country including Europe, the US, or Africa, we need to comply with their standards. Unless we ensure that we conform to their standards, we won’t be able to export,” he added.

Jha further stated that FSSAI has been coming up with new regulations with norms getting more and more stringent. “The norms will keep on getting more and more stringent going forward,” he emphasized and added that food safety is paramount, and we need to ensure to take these high standards to local street food vendors as well.

Highlighting the steps taken by the government, Jha said that the Ministry has already initiated capacity-building institutions along with government programs. “We all need to work together to have safe food for our consumption, exporting to other countries,” he informed.

Prof Prabhat K Nema, Director, National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) while highlighting the importance of public-private partnership in capacity enhancement stated that we have started collaborating with leading institutions, and industry partners and developing courses aimed at making business leaders. “We need to focus on creating people with the right skills and competency to fulfill the needs of the industry,” he added.

Suresh Narayanan, Member, FICCI Food Processing Committee and CMD, Nestle India Limited said that the Indian food processing industry today accounts for 10 per cent of India’s GDP and is one of the largest employers. “We not only need to have food security but also food safety to feed the population. In this interlinked world, food quality, standards and safety are global in nature. Food safety constitutes one of the most fundamental aspects of any food operation and is the backbone of consumer trust,” he emphasized.

The conference also marked the Accession Ceremony of 25 selected Professionals of the All India Cadre of Safe Food Business Professionals Batch 2022-23, organised by Nestle Food Safety Institute India (NFSI) in partnership with National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM).