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FSSAI: Role, Functions, Initiatives,

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FSSAI – Overview and General Understanding Free FSSAI e-book

FSSAI: Role, Functions, Initiatives,

& A General Understanding
For FSSAI Exam

Contents
About FSSAI ............................................................................................................................................ 1
Genesis and Evolution of FSSAI.............................................................................................................. 2
Structure and Functions of Food Authority ........................................................................................... 2
Overview of Systems and Processes in Standards ................................................................................ 4
Promoting Safe and Wholesome Food .................................................................................................. 5
Training and Capacity Building .............................................................................................................. 7
Role of State Food Authorities............................................................................................................... 8
Overview of Food Safety and Standards Act of India 2006 .................................................................. 8

About FSSAI

➢ Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is a statutory body established under
the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India.

➢ FSSAI is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and
supervision of food safety.

➢ The FSSAI is headed by a non-executive Chairperson, appointed by the Central Government,

either holding or has held the position of not below the rank of Secretary to the Government
of India.

➢ Rita Teaotia is the current Chairperson for FSSAI and Shri Arun Singhal is the current Chief
Executive Officer for FSSAI.

➢ The FSSAI has its headquarters in New Delhi. The authority also has 6 regional offices located
in Delhi, Guwahati, Mumbai, Kolkata, Cochin, and Chennai.

➢ In 2021, with the aim of benefitting industries involved in manufacturing, handling, packaging,
and selling of food items, FSSAI decided to grant perpetual licenses to restaurants and food
manufacturers on the condition that they file their returns every year.
FSSAI – Overview and General Understanding Free FSSAI e-book

Genesis and Evolution of FSSAI

The FSSAI has been established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which is a
consolidating statute related to food safety and regulation in India.

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 procedures 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 that have a direct or
indirect bearing on 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 the 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
phytosanitary standards.

➢ Promote general awareness about food safety and food standards.

Study Pack & Mock Tests for Technical Officers, Central Food Safety Officers (CFSO) and Assistants

Structure and Functions of Food Authority

The FSSAI consists of a chairperson & 22 members. The FSSAI appoints food safety authorities on the
state level. The FSSAI functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare.

The main aim of FSSAI is to:

➢ Lay down science-based standards for articles on food.

➢ To regulate manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import of food.

FSSAI – Overview and General Understanding Free FSSAI e-book

➢ To facilitate food safety.

Functions: Research and Quality Assurance

➢ Research: FSSAI has set certain guidelines for food safety research, The Research and
Development division is responsible for research with the following objectives:

• Generate new knowledge that would help in continuously updating and upgrading
food safety standards that are compatible with international organizations.

• Carry out evidence-based studies for improving or building policies.

➢ Quality Assurance: FSSAI has been mandated to perform various functions related to quality
and standards of food.

These functions in addition to others include Laying down procedures and guidelines for
notification of the accredited laboratories as per ISO17025, The FSSAI notified laboratories
that are classified as:
• FSSAI notified NABL accredited labs- 112
• State Labs-72
• Referral Labs-14

➢ Standards: Standards framed by FSSAI are prescribed under Food Safety and Standards (Food
Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011, Food Safety and Standards
(Packaging and Labelling) Regulation, 2011 and Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants,
Toxins, and Residues) Regulations, 2011.

Duties and functions of Food Authority

➢ It shall be the duty of the Food Authority to regulate and monitor the manufacture,
processing, distribution, sale and import of food so as to ensure safe and wholesome food.

➢ The Food Authority may by regulations specify –

• The standards and guidelines in relation to articles of food and specifying an

appropriate system for enforcing various standards notified under this Act.

• The limits for use of food additives, crop contaminants, pesticide residues, residues
of veterinary drugs, heavy metals, processing aids, mycotoxins, antibiotics and
pharmacologically active substances and irradiation of food.

• The mechanisms and guidelines for accreditation of certification bodies engaged in

certification of food safety management systems for food businesses.
FSSAI – Overview and General Understanding Free FSSAI e-book

• The procedure and the enforcement of quality control in relation to any article of food
imported into India.

• The procedure and guidelines for accreditation of laboratories and notification of the
accredited laboratories.

• The method of sampling, analysis, and exchange of information among enforcement

authorities.

• Conduct survey of enforcement and administration of this Act in the country.

• Food labelling standards including claims on health, nutrition, special dietary uses and
food category systems for foods; and

• The manner in which and the procedure subject to which risk analysis, risk
assessment, risk communication and risk management shall be undertaken.

Overview of Systems and Processes in Standards

➢ Enforcement

• While standards help to set the benchmarks that need to be met, it is imperative to
have robust institutional frameworks and systems to ensure compliance with the
standards and regulations.

• A comprehensive compliance system includes surveillance and inspections for both

domestic and imported food products.

• The primary onus of ensuring compliance rests with the States and UTs, States/ UT
Governments have appointed Commissioners of Food Safety, notified Adjudicating
Officers, Designated Officers and Food Safety Officers for their respective jurisdictions
to perform various functions mandated under the Act.

• Further, Additional Food Safety Commissioners have been notified for Railways,
Airports and Ports along with Designated Officers for Airports and Ports. Appellate
Tribunal is established in 25 States/UTs.

• All Food Businesses in India across the food value chain are required to be licensed or
registered under the provisions of the FSS Act 2006.

• FSSAI has created an online system for Food Licensing and Registration (FLRS) and all
States/UTs (except Nagaland) are issuing Food Licenses/Registrations through online
mode.
FSSAI – Overview and General Understanding Free FSSAI e-book

• A large-scale IT platform for Food Safety Compliance through Regular Inspections and
Sampling (FoSCoRIS) is being put in place.

• Inspections would use standard compliance matrices to ensure consistency in the

approach of inspections across the country.

• FoSCoRIS is a web-based real-time inspection platform for Food Safety Officers

(FSOs).

• The “Manual for Food Safety Officers” has been prepared as a guidance document for
Food Safety Officers (FSOs) to be used while performing their duties for ensuring
regulatory compliance of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and Rules and
Regulations made thereunder.

• In this manual regulatory provisions and subject matters pertaining to inspections,

sampling, surveillance to be conducted by FSOs, their duties, responsibilities,
accountabilities, and procedures have been covered to the possible extent and also
current tools and mechanisms to meet the objectives and policies.

• The manual will help in bringing uniformity, consistency, and transparency in

regulatory compliance procedures at the ground level across the country.

Study Pack & Mock Tests for Technical Officers, Central Food Safety Officers (CFSO) and Assistants

Promoting Safe and Wholesome Food

(Eat Right India, Food Fortification, Clean Street Food Hub, RUCO and various other social
and behavioural change initiatives)
Apart from the regulatory functions of FSSAI mandated by the Food Safety and Standards (FSS), Act
2006, such as setting science-based, globally benchmarked standards for food, ensuring credible food-
testing and compliance to these standards through surveillance and enforcement activities, Eat Right
India encompasses a wide range of initiatives and programmes.

These initiatives aim to promote both the demand for and the supply of safe and healthy food in a
sustainable way.

While the supply-side interventions are aimed at building capacities of food businesses to promote
self-compliance, the demand-side initiatives work towards motivating consumers to demand safe and
healthy food.

The initiatives for the production and consumption of food in a sustainable way are aimed at
promoting environment-friendly food practices and habits.
FSSAI – Overview and General Understanding Free FSSAI e-book

Study Pack & Mock Tests for Technical Officers, Central Food Safety Officers (CFSO) and Assistants

➢ Supply-side Initiatives

• On the supply-side, to build capacities of food businesses on food safety, FSSAI has
initiated Food Safety Training and Certification (FoSTaC) – a unique program to ensure
a trained and certified Food Safety Supervisor (FSS) on each food business premise.

• Several benchmarking and certification schemes to improve food safety and hygiene
standards are in place.

• Clean Street Food Hub, Clean and Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Markets Eat Right Station
and BHOG (Blissful Hygienic Offering to God) for Places of Worship that are targeted
to clusters of vendors.

• The Hygiene Rating scheme for Restaurants and Catering Establishments, Sweet and
Meat Shops has been put in place for individual food service establishments.

➢ Demand-side Initiatives

• The demand-side initiatives of FSSAI aim at large-scale social and behaviour change
by engaging consumers and educating them on eating right.

• They work on three major focus areas - Building Consumer Awareness, Addressing
Adulteration and Enabling Healthy Choices.

• For building consumer awareness, a settings-based approach has been adopted with
programmes like Eat Right Campus and Eat Right School that target individuals in
FSSAI – Overview and General Understanding Free FSSAI e-book

workplaces, colleges, universities, institutes, hospitals, tea estates and jails as well as
school children in schools.

• The Eat Right Toolkit has been launched to reach communities at the grassroots level
by training frontlines health workers on messages on eating right.

➢ Sustainability Initiatives

• To encourage and support responsible production and consumption of food to

protect the environment.

• FSSAI is spearheading initiatives such as Jaivik Bharat to promote authentic organic

food, Save Food, Share Food to reduce food waste and promote food donation, Safe
and Sustainable Packaging in Food and Beverage Sector to reduce the use of plastics
and Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO) for safe and healthy use of cooking oil and
repurposing used cooking oil to make biodiesel, soap, or other useful products.

Eat Right India aims to scale up all these initiatives at the national level in order to ensure that each
citizen eats safe and healthy food in a sustainable way.

Study Pack & Mock Tests for Technical Officers, Central Food Safety Officers (CFSO) and Assistants

Training and Capacity Building

• Food Safety Training and Certification (FoSTaC) is an ecosystem for the capacity building of
FBOs across the food value chain.

• FSSAI, through eminent domain experts, has developed 16 courses at 3 levels - Basic,
Advanced and Special for the training of Food Safety Supervisors targeting different sectors of
Food Business including Catering, Manufacturing, Storage, Retail and Transport and also for
product-specific areas including Milk, Meat & Poultry, Oil etc.

• These are short duration courses of 4 to 12 hours, which can be delivered in online or offline
mode and focus on FSMS practices, GHP and GMP.

• Draft Manual for Basic Level is available in English and also in eleven Regional Languages.
FSSAI – Overview and General Understanding Free FSSAI e-book

Role of State Food Authorities

The main role of the state food Authority is to regulate and monitor, manufacture, processing,
distribution, sale and import of food while ensuring safe and wholesome food to the consumers,
Prescribing the Standards & Guidelines in relation to food and specified appropriate system for
enforcement.

Overview of Food Safety and Standards Act of India 2006

An Act to consolidate the laws relating to food and to establish the Food Safety and Standards
Authority of India for 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 and matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

This Food Safety Act consolidates all the previously existing laws relating to food and establishes the
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India for 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. The Food Authority acts as a single window to
provide guidance and issue clarifications/advisories for all matters related to food safety.

Research and Quality Assurance

Research

FSSAI has set certain guidelines for food safety research. The Research and Development division is
responsible for research with the following objectives:

• Generate new knowledge that would help in continuously updating and upgrading food
safety standards that are compatible with international organizations.

• Carry out evidence-based studies for improving or building Rules and regulations.

Quality Assurance

FSSAI has been mandated to perform various functions related to the quality and standards of food,
these functions in addition to others include Laying down procedures and guidelines for notification
of the accredited laboratories as per ISO17025, The FSSAI notified laboratories that are classified as:

• FSSAI Notified NABL Accredited Labs - 112

• State Labs – 72
• Referral Labs - 14

Study Pack & Mock Tests for Technical Officers, Central Food Safety Officers (CFSO) and Assistants
FSSAI – Overview and General Understanding Free FSSAI e-book

Objective of the Food Safety and Standards Act of India 2006

• The objective of the food law is to make available safe, pure, wholesome, and nutritious
food to the public.

• In 1954, the Indian government enacted the food law known as Prevention of Food
Adulteration Act, 1954 and Rules were made thereunder in 1955.

• Besides this Act and the Rules, many other orders related to food like FPO, 1955, Milk and
Milk Product Order, 1973 and many others were being implemented in the country and the
multiplicity of food laws and multi-departmental control was there.

• With the change in scenario regarding food habits of the public, development in food
technologies and use of processed food of different varieties worldwide, and to end the
multiplicity of food laws and multi-departmental control, the need was felt to have an
integrated new food law.

• The Indian government enacted a new food law known as the Food Safety and Standards
Act, 2006 and to give effect to the provisions of this Act, Rules and Regulations have been
made thereunder known as the Food Safety and Standards Rules,2011 and Regulations
2011.

Different sections of the act and Implementation

On 5th August 2011The new Food Safety & Standards Act, Rules and Regulations replaces the
following food laws that were being implemented in the country:

1. The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act,1954.

2. The Fruit Products Order,1955.

3. The Meat Food Products Order,1973.

4. The Vegetable Oil Products Order,1947.

5. The Edible Oil Packaging Order,1988.

6. The Solvent Extracted Oil, De oiled Meal, and Edible Flour Order, 1967.

7. The Milk and Milk Products Order,1992 and

8. Any order relating to food issued under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

Current Status of the Food Safety and Standards Act of India 2006
In 2021, to benefit industries involved in manufacturing, handling, packaging, and selling of food
items, FSSAI decided to grant perpetual licenses to restaurants and food manufacturers on the
condition that they file their returns every year.
FSSAI – Overview and General Understanding Free FSSAI e-book

Sources:
• FSSAI Government website
• PIB

FSSAI Mock Tests & Online Study Material

To help you kick-start your prep for the FSSAI 2021 exam, we are here with the FSSAI 2021 study packs
for the posts of Technical Officers, Central Food Safety Officers (CFSO) and Assistants. Do take a look
at the online course offerings given here:

Study Pack for CFSO & Technical Officers Study Pack for Assistants
• Computer Section & CA Notes (Part A) • Computer Section & CA Notes

• Detailed Notes for Part B • Detailed Notes - FSSAI Related Section

• 5 Full-Length Mock Tests • 5 Full-Length Mock Tests

Take Your Pick

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