In an effort to galvanize States to work towards ensuring safe food for citizens, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Shri Mansukh Mandaviya released Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)’s 3rd State Food Safety Index (SFSI) to measure the performance of States across five parameters of food safety; human resources such as number of Food Safety Officers; coverage of food businesses in licensing; food testing; training and capacity building of regulatory staff and laboratory personnel; and consumer empowerment.

The event felicitated nine leading States/UTs based on the ranking for the year 2020-21 for their impressive performance. This year, among the larger states, Gujarat was the top ranking state, followed by Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Among the smaller states, Goa stood first followed by Meghalaya and Manipur. Among UTs, Jammu & Kashmir, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and New Delhi secured top ranks. Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Bihar are amongst the worst performers.

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The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been established under Food Safety and Standards , 2006 which consolidates various acts & orders that have hitherto handled food related issues in various Ministries and Departments. FSSAI has been created 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 Act also aims to establish a single reference point for all matters relating to food safety and standards, by moving from multi- level, multi- departmental control to a single line of command. To this effect, the Act establishes an independent statutory Authority – the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India with head office at Delhi. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the State Food Safety Authorities shall enforce various provisions of the Act. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the Administrative Ministry for the implementation of FSSAI.

It lay down the Standards and guidelines in relation to articles of food;

mechanisms and guidelines for accreditation of certification bodies engaged in certification of food safety management system

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

scientific advice and technical support to Central Government and State Governments in the matters of framing the policy 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.

Promote general awareness about food safety and food standards