Ashwin Bhadri, CEO, Equinox Labs: How FSSAI rolled amidst the Pandemic

Ashwin Bhadri, CEO, Equinox Labs is an international speaker on Food Safety and a pioneer in Food Safety Monitoring and FSSAI Compliance. He works closely with FSSAI Initiatives pan-India, such as SNF@Workplace, FoSTaC, Eat Right India, ITCFSAN, Hygiene Rating to name a few. In this article he elucidates on the measures FSSAI took to streamline Food Safety during Covid-19

Food safety concerns have been heightened by the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. According to a study conducted by KRC Research in mid-September using the Mars Food Safety and Security online survey of 1,754 adults (ages 18 to 65), more than half of the people believe food safety is a top 3 global issue, and 77% believe it’s a top 10 global issue.

According to the survey, 71% of respondents believe the novel coronavirus will have an impact on global access to food and 73% believe it will impact the viability of the global supply chain.. These individuals think about food safety and security as much as poverty (33%), pollution (38%) and climate change (39%), the survey found.

As the Coronavirus continued to spread across the globe like wildfire, India’s apex food regulatory body, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) developed a detailed guidance on specific practices that can be taken by all types of food businesses in addition to those mentioned in the Schedule IV of Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations 2011, in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19 during food business operations.

These specific measures included maintaining optimum levels of personal hygiene; excluding Covid-19 infected individuals from the operations; practicing social distancing in all areas; and appropriate cleaning/sanitisation of the food operations’ premises, food contact materials, among others.

Keeping in mind that the best way to fend off the impact of Covid-19 is to strengthen  immunity, and working towards their primary goal of promoting health and well-being of the citizens, FSSAI issues several regulations and amendments throughout the peak of the pandemic. Let’s take a look at the key ones.

Fortification of Edible Oil with Vitamin A and D

India has a huge burden of malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies. A huge population in our nation suffers from deficiency of vitamin A & D. Lack of these vitamins in our body can have an adverse impact on mortality, morbidity, productivity and economic growth. Vitamin A and D also boost the immune system, which is crucial in times of COVID-19 pandemic.

A national webinar on Edible Oil Fortification was jointly hosted by the Food Fortification Resource Centre under the Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) in association with GAIN. Several officials from the government, academia, development partners, and edible oil industry players had participated in this webinar.

In the webinar, discussions were held on the current scenario of edible oil fortification in India (currently (69% (7.94 MMT/annuum edible oil) of packaged edible oil sold across pan-India is fortified) and further requirement for scaling-up the process with sufficient practices for quality control and assurance.

Emphasis was also laid on providing aid to the edible oil industry for building the capacity of suppliers, adopting proper processes and upgrading the state food laboratory environment for precise testing at the large scale.

Recognition Scheme for Hygiene Rating Audit Agencies

At the behest of the FSSAI, Quality Council of India (QCI) in order to scale up Hygiene Rating, came out with a scheme for approval of Hygiene Rating Audit Agencies by increasing the number of recognised Hygiene Rating Audit Agencies in India.

FSSAI’s initiative of ‘Food Hygiene Rating Scheme’ is a certification programme for food businesses providing food directly to consumers (either on or off premise). The food premises are rated based on food safety and hygiene conditions observed at the time of audit. The hygiene rating will be in smileys (1 up to 5) and the certificate will have to be displayed prominently in the consumer facing area.

The recognised Hygiene Rating Audit Agencies will be responsible for adhering to the food hygiene and safety regulations laid by FSSAI and get Hygiene Rating.

The scheme aims to allow consumers to make informed decisions/choices pertaining to which food outlets they eat at, by encouraging food businesses to improve their safety and hygiene standards. Currently, this scheme is applicable for hotels, cafeteria, restaurants, sweet shops, dhabhas, bakeries and meat retail stores.

Norms to limit Trans Fats in Food items

In order to extend the shelf life and increase stability at room temperature, industrial trans fats are produced by adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils and making them solid. Trans fats are highly present in partially hydrogenated vanaspati, margarine, vegetable fats/oils, and can be found in fried and baked foods.

Research has shown that higher consumption of industrially produced trans fatty acids (>1% of total energy intake) can result in increased risk of high cholesterol and heart diseases. According to 2017 estimates, every year more than 1.5 million deaths in India is associated with coronary heart disease, of which about 5% (71,000) are due to trans fats intake.

Elimination of iTFA has been identified as a huge factor to prevent heart diseases. This is especially imperative in the current scenario, when Covid -19 is adding risk to people suffering from comorbidities like heart diseases, hypertension and diabetes etc. In 2018, WHO called for elimination of iTFA from the food supply by 2023.

FSSAI concluded a series of webinars on trans fats to target specific stakeholders focusing on challenges faced by them in making a switch to trans fat free items and suggesting practical solutions through talks delivered by national and international experts. The webinars were attended by nearly 3,700 participants from the food businesses, edible oil industry, chefs, bakers, hoteliers and restaurateurs, namkeen and sweet manufacturers, food analysts from food laboratories and academic institutions.

Key pointers under the regulations:

• Limiting industrial TFA to not more than 3% in all oils and fats by January 2021, and not more than 2% by January, 2022.
• All food products in which edible fats and oils are used as an ingredient shall not contain iTFA more than 2% by mass of the total fats/oils present in the product, effective from 01st January, 2022 as per the regulation, Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Second Amendment Regulations, 2021.
• Defines “Industrial trans fatty acids (iTFAs) as -all the geometrical isomers of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids having non-conjugated, interrupted by at least 1 methylene group, carbon-carbon double bonds in the trans configuration. It excludes trans-fatty acids from meat, dairy, fish and their products.”

Training on the FSS Act and good Agri practices

Once the food enters the food value chain, FSSAI being the apex food regulator, regulates and monitors the contaminants and maximum residue limits for various pesticides in farm produce.

FSSAI issued a letter to the Food Safety Commissioners of different states for an awareness and training programme about ‘Good Agricultural Practices’ and the FSS Act for the primary producers to look into the problem of contaminants and residues of various pesticides post-harvesting.

The letter added that the programmes can be organised in collaboration with state departments of animal husbandry, agriculture, fisheries, dairying, Krishi Vigyan Kendra and Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

The matter gained popularity after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health observed that harmful contaminants and components enter the food system during the time of primary production. Food authorities were asked to ensure that the food was safe right from the start of the food chain and that they needed to work closely with the primary producers.

FSSAI issued various codes of exercises under the Food Safety Management System for fish, fish products, meat, meat products, milk, milk products, and so on, along with vegetable edible oils.

Moreover, FSSAI also issued a number of guidance materials on major food safety issues pertaining to the primary production level regarding metal aflatoxins, pesticides, contaminants, and issue of formalin (all of which is available on FSSAI’s website).