Not enough staff: FSSAI asks states to fill vacancies for strengthening enforcement

New Delhi: Central food regulator FSSAI has asked states to fill existing vacancies at the earliest for strengthening enforcement activities and ensuring safe food to consumers.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) CEO Rajit Punhani has directed states and UTs to "expedite the recruitment of Food Safety Officers (FSOs) and Designated Officers (DOs) and fill existing vacancies to strengthen field-level regulatory capacity and scale up food safety enforcement across the country".

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The deliberations were held at the 50th meeting of the Central Advisory Committee (CAC) of FSSAI, which was held in Shimla, according to a statement.

Punhani emphasised the need for stronger food safety enforcement across the country.

He stressed that robust enforcement remains central to ensuring safe food for consumers.

The CEO "directed states and UTs to scale up enforcement activities and significantly increase food sampling and surveillance".

He asked states and UTs to intensify public awareness initiatives and strengthen outreach efforts at the grassroots level.

The Committee reviewed the performance of states and UTs on key enforcement parameters, including recruitment, functioning of state and district level advisory committees, enforcement and surveillance sampling, food safety inspections, regulatory reporting and on-time disposal of consumer complaints.

States and UTs were advised to address identified gaps and ensure the timely achievement of prescribed targets.

Deliberations were held on improving food recall mechanisms through the recently operationalised Food Recall Module on FoSCoS.

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States and UTs were advised to sensitise Food Business Operators (FBOs) regarding the timely reporting of recall actions and to ensure the effective implementation of recall procedures for unsafe food products.

Other key issues discussed included streamlining licensing and registration processes, reducing application pendency, improving regulatory compliance by FBOs, and strengthening implementation of labelling requirements for nutraceuticals and health supplements.

The meeting also discussed how to address misleading claims in food advertisements and promote sustainable packaging solutions in the food sector, FSSAI said.

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