Govt mulls tie-up with IITs, varsities for food quality

To ensure quality food and safety standards in the food sector besides introducing a better surveillance mechanism, the government plans to tie up with agricultural universities, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and other institutions that have food-testing laboratories.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), an autonomous statutory body administered by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is ready with a plan wherein it can carry out research and development (R&D) in the food sector with minimum investment.

Since the authority itself doesn't have many laboratories at its disposal and neither the expertise for food testing, it will seek help of institutions which have food-testing facilities.

"We have already identified 20 universities and institutes, including state agricultural universities and IIT-Kharagpur, to start with. Gradually, we wish to take the number to 500," FSSAI chairman P I Suvrathan told Business Standard.

FSSAI will involve institutions/universities, public-funded organisations and recognised R&D laboratories both in public and private sectors and non-government organisations and provide financial assistance to these for the purchase of essential equipment, equipment accessories, consumables and other expenditure.

Once tested, the final reports of the sample will be placed in public domain so that the findings are accessible to the public. "We will connect all these universities and institutions online with our central electronic network in Delhi to facilitate faster flow of information to control any untoward incidents like melamine-contaminated milk from China, salmonella-contaminated peanut butter from the US and the UK, or any incidents of domestic food contamination," adds Suvrathan.

FSSAI is also finalising an integrated IT-enabled imported food safety system, taking note of the fact that the demand for imported food items has increased considerably in India coinciding with the impressive economic growth achieved by the country and concurrent changes in import regulations for the last few years.