Govt to interconnect ports through web

Move to facilitate fast movement of imported food; draft note to be put up soon.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), an autonomous statutory body administered by the health and family welfare ministry, will interconnect five ports (Calcutta, Haldia, Chennai, JNPT and Mumbai) through web to facilitate fast movement of imported food. The authority will soon put a draft note on this for public consultation and formulate an act for imported food thereafter.

VN Gaur, CEO of FSSAI, told Business Standard: “Mandate of the Act (the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006) is that we will have a comprehensive system in place and meet our standards. We will have database on the product, importer, and country. Once you have the complete data, we would not require to check the same product on each port. This system will help us save on time spent in checking products and also save importers’ money. Extra time taken on the port costs huge money to importers.”

At present, the Customs officials release the consignment. When the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) comes in place, port health officers would replace them. He also said the authority was developing a software for this and the ports would be connected in 3-4 months.

Besides inter-connecting the ports, the online system would connect international bodies like Food and Drug Authority (FDA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to collate information from these authorities on the products coming to India. It would also help the authority to have a track record of products coming to India and prevent any incidents like melamine-contaminated milk coming from China.

The initiative is much needed, considering that with more income in hands, Indians are increasingly consuming processed food and more global retailers are entering India. At present, around 20 per cent of total food and beverages consumed in India is imported. This is set to increase significantly in the near future.