One authority needed for food sector-related issues: Paswan

A single co-ordinated body needs to be set up to look into many overlapping issues and expedite issuance of clearances from various ministries and government departments in the food sector, union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Thursday.

"We will write to each and every ministry and also to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that we need to seriously look into such issues raised by the industry," the minister for food and consumer affairs said on the sidelines of a conference here on fast-moving consumer goods, hosted by Assocham.

He said there should be time-bound redressal of industry's grievances.

Besides, he advocated the use of modern technologies and innovations in the food sector.

Highlighting the need to promote honest ways of doing business, Paswan said: "Industries should maintain quality control in food products."

He also said that the union Cabinet had given its approval for amendments in the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, as there was a world of difference between today's consumers and those three decades ago.