FSSAI, GFSP to work together on food safety in South Asia

Food regulator FSSAI today said it has joined hands with the Global Food Safety Partnership (GFSP) to develop actions for raising investments to support food safety system in South Asia.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the GFSP held a high level discussion in the national capital on food safety.
The GFSP is an innovative, public-private initiative dedicated to supporting and promoting global cooperation for food safety capacity building.
"As a part of this dialogue, nearly 100 participants came forward to indicate their intention to act in various areas including funding and investment, knowledge sharing, public/ private collaboration, and capacity building to manage and support the region's food safety systems," FSSAI said in a statement.

GFSP's CEO Lystra N Antoine said that a collaborative approach would contribute to enhance global food security.
FSSAI Chairperson Ashish Bahuguna said the regulator wants to enhance its global outreach with a view to learn from experiences of other countries in food safety and build global trust in India's food sector.

"We strongly believe in co-creating a sustainable architecture for building strong food safety systems across Asia. We believe that globally there is a need for more informed and cohesive arrangement on capacity building and knowledge sharing on food safety and nutrition," he added.
This calls for support from public and private organisations, partners and other international bodies, Bahuguna said.

FSSAI's CEO Pawan Agarwal said that it has made a good progress in terms of food safety capacity building efforts through launch of FosTaC portal that necessitates to have one trained and certified food safety supervisor in Indian food businesses.