Consequent upon the establishment of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India under the FSSA,2006, the various food safety and quality assurance schemes for food processing industries namely (1) Fruit Products Order, 1955, (2) Meat Food Products Orders,1973, (3) Milk and Milk Products Order,1992, (4) Solvent Extracted Oil, De- oiled Meal and Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967, (5) Vegetable Oil Products (Regulation) Order, 1998,(6) Edible Oils packaging (regulation) Order,1998 etc. regulating the different commodity of food and the (7) the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, have been brought under the administrative control of the Food Authority by invoking the provisions of section 90 of the FSSA,2006. This information was given by Subodh Kant Sahai, minister of food processing industries, in the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
The minister further informed the Rajya Sabha that the mechanism of certification of the processed food was taken care of by issuing licence and registration to the manufacturing units. The applicants who wish to manufacture processed food products have to obtain licence /registration under the different commodity specific order which stipulates certain conditions to be observed and provided with adequate infrastructure facilities including potable water in the manufacturing units to ensure the hygienic and standard quality production of the processed food.
There are provisions in the different food related Orders and Acts which empower the authorised/technical officers to inspect the manufacturing units periodically to ensure that the minimum hygienic conditions as stipulated in the different Orders and Acts are complied by the units and samples of the different commodities are being drawn for testing in the food laboratories to ascertain their conformity. The defaulters are being dealt with as per the provisions of the Orders and Acts, the minister informed the Rajya Sabha.