Food Body Chief Advises Buying Food From Local Market Vendors Instead Of Online Platforms

Indians love their food, but it matters so much what is exactly on your plate. From adulteration to hygiene violations, ultra-processed food and various food inspections being carried out across the country. Food safety is at a critical juncture in our country right now and joining us in conversation is the person who decides what's on your plate and mine, FSSAI CEO Mr. Rajit Poonhani. Thank you for speaking to NDTV, sir. Sir, first off, I'd like to start with the last Supreme Court hearing on September 10th. The Supreme Court, this was regarding the front of pack labelings of high sugar, fat and salt products, food items. So FSSAI told the apex court that a voluntary compliance period of 48 months is needed. My question is, why is this boiling time of 48 months needed? Why not just make it mandatory from the beginning? What we said was that we'll need some time. One is for issuing the notification. We first have to issue a draft notification. Then we have to invite comments. We have to put it on the WTO website because there's a lot of trade affected because of this. Then we'll have to give some time for relabelling because all the manufacturers will have to change their labels. So I don't think it will require much time. In fact, the Honorable Supreme Court has asked us for timelines, which we will be giving before the next hearing. The next hearing is on September 28th, so we'll be giving that. So the court has asked, leading on of course, with respect to the court hearing as well, about whether the proposed boiling labels will actually be simple enough for consumers to understand. So sir, the Supreme Court also raised concerns about, and it is in general a concern as well, about ultra-processed foods. India is also facing an obesity crisis. So does FSSAI now see these ultra-processed foods as a separate category? So internationally there is no consensus on what is ultra-processed food. But ICMR and the NIN, that's National Institute of Nutrition, have come up with a definition of what they call HFSS, or high fat, high salt, and high sugar. And this has been specific for Indian dietary conditions because every country and different parts of the world have different dietary conditions, different genetic composition, and over the years what have you been eating, so that also affects. So ICMR and NIN have come up with a definition and a threshold, which is specific to India. So we are following those guidelines. Alright, and as per these guidelines, how do we see ultra-processed food? So it's not ultra-processed you're saying, it's high fat, high salt, high sugar. So there'll be these three categories, and will it be like demarcated on labels and foods? Yes, yes. It's already there on the back of the label, but now we intend to put it on the front of the pack label, on the front of the pack. I was also coming to Ms. Branding, yes, with healthy, natural, ayurvedic, immunity boosting, these sort of labels on packages, you've already aggressively kind of come down at the sort of Ms. Branding, and you've said that any sort of, you know, penalties that are being put up on this. So what would be that penalty? Penalty can go up to 10 lakhs per offense. So the additional district magistrate can impose, you know, a penalty of 10 lakhs per offense. So it can go into crores. But I think more important than that is that the disposal should be speedy. And we have had meetings, and now in the zonal council meetings, where chief ministers have also participated, chief secretaries have also participated, this has been an agenda item, and including the filling of the vacancies of food safety officers. So now the chief ministers I've seen are quite sensitive towards this, and they have started reviewing not only the food safety department of their states, but also the disposal of cases by the additional district magistrate. And there has been a substantial improvement in the disposal of cases. So once the cases are disposed of quickly, and we put it on, you know, once there's a penalty imposed, we put it on social media.