Food Safety for Nutrition Entrepreneurs
Dr. Bhaskar Datta,Associate Professor, Chemistry (Jointly with Biological Sciences and Engineering), IIT Gandhinagar, https://iitgn.ac.in/faculty/chemistry/fac-bhaskar
Over the past decade, the print and electronic media in India has covered food safety in an unprecedented manner. The presence of adulterants or hazards in food have routinely made their way to front pages of newspapers and prime time discourse on news channels. Interestingly, such news has often been co-opted in turf-wars spanning politics, business, marketing and advertising. The greater volume of incidents where food safety has been apparently compromised, is a reflection of increasing technical vigilance and regulatory outreach, and attempts by numerous stakeholders to improve socio-cultural awareness about food safety. Food safety has assumed significance considering the phenomenal growth in food entrepreneurship over the past decade. In this context, the journey of food items from the farm to the plate is incredibly complex, with a plethora of factors affecting supply-chain, processing and manufacturing of food products. Nevertheless, the major issues pertaining to food safety can be easily resolved by developing a systematic understanding of the underlying principles. Such understanding is likely to especially benefit micro, small and medium food enterprises, that have products belonging to a limited range of food categories. Food safety in India falls under the ambit of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, that requires conformity of food products with the Food Safety and Standards Rules of 2011. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has developed a comprehensive set of regulations that are collectively termed the Food Safety & Standards Regulations (FSSR) of 2011. The FSSR codifies the requirements of components and processes that are part of commercial activities involving food. Among other mandates, the FSSR governs licensing and registration of food businesses, describes acceptable quality parameters of food products and additives, and identifies undesirable contaminants that the food product needs to be devoid of. The Act, Rules and Regulations can all be accessed via www.fssai.gov.in.
Food safety is closely tied to the presence of chemical and biological hazards at levels greater than prescribed thresholds. Such thresholds are set as part of the FSSR, and are being continuously expanded to include additional food products or product categories, and chemical hazards such as newer antibiotics and pesticides. The current FSSR identifies the food safety standards for more than 500 food products/product categories that belong to 16 food categories. The 16 food categories are aligned with global food categorization systems. The maximum residue level (MRL) for nearly 150 pesticides and insecticides, and a large number of antibiotics and veterinary drugs, apart from a host of metal contaminants, crop contaminants, and naturally occurring toxic substances, are also established as part of the FSSR. Food spoilage is closely associated with the presence of microorganisms predominantly in the form of bacteria and fungi. The food matrix is a rich source of nutrients for growth of these microorganisms and the development of their pathogenic characteristics. More than 100 million incidents of foodborne infections are anticipated in India every year, and are likely to rise to nearly 175 million each year by 2030. The tremendous adaptability of microorganisms can render them viable even after pasteurization and refrigeration of specific food products. Bacteria possess a massive repository of response pathways that ensure their survival and evolution in response to standard food preservation strategies. Cross-protection plays a significant role in stress resistance, where the bacterial response to a primary intervention such as refrigeration, also provides protection from secondary interventions such as high salt concentrations.
Considering the expansive scope of the FSSR, identifying critical risk factors relevant to specific products of the nutrition entrepreneurs supported by WIN Foundation, may appear overwhelming. Appreciation of the standards and rules affecting specific manufactured food products would first require an understanding of food safety from the following broad perspectives: (1) materials and ingredients used, (2) processes deployed towards the preparation of final product, and (3) packaging and storage conditions employed. Intuitively, certain ingredients, processes, and storage constraints are likely to render the corresponding food products as riskier than others. For example, a legacy cultural snack item (farsaan) that relies on use of spice mixtures may be viewed as unsafe due to commonly held notion of adulteration in spices. On the other hand, many Indian sweets (mithai) could become unsafe based on their storage conditions and non-conformity with expiry dates. The nuances underlying the potentially unsafe nature of a farsaan vis-à-vis a mithai can be understood if the risk factors are rated according to the materials used, processes deployed and packaging and storage conditions of the respective products. Such understanding cannot be obviously sought from news items reporting on specific incidents of food safety. Addressing the gaps in understanding is likely to remove the notion of false binaries, where the safety of specific food products is either always suspect or never-to-be-suspected.
How could the nutrition entrepreneurs supported by the WIN Foundation ensure safety of their products and compliance with regulatory guidelines? This question can be addressed in two parts: (1) identifying the specific food safety issues concerning their products, and (2) ensuring routine quality assessments and regulatory compliance. However, ventures originating from economically disadvantaged individuals or groups may face resource constraints in doing the needful towards both of these responses. Over the past decade, FSSAI has significantly improved knowledge-facilitation for food product entrepreneurs, with single-window access to product testing and scientific support provided by state food labs. While the regulatory guidelines are publicly available, the micro or small food enterprises may need to identify suitable resource persons who can cut through the dense information and convey relevant parts effectively. Such one-time guidance would simplify tasks for the nutrition entrepreneurs, and help them focus on good manufacturing practices and quality assessment methods. Many private and government laboratories can conduct suitable scientific tests on the prepared food products. Certain food products may also benefit from scrutiny performed by rapid food analytical testing (RAFT) kits, that are approved by FSSAI. The nutrition entrepreneurs should factor in the testing charges as part of their routine commercial operations. Considering the product portfolio of the nutrition entrepreneurs, development of customized analytical assays and kits in consultation with academic and research institutions may result in long-term benefits for the entire venture.
Greater awareness about food safety is aligned with an increase in urbanization and rise in purchasing power of large segments of the population. The nutrition entrepreneurs of Gujarat can easily tap into quality markets by rigorously embracing food safety as part of their operational paradigm.
Picture 1: Illustration depicting the journey of food from farm to plate, highlighting key food safety practices like quality checks, hygiene, and testing procedures. It showcases the role of nutrition entrepreneurs and regulatory compliance in ensuring safe food products.
Picture 2: Image showing food Categories' of FSSR
Picture3 : Diagram of Food safety management system
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