Interview | ‘The Gap is in Enforcement’ Says FSSAI CEO Rajit Punhani

Internationally, it is all done on a sample basis. Almost a million inspections are done every year in India through the risk-based system. We have a software that tells us which are the high-risk products and which businesses should be inspected and at what intervals. We also have a database on food-business operators on whether they have been served notices earlier. Has the licence been suspended? The risk-based system tells us which business should be inspected and at what intervals.

It is a very scientific method. For any product, drug or even clinical trial, it is done on a sample basis, and it is not a random method. This has been a proven method worldwide and it is successful here as well.

Even if they do not have a history, they will be inspected. Every manufacturer is inspected once in six months.

I wouldn’t say the FSSAI has become active only now. State governments have become more active as 99 per cent of the licences are with them. A number of photographs or videos that you see are of manufacturing units. A number of suspension of licences happen before the product hits the market—so a lot of inspections are being done at the manufacturing stage.

It is two-fold. One, E-commerce operators have to take responsibility for whatever they sell on their platforms. They cannot take the excuse that it is the manufacturer who is responsible. They are responsible for whatever they sell. Secondly, what we are trying to do is that when you go to a physical store, you can see the product, both the front and the back. The back of the pack has the nutrient labels, manufacturing date, expiry date, batch number and so on. All those details should also be available on the e-commerce platforms so that the consumer can make an informed choice.

The Supreme Court has asked us several questions and given us directions. We will respond accordingly.

But what about energy drinks? We do not allow such products, while internationally they may be allowed. Even if a product in the West has less sugar, it may still be above our threshold as defined by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition [ICMR-NIN]. The ICMR-NIN thresholds are among the most stringent in the world.So, even when their product is sold in India, it would carry a warning indicating that it is high in the relevant nutrient implying that the product is not healthy and the consumer should be aware of that.

The ICMR-NIN now has a very good definition of what is unhealthy. Anything that is high in fat, salt and sugar is unhealthy. It does not mean that it is unsafe, but it is not healthy. They say that you should have a certain amount of sugar, fat and salt in a day. It is not that we should have zero sugar or zero salt. We need a certain amount, but we should not have them in excess. When you have them in excess, that’s when it becomes unhealthy. Unsafe would mean that it will give you health issues.

Once we have a warning sign, the consumers would know. Nowadays, I have seen, especially younger consumers, are very tech-savvy and they look at the back of the pack. They see all the ingredients. They can see how much protein, fat, sugar and salt, as well as how many vitamins are there. It is all given there. So, they can make an informed choice.

It is in enforcement. That’s why we have stepped up our operations and state governments have now become very active. Consumer awareness has now come up in a big way. Once this ecosystem develops, everyone will have to comply. Soon we will have a system where there is compliance. I am not saying that the system will be 100 per cent perfect; that is very difficult. Social media has also played a role. Every time there is a violation, it is highlighted. It is not that there were no violations earlier or that inspections were not done earlier. But now the publicity has increased. Social media gives it a lot of amplification and a lot of eyeballs. That has helped a lot.

After a violation, there are two processes. If it is unsafe and is a criminal act, it goes to the court of a judicial magistrate. We had 1,900 convictions in the past year, with people going to jail. The other cases, such as misbranding, go to the court of the additional district magistrate [ADM]. We have had 33,000 cases that have resulted in penalties. Now, many of them have also been served improvement notices. If you have, say, 15 days to make an improvement, especially for sanitation and hygiene, and when the case goes to court, they say that they have made the improvement or changed the label. Many times, the court accepts their plea and does not impose any punishment. But it is not that the 33,000 cases have not been disposed of. Fortunately, in the recent past, the ADMs have also become sensitised. Earlier, awareness was less, so the ADMs had many cases on their table. But of late, we have had meetings with the chief ministers in our zonal council and we have seen that the ADMs’ disposal of cases is also much faster now.

It is consumer pressure. Nothing works like consumer pressure.

I think the bigger ones get highlighted and publicised. But 70 per cent of our food industry is in the unorganised sector. Most of them are small, but most of the packaged products that you see are made by big companies, mostly multinational companies. That’s why you see more and more of them in the news. Adulteration and the rate of violations also involve small companies.

We need more food-safety officers in the states—each district should have at least one food-safety officer. Just as you have a district agriculture officer, district medical officer, we should know who the district food-safety officer is. For example, if a small restaurant is not following the guidelines, consumers will complain. There will then be a system where they will be inspected, and if anyone is found to be in violation, they will be prosecuted.

Through the digital system, and if you have a food-safety officer and a team in the district, most of the small restaurants in the district can be covered. It has to be done at the district level. In Keralam, for example, they even do it at the panchayat and municipal level. Many municipal corporations also have food-safety officers. Once it is a little more localised, compliance will take place better.

Not at the moment. But a lot of recruitment has taken place in the past year. About 700 have been recruited and I think another 1,000 will be recruited next year.

As the ecosystem is developing, we are also sensitising the ADMs that if there is a violation, the case should be disposed of quickly. Violators must be punished quickly, not after a year. It should happen within a month. Once the violators know that they are going to be punished, they will comply with the guidelines.

One of the problems we face with street vendors is about the reuse of cooking oil. We have a scheme called Repurpose Used Cooking Oil. After the West Asia crisis, the price of used cooking oil has gone up, and many of these companies, including Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, are collecting and using the cooking oil. Consumers must insist that cooking oil should not be reused.

Yes, but we also have other officers like him. The media does not give them any attention, but they are doing excellent work. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal are doing excellent work. But they are not getting the same publicity.

We have 274 accredited laboratories, including private ones and 300 mobile trucks, but we need more. So if there is more testing, the process will be faster. The other bottleneck that we face is high-end equipment. In the past few years, we have procured high-end equipment because technology in food is also advancing. Testing also has to be done with equipment that is able to detect even minute parameters on a minute scale. It is only a matter of time before we have a fully developed infrastructure. Europe, for example, has very few labs because once the ecosystem develops and there is, by and large, more compliance, the requirement for testing gradually reduces. It is a process that is happening.

Schools. We have a regulation that high in fat, sugar and salt foods should not be sold in schools and within a 50-metre area around schools. Now that the ICMR-NIN has come up with the definition of the threshold, we have a draft resolution. It is at the draft stage now.