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CAIT team meets FSSAI officials; seeks clarification on ambiguous rules
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Friday, 04 May, 2012, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Mumbai
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fiogf49gjkf0d A delegation of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) met officials of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in New Delhi on May 2, 2012, and presented a memorandum to the Authority, drawing its attention towards a number of anomalies, discrepancies and ambiguities in the controversial Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006, and its rules and regulations.
While the country's apex food regulator was represented at the meeting by S S Ghonkrokta, director, enforcement, and K Madhavan, assistant director, enforcement, among others; the traders' body was represented by B C Bhartia, its national president, and Praveen Khandelwal, its general secretary. "In our memorandum, we also stated the differences in the provisions of the Act and those of the rules and regulations," Khandelwal informed FnB News.
"Some provisions of the rules and regulations are superseding those of the Act. This is a legal infirmity. We, on behalf of every food business operator in India, not only want a careful study but also reconsideration of the same. The FSSAI chairperson couldn't make it due to a prior commitment elsewhere; but we are sure he'll be present for the next meeting, which we are planning to hold shortly, and will clear the air on the issues we raised," he said.
Khandelwal briefly touched upon a few key issues, saying, "We sought clarification on the rules that state that places of worship, such as temples, gurudwaras, etc.; people engaged in the transport and warehousing business; landlords or people who ride motorcycles or bicycles to deliver food should obtain licences; and, of course, the ambiguous turnover rule, in which the definition of cottage and small industries is contrary to that mentioned in the SSI Act."
"It would be incorrect to say the meeting was fruitful, but we have certainly started along the expected lines. The FSSAI officials heard us and assured us that the Act doesn't intend to cause any food business operator any sort of inconvenience," he said. Copies of the executive summary; CAIT's additional representation to FSSAI and the former's memorandum addressed to Ghulam Nabi Azad, minister of health, are available with FnBNews.
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