FSSAI sets up 11 member panel to finalize Food Fortification Laws

FSSAI sets up 11 member panel to finalize Food Fortification Laws 

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has set up a 11 member scientific panel to frame final regulations on fortification of foods and prepare strategies to address malnutrition problem.Fortification means deliberately (जान - बूझकर) adding or increasing the content of

essential micro nutrients in food items to improve quality.  The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has already issued the draft guidelines on fortification for five food items including salt, milk, wheat flour, rice and edible(खाद्य)  oil to boost production and consumption of fortified (दृढ़) foods.

Based on the comments received on the draft Regulations by various stakeholders, the Panel will finalise the Regulations .The Panel will be responsible to identify critical nutritional gaps in the Indian diet in general and in specific target groups based on diet surveys and credible scientific evidence.

It will define strategies to address nutritional needs of the general population and vulnerable(चपेट में)  groups, besides reviewing the standards for all suitable food fortifying vehicles. 

The panel will also address regulatory and related technological issues, review proposals from industry using modern risk assessment methods, and prescribe standard sampling and test methods for effective monitoring, surveillance(निगरानी)  and enforcement of the relevant regulations.

The member of the panels include Ambrish Mithal from Medanta; CS Pandav and R K Marwaha (Retd) from AIIMS; Anura Kurpad from St John’s Medical College; Yogeshwar Shukla from CSIR – Indian Institute of Toxicilogy Research, HPS Sachdev from Sita Ram Bharatia Institute of Science and Research; KM Nair from NIN; P Ramachandran from Nutrition Foundation of India; Sumit Arora from NDRI; Sirimavo Nair from the MS University, Baroda, and Harsulkar from Bharati Vidyapeeth.