New Delhi, March 17 (IANS) Surveillance drives, inspections and random sampling of food products, done by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), include 5,18,559 sample analysis which led to 88,192 penalties and 3,614 convictions, the government said on Tuesday.

The measures taken by FSSAI led to 1,161 licence cancellations over 2022–23 to 2024–25 after random sampling of various food products including milk, ghee, spices, honey, paneer and other foods, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Prataprao Jadhav, said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

The surveillance drives are conducted throughout the year by the officials of Food Safety Departments of the respective States/UTs and Regional Offices of FSSAI to check compliance with the quality and safety parameters and other requirements as laid down under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

A total of 56,259 risk‑based inspections were carried out in the period, where frequency of inspection is decided based on risk associated with Food businesses and issued guidelines, the minister said. Annual inspections are to be conducted for all food categories identified as high risk.

Further, FSSAI has notified 252 food testing laboratories and 24 Referral Food Laboratories for the analysis of appellate samples.

It also funded Mobile Food Testing Laboratories — “Food Safety on Wheels” (FSWs) — and deployed 305 of them across 35 states or UTs, to combat adulteration as FSWs are equipped with basic infrastructure for on spot testing of adulteration in various food commodities.

FSSAI extends financial and technical assistance to states/UTs which includes strengthening enforcement and compliance such as licensing and registration, consumer grievance redressal, capacity building for officers.

Strengthening of the food testing ecosystem such as high end or basic equipment for labs and promotion of FSSAI initiatives such as ‘Eat Right Campus’, ‘Eat Right School’ are some other activities.

FSSAI is mandated to lay down science‑based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption, the minister said.

However, he added that the state food safety authorities are primarily responsible for enforcement at the field level.

—IANS

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