Food
Rules
Arun Sharma questions the introduction of international regulations
on food bio-terrorism and the future of Indian exports in this context
Food
safety is one of the major global issues of recent times. As such,
providing food that is free from harmful microbiological, chemical
and radio-nuclear contaminants is every government's responsibility.
The seriousness of this issue was absolutely clear from the discussions
conducted during the UN member nations' assembly, at the second FAO/WHO
global forum of food safety regulators, held in Bangkok f r o m October
12-14, 2004. The commitment to safe food for domestic consumption
as well as for exports was the focal theme of the conference. Besides
these, the meet dealt with issues such as task and responsibilities
of the stakeholders, legalities of food safety control, implementation
of hazard analysis and critical control point concept, food contamination
monitoring and disease surveillance, certification and manpower training,
information dissemination and alerting network and strengthening national
official food safety control services.
Gauging
the seriousness of the subject, China immediately took the first proactive
step by hosting a follow-up event - the Global Food Safety (Beijing)
Forum - on November 18-19, 2004, which was attended by representatives
of nearly 30 countries. The Chinese Vice Premier, Wu Yi, who opened
the forum, announced that his government would strengthen food safety
by borrowing international experience in setting up a technical support
system and by building an effective food safety network to monitor
the entire food supply chain. Additionally, he assured that they would
also establish food standards in harmony with international standards
as well as also launch food safety credit system in food and agriculture
sectors.
As
an aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attack, a new resolution (WHA
55.16), expressing serious concern about threats against civilian
populations by deliberate use of food as a vehicle for transmission
of hazardous biological, chemical and radio-nuclear agents, was adopted
during the 55th World Health Assembly of the UN, held on May 18 in
2002. The act empowered USFDA to take the necessary steps to protect
public from a threatened or actual terrorist attack on the US food
supply and other related emergencies. Consequently, exercising powers
vested under the act, USFDA initiated (i) registration of food supplying
facilities (domestic and foreign) including manufacturers or Safety
Grill rules Arun Sharma questions the introduction of international
regulations on food bio-terrorism and the future of Indian food exports
in this context Food processors, packers and storage or holding facilities
and (ii) prior notice of shipments of imported foods. Experts suggest
that the food facility registration helps USFDA to determine the location
and source of potential food bioterrorism incident or an outbreak
of food borne illness and promptly notify facilities that may be affected
by it. As per the procedures of this regulation, if, for any reason,
a manufacturer, processor, packer or holder of food sends the food
items to another manufacturer, processor, packer, or holder, then
only the second facility needs to be registered. However, if a second
facility is involved only in jobs like that of labelling, clearing
and forwarding, then both the facilities must register. Then again,
if the last facility in the chain is involved in a job like packing
or holding of food, it also needs to get itself registered. Additionally,
facilities requiring registration include those handling export of
dietary supplements and ingredients, infant formula, beverages including
alcoholic and bottled water, fruits and vegetables, fish and seafood,
dairy products and shell eggs, raw agricultural commodities for use
as food or components of food, canned and frozen foods, bakery goods,
snack foods and candy including chewing gum, live food animals and
animal feed and pet food. Nevertheless, a facility that manufactures,
processes, packs or holds a food contact substance or pesticide is
not required to register. Furthermore, a US agent living or maintaining
a place of business in the country is also required to be designated
for this purpose and may be authorised to register the facility. of
the export units is also possible through the website—http://www.access.fda.gov
Once the registration is done, a confirmation number would be given
by the Prior Notice System Interface, which needs to accompany the
food shipment.
contd...
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