A study shows that consumers are increasingly worried about the safety of the food they consume and most have low confidence in Indian regulators. The banning of products of popular Indian spice makers MDH and Everest by Singapore and Hong Kong, and subsequent investigations by other governments, only added to the worry. How effective is Indian food regulation and what can be done now? Please listen to the latest episode of All Indians Matter.
Please listen to the latest episode of @allindianscount.
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[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello and welcome to All Indians Matter, I am Ashraf Anjanaam.
[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_00]: A few months ago Hong Kong and Singapore banned 4 products of 2 popular Indian spice brands after detecting
[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_00]: casinos-genic ingredients in them.
[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Hong Kong and Singapore banned the products of MDH and every spices, citing the presence of
[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Italy noxside, a cancer causing agent that raises the risk of breast cancer and lymphoma.
[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_00]: A survey that followed showed that 72% of Indian consumers are concerned about the safety of the
[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Indian regulators. How safe is the food you consume and how can food standards be raised?
[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_00]: A massive controversy erupted after the Singaporean Hong Kong banned with several other
[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_00]: governments announcing investigations into Indian products. The spices board and the food safety
[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and standards authority of India or FSCI announced several measures to ensure spices and
[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_00]: foods were up to standard. The FSCI has been under fire for another issue. It reportedly
[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_00]: allowed a 10-fold increase in the maximum residual limit from 0.01 milligrams per kg to 0.01
[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_00]: in spices and herbs of pesticides not registered in India over the maximum limit is not
[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_00]: defined by local or international regulations. Why are their pesticides in massacres and foods in
[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_00]: India? Is the food we eat especially processed foods safe? Are our regulations being implemented
[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_00]: correctly and do they need an overhaul? The state food safety index on SFSI is established by
[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_00]: FSCI in 2018-19 is telling. It measures how states perform in terms of food safety, released every year
[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_00]: on June 7th, world food safety day. The index is based on five parameters, compliance,
[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00]: training and capacity building, food testing infrastructure and surveillance, human resources
[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_00]: and institutional data and consume my power. India today is data and intelligence unit
[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: and laser indexes data since inception, revealing that food safety is steadily declining.
[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_00]: According to the 202223SFSI report, Kerala topped the list of states with the score of 63
[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: moving up from the sixth position in the previous year's report. However, this indicate
[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_00]: a decline with the highest score in the previous report being 82. There was a fall therefore
[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: of 19 points in the top score. The average score for larger states decreased from 51.2
[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_00]: to 39.8 points. In previous years, the average score for large states was higher.
[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_00]: 50.85 in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic and 56.3 in 2019-20.
[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_00]: There were varying patterns in the scores of individual states. Among the 20 in the
[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_00]: large state category, 9 consistently witnessed a decline in food safety over the previous three years.
[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: These were under protease, Sam, Dehar, Chhatthisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Oriya, Thelangana and
[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Uttar Pradesh. There was a similar trend in small states with average scores dropping from 50 in 2019-20
[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_00]: to 31.8 in 2020-2223. Except for unarchal protease, Tripura, all small states
[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_00]: log declining scores. India's food industry comprises hundreds of thousands of businesses
[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_00]: of varying sizes related to food production, processing, supply and distribution. FSSI officials
[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_00]: point out that given the informal nature of the market, ensuring food safety and hygiene is
[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_00]: challenging. In contrast in the west, most of the food is grown, processed and distributed by
[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_00]: the organised sector. There is a huge need for consumer education and awareness.
[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Consumers can help regulators by identifying adulteration and passing on information to them.
[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: However, as far as people making healthy choices is concerned, they prefer taste over hygiene,
[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_00]: which means that sugary or fatty items are highly consumed.
[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_00]: FSSI officials say there needs to be greater awareness about
[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and availability of healthy options. Lastly, food-based education programs in schools would
[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_00]: go a long way. But returning to the declining SFSI scores, these make for a grave concern.
[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: The Spices Board, which is part of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry,
[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_00]: has released guidelines for Spice producers and exporters. However, they may not be enough.
[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: What we need is a regulatory framework that actually works.
[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Both central and state governments must take note of the danger and strengthen
[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: standards and implementation of regulations to ensure that contaminated food products
[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: that have long-term adverse health impacts on society are kept out of the market. And importantly,
[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: there's a feeling of trust among people that the food they are consuming is safe.