India Declares "Food Safety and Quality Year 2008-09"

In an effort to spread awareness and sensitize farmers, consumers and other stakeholders on food safety, quality and food wastages, India’s Minister of Food Processing Industries declared 2008-09 as “Food Safety and Quality Year”. New initiatives, to be undertaken by the Ministry of Food Processing, will be integrated with the schemes and programs already operationalized, said Mr S.K. Sahai, Food Processing Minister during the launching ceremony of “Food Safety and Quality Year 2008-09” held at the National Seminar on “Food Safety and Quality Management Systems – from Farm to Fork” in New Delhi.

Food safety is a growing concern across the world, hence, there is increasing need to provide greater assurance about the safety and quality of food to consumers. India’s potential to garner a higher share in the world food trade also led to increasing recognition and adoption of food safety measures. A plethora of measures being adopted to buttress India’s growing interest in world food trade include the establishment of mega food parks, creation of integrated cold chain infrastructure at different levels as well as farm level primary processing center-cum-cold chain, setting up of collection and strategic distribution centers, capacity building through a National Institute of Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), and upgrading quality control laboratories. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries will carry out a year-long campaign to reach out to all stakeholders and consumers on food safety and quality initiatives.

For more information on the food safety and quality year 2008-09 visit http://www.pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=39519. Information about the different initiatives taken by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries is available at http://mofpi.nic.in/. Contact b.choudhary@isaaa.org for biotech developments in India.