Food standards and food control

Food standards exist at four levels: company, national (FSSAI), regional, and international (ISO, the Codex Alimentarius Commission).

Some certification is voluntary: the BIS ISI mark for processed foods, and Agmark for agricultural products.

The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 brought older laws together into one, including the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, and orders on fruit and vegetable products, meat products and vegetable oil products. Under it, FSSAI:

• sets science-based standards;
• accredits (approves) laboratories;
• advises governments and collects data;
• trains food businesses and spreads awareness.

The law moved the focus from what food contains (compositional standards) to whether it is safe (safety standards).

International bodies: Codex Alimentarius ('food code'), which India works with through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; ISO, a federation of national standards bodies, whose ISO 9000 covers quality management; and the WTO (1995), which keeps world trade fair.

Food control needs two things: inspection (food inspectors check that food meets the rules) and analysis (accredited labs and trained analysts). Rules at every level, checked by inspection and analysis.