Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has finalized an Indian
Standard on basic requirements for street food vendors as food safety is a major
concern with street foods. This was disclosed by Minister of Consumer Affairs,
Food and Public Distribution, Prof Thomas at Mumbai yesterday .He said that
street food sector has shown phenomenal growth recently. Readily accessible and
affordable to urban populations, street food provides the energy and nutrient
needs to large segments of workers and their families in the cities. This sector
is also a source of livelihood for a large number of people. Hence the standard
developed by BIS has immense potential to safeguard public health and also
promote the confidence of the consumer over the entire spectrum of food
industry.
Prof Thomas was addressing National Seminar on “Food Safety – Role of Standards” at Mumbai. The seminar was organized with objective of creating awareness and to provide an insight into the concept of food safety with emphasis on the role of standards.
Stressing over safety of food
and quality, the Minister said that as awareness regarding food safety issues
among our citizens and concerns bout the hazards in food is showing an upward
trend, the need to provide them with greater assurance about the safety and
quality of food is also growing. Role of standards in the domain of food safety
is immense. Standards promote public health and protect consumers from
unsanitary, unwholesome, mislabelled or adulterated food; and provide a sound
regulatory foundation for domestic and international trade in food. He said that
in this background, the role of BIS, the National standards body of India is
significant.BIS has also formulated about 1000 Indian Standards in the area of
food products and food safety. This includes IS/ISO 22000: 2005 ‘Food Safety
Management Systems – Requirements for any organization in the food chain’.
IS/ISO 22000: 2005 is an internationally harmonized standard and has emerged as
the international bench mark for food safety.
Prof Thomas said that
Similarly, the three Indian Standards recently formulated by BIS, Indian
Standards on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Hygienic Practices (GHP)
and Food Retail Management (FRM) are also important in this respect as they are
envisaged to act as foundations of Food Safety Management System. They delineate
the basic conditions and activities that are necessary to maintain a hygienic
environment throughout the food chain suitable for the production, handling and
provision of safe end products for human consumption. He expressed hope that
Implementation of these food safety standards can lead to exceptional
improvements in food safety performance.
Courtesy: PIB
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