The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Monday said it is ready to launch its cloud-based and upgraded food safety compliance online platform across the country from November 1. Since June, the Food Safety Compliance System (FoSCoS) has been operational in nine States and Union Territories — Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Odisha, Chandigarh, Goa, Manipur, Puducherry and Ladhakh.

The FoSCoS will replace FSSAI’s current online licensing platform, called the Food Licensing and Registration System, which was set up in 2011 and through which 70 lakh licenses have been issued till date.

“The FoSCoS is conceptualised to provide one-point stop for all engagement of an FBO with the department for any regulatory compliance transaction. A single regulatory platform will enable pan-India integrated response system to any food fraud and ensure an advanced risk based, data driven regulatory approach. For the start, the FoSCoS will be offering licensing, registration, inspection and annual return modules,” the FSSAI said in a statement.

“Sample management, improvement notices, adjudications, audit management system etc activities/ modules will be enabled in a phased manner in future,” the statement added.

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Digital integration

Technologies such as GPS location tagging, picture capture etc will be utilised in the future to ensure transparent and accountable extension field services such as inspections and sampling. In the future, it will also be integrated with other platforms of the government such as GST, PAN, MCA etc, to ensure a 360-degree profiling and validation of businesses.

“The paradigm change is the shift of methodology of licensing for manufacturers which now shall be based on standardised product list. This will help in quicker grant of licences and eliminate any errors. The new approach is only for manufacturers of standardised food products,” it said. For manufacturers, in case of non-specified food, supplements/nutraceuticals, proprietary food and substances added to food — the approach continues to be similar to the older system.

Once the FoSCoS is launched, all data related to licenses/registrations will be available on the FoSCoS and all manufacturers holding a valid FSSAI license will be required to modify their license to choose from the available list of standardised products before a prescribed date. “Directions have been issued to all States/UTs to establish a “Licensing Help Desk” at State HQ level for addressing queries of users,” the statement added.

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