‘Rectify anomalies in Food Safety Act’

Twenty-one Members of the Parliament from Tamil Nadu have signed a petition urging the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad to address “shortcomings” in the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSA) 2006. The petition has been the result of a campaign undertaken by the Tamil Nadu Foodgrains Merchants Association, according to S.P.Jeyaprakasam, president of the association. In a meet with the press here on Tuesday, he said that the association met all the 40 MPs from the State at New Delhi recently and highlighted the adverse impact the Act could have on farmers and small food business operators. The rules and regulations of the FSA are heavily influenced by multinational companies and domestic corporates who dominated the 123-member committee formed to frame the standards under the Act. This committee, however, was dissolved by the Supreme Court on February 2011.He urged the Central Government to rectify the various “anomalies” in the Food Safety Act 2006.