After "solving" all the food safety problems being faced by 30% of the population in the country residing in the urban areas within one year of its establishment, the GOI created Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has "proclaimed" its "intention" to serve the rural folks with the same exalted "objective" of solving all the problems associated with food quality and safety! Can there be a more farcical cameo than this? Is it not a cruel joke being perpetuated on the billion plus population in this country? Except meetings, pronouncements, cross country jaunts, extravagant media events for self glorification and bringing out glossy reports, what else this "paper tiger" can achieve remains to be seen.
"What is the quality of food prepared and given to students under various schemes? Are the ingredients cleaned well and cooked safely? What are the junk food that children have access to near their school and are they aware of the impact of such food on health? These are some issues that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will address shortly when it lays down the standards for service delivery of food safety at the panchayat and municipality levels". "The idea is to bring into focus issues relating to food safety so that these are discussed in the general body and gram sabha meetings, and each citizen is made aware of the issues and responsibilities in these critical areas," FSSAI chairman P.I. Suvrathan told The-Hindu.
Talking less and doing more should be the hall mark of an organization and its CEO. The pedestrian existence of this agency cannot infuse any confidence amongst the citizens of this country. What India needs is a strong willed agency like the USFDA staffed with experienced and knowledgeable experts, reliable high tech infrastructure, endowed with powers, to ruthlessly bring to books, millions of culprits, stalking this country who poison and defraud the innocent consumers, depending on foods made by them. A bureaucratic set up like FSSAI can as well be disbanded with no one feeling sorry for it.
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