NEW DELHI: The recent ban on Maggi noodles puts a lens on the deficiencies of the food regulator to test products made in India. The problem is compounded for food products from other countries: the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) fails in its own stated objective to test every import consignment.
The stated objective of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is to test every import consignment. But in 2013-14, matching FSSAI test data with food imports shows that, at 7,246 tonnes of consignment volume, FSSAI tested only about 0.004% of food products entering India. In comparison, the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) physically examined 1.9% of its food import lines in 2011-12.
