Nadda urges states to strengthen food testing labs

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Union Health and Family Welfare Minister J P Nadd on January 9, 2018,  presided over the ‘First Health Ministers Roundtable on Food Safety & Nutrition’ organized by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), here. Ashwini Kumar Choubey, MoS (Health), along with the Health Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Puducherry, Jharkhand and Delhi were also present at the roundtable.

“Central Government is providing support to the tune of Rs 482 crore toor the sStates. As many as 45 State labs are to be strengthened. I request the states to come forward with the proposals or give us the plan for strengthening the laboratories,” Nadda said. Nadda stated that finance will not be a constraint and each state should have at least one government food laboratory of high quality with bigger states having at least two, according to a PIB relaese.

Citing the example of Pradhan Mantri Dialysis Programme, Nadda said that initially states expressed some apprehensions about this initiative, however today the programme is a huge success. “More than 1.76 lakh patients have availed free services from 539 Dialysis Units across the country,” Nadda added.

Speaking on the enforcement of food standards, Nadda said that there should be fairness and transparency in enforcement. “We must safeguard public health by ensuring all food businesses are licensed and follow standards. At the same time, we should be careful that it does not put unnecessary regulatory burden on the food businesses,” Nadda said.

Nadda said that the focus should shift from disease and treatment centred healthcare to preventive and promotive healthcare. Moving towards this, the Government has announced transforming 1.5 lakh Sub- health centres to ‘Health and Wellness’ centres. Nadda stated that in a step towards provision of comprehensive primary care, the Government has initiated universal screening of common Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension and common cancers at the sub-centre and Primary Health Centre.“This will enable the strengthening of preventive and promotive health, improve patient referral and access to secondary care services,” Nadda added.

Speaking at the function, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, MoS (Health), stated that promoting and building the mechanisms for availability and consumption of Safe & Nutritious Food is central to attainment of the goals laid out in the National Health Policy 2017 which focuses on “promotive and preventive health care”.

Nadda also released framework for ‘Clean Street Food Hubs’ and ‘Safe and Hygienic Food Festivals’. These two initiatives would help build capacity of street food vendors. Nadda also released FSSAI’s ‘Healthy India Food Calendar’.

During the round table, a team of researchers, who have carried out a rapid assessment of economic costs of food borne diseases in India, shared their findings. According to them, food borne diseases impose a huge economic burden on India. As per their estimates, this would amount to as much as 0.5 % of India’s GDP or about 28 billion USD.

During the Round table, the State Health Ministers assured to work towards creating a culture of self-compliance amongst food businesses by helping them build internal capacities, focus on third party audit, making enforcement transparent, standardized, predictable and fair by adopting a digital compliance platform, encouraging rating and fair competition amongst food businesses.