The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) will establish Green Productivity Cell that would work in collaboration with EU Switch Asia Programme and SMEDA to increase production efficiency

Call to train food inspectors, handlers

N. Anandavally, Food Safety Consultant of the United Nations, has said that the food safety rules and regulations in India are at par with those of any developed country. She was speaking on the Food Safety Act and the basic critical hazards analysis in food safety at a two-day technology clinic for agro-food processing industries organised by the District Industries Centre in Thiruvalla on Tuesday.

Summons against two directors of a company also cancelled

The Delhi High Court has quashed a complaint and summons against two directors of a company being prosecuted by the Delhi Government’s Department of Food Adulteration under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. Justice P. K. Bhasin quashed the complaint filed by the Department and the summons issued by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi, quoting a Supreme Court ruling that a director of a company cannot be prosecuted in a case unless he is specifically sought to be prosecuted on the ground that he was actually in charge of affairs of the company at the time of commission of crime by his firm.

New Delhi: Food retail outlets and restaurants are busy revisiting their working models with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) cracking the whip to ensure stricter food safet

Only 5,500 units have complied with the requirement so far

Even as the February 4 deadline for food business units to register themselves under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 is fast approaching, just about 5,500 units have complied with the requirement in the district so far. According to estimates, about 14,000 units are engaged in the food sector in the district. Of these, about 4,000 would require licence and the rest would have to be registered.

Bhubaneswar: Shedding its image of abject poverty, starvation and child selling, Odisha in recent years has embraced growth and prosperity by adopting certain fiscal corrective measures and attracting huge private capital, said speakers at the ‘Resurgent Odisha’ seminar organized by The Times of India in Bhubaneswar on Friday.

CM Naveen Patnaik and experts from different fields said that the state had become a favourable destination for investors, both from within and outside India, and had the potential to become a gateway to Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

19 commodities are to be covered by the new labelling rule

India might not have started growing genetically modified (GM) food crops, but it does import food products that contain GM ingredients. Consumers who buy them have no way of knowing what they contain. Recently, the department of consumer affairs, under the Union food and consumer affairs ministry, decided to take a corrective measure to help consumers make an informed choice. It mandated that all packaged food products containing GM ingredients should carry a GM label from January 1, 2013.

India will soon have a scientific regulatory agency responsible for the safety of the nation’s domestically produced and imported foods, cosmetics, drugs, biologics, medical devices, and radiological products.

Proposed on the lines of Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in USA and the Centre for Disease Control, the new agency to be set up under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will be responsible for promoting and protecting public health by ensuring that nation’s food supply and cosmetics are safe and honestly labelled. Sources said that the “implementation of this project will be started after the final approval of the 12th plan by the National Development Council, which is expected shortly.”

Polls show 53.7% voted against the contentious measure that was seen as a testbed case for the US as a whole

The Centrally-sponsored ‘National Mission on Food Processing’ (NMFP) has been established jointly by the State government and Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries. The objective of the programme is decentralisation of implementation of schemes through participation by State governments.

In a press release issued here on Wednesday, C.Manoharan, Collector, said the NMFP would focus on food processing for enhancing farm productivity and farmer’s revenue. The State government would be facilitated in addressing both institutional and infrastructural gaps along the value chains. An efficient supply chain for farm produce would be created. It would also promote initiatives for skill development, training and entrepreneurship in post-harvest management and food processing industry. The food processing industry would be assisted to meet the standards in terms of food safety laws and market demand – both domestic and international.