Alarmed at the various adulteration surveys that have revealed potentially dangerous food safety issues, the Indian government has decided to go the whole way in ensuring food safety in the country.
According to a source within the Planning Commission of India, an agency that lays out development plans for the country and the budgets for them, food safety would be given top priority under a new food safety plan.
The total budget for this plan is a mammoth US$1.3bn, which would be spent on the food safety initiative during the 12th Five Year Plan, which spans the period of 2012-17, the planning commission official told FoodNavigator-Asia.
Food labs to form backbone to the plan will cluster laboratories of accredited standards for every four to five districts in the country to carry out basic tests. According to the 2011 Census of India, the country has 640 districts.
“These would be supplemented by zonal food laboratories, of which there would be one in every 10 districts, to perform tests for residues and heavy metals. In addition, there would be 10 referral laboratories on top of this pyramid,” he said.
According to the official, the government is aiming to get a robust and efficient structure of laboratories in place to form the basis of its push towards increased food safety in the country.
“The government also wants mobile labs that would be able to serve large populations in case of food safety-related disease outbreak and also to provide testing abilities in remote areas,” he said. .............read more
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