Context-On the occasion of World Food Day, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan launched Food Safety Mitra Scheme, Eat Right Jacket and Eat Right Jhola.

The theme for this day was ‘Healthy Diets for a Zero Hunger World’

The ‘Food Safety Mitra (FSM)’

• It will support small and medium scale food businesses to comply with the food safety laws and facilitate licensing and registration, hygiene ratings and training.
• Apart from strengthening food safety, this scheme would also create new employment opportunities for youth, particularly with food and nutrition background.
• The FSMs would undergo training and certification by FSSAI to do their work and get paid by food businesses for their services.
• The first batch of 15 FSMs were awarded certificates on ocassion of world food day.

The ‘Eat Right Jacket’

• It will be used by the field staff.
• This jacket has a smart design to hold tech devices like tablets/smart phone, a QR code and RFID tag for identification and tracking.
• Apart from providing safety to field staff on duty, this would bring in efficiency, professionalism and transparency in food safety administration and bring in a sense of ownership & visibility of FSOs.

The 'Eat right jhola'

•  It is  a reusable cloth bag shall replace plastic bags for grocery shopping in various retail chains.
• Since on repeated use, bags are often contaminated with microorganisms and bacteria, proper and regular washing of cloth bags is essential to ensure safety and hygiene.
• These cloth bags are being provided on rental basis through a private textile rental service company.

Role of FSSAI

• FSSAI has partnered with the Domestic Workers Sector Skill Council (DWSSC) under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to launch a training course for domestic workers and homemakers across the country.
• In the first phase, one lakh domestic workers and homemakers will be trained through training partners of DWSSC in association with RWAs. This would be scaled up in due course.
• For scaling up the Eat Right India movement across the country, FSSAI has got endorsement of several celebrities.
• Two short films, on repurposing of used cooking oil into biodiesel and, nutrition in the first 1000 days of life featuring Shri Virat Kohli and Ms. Juhi Chawla respectively, were released on the occasion.

About FSSAI:

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which consolidates various acts & orders that have hitherto handled food related issues in various Ministries and Departments.
• It was created for laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

Highlights of the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006

• The Act also aims to establish a single reference point for all matters relating to food safety and standards, by moving from multi- level, multi- departmental control to a single line of command. To this effect, the Act establishes an independent statutory Authority – the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India with head office at Delhi. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the State Food Safety Authorities shall enforce various provisions of the Act.

Establishment of the Authority

• Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the Administrative Ministry for the implementation of FSSAI.
• The Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have already been appointed by Government of India. The Chairperson is in the rank of Secretary to Government of India.

About Eat Right Movement:

"The Eat Right Movement" aims to empower the citizens by improving their health and wellbeing. Led by the FSSAI, it is a collective effort, to nudge the citizens towards making righ food and dietary choices. The movement aims to cut down salt/sugar and oil consumption by 30% in three years.

• It is built on two broad pillars of ‘Eat Healthy’ and ‘Eat Safe’.
• "Eat Healthy" is about making healthy food choices. "Eat Safe" is about ensuring food safety from procurement to consumption and disposal of food.It also aims to engage and enable citizens to improve their health and well-being by making the right food choices.