JPC blasts govt over food safety norms

Lambasting the government for multiplicity of laws and regulations on food safety standards, the Joint Parliamentary Committee report on pesticide residues in soft drinks has asked it to quickly finalise the draft Modern Integrated Food Law.

In its report, the JPC found a multiplicity of laws and regulations dealing with food safety standards since as many as eight ministries deal with food laws.

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"This has resulted in many standard making bodies like BIS under the BIS Act, CCFS under the PFA Act, food processing ministry under the FPO, the agriculture ministry under Agmark, et cetera," it said.

The panel said it was deeply concerned about the fact that very often these bodies work independent of each other and there was hardly any coordination among them.

"Such a situation has obviously resulted in loose administration and enforcement of the various laws with the result that the consumer is the ultimate sufferer."

While asking the government to hurry up with the Modern Integrated Food Law, the committee has also noted that the proposed bill provides for establishment of an independent Food Safety and Standards Authority of India "which shall be responsible for ensuring availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption by fostering the use of science in the food industry."

Kerala to take steps on JPC report

The Kerala government will take necessary steps against Pepsi and Coca-Cola plants in the state on the basis of the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on soft drinks, Chief Minister A K Antony told the Kerala Assembly on Thursday.

The state government was not aware of the actual contents of the JPC report. A copy of the report would be obtained soon and necessary steps would be taken on its basis, he said in reply to a supplementary from Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan.

Achuthanandan sought to know the steps being contemplated by the government against the two soft drink units in Palakkad district in the wake of the JPC tabling its report in Parliament.

The JPC upheld findings of the Centre for Science and Environment that 12 branded products of Pepsi and Coca-Cola it examined did contain pesticide residues and asked government to formulate stringent quality norms for carbonated drinks.