Farm-to-fork food safety fix on Niti Aayog menu; Wider testing, stricter enforcement planned

New Delhi: The Centre is preparing a sweeping overhaul of India's food safety framework, with Niti Aayog examining measures ranging from farm-to-fork tracking and expanded testing infrastructure to tougher enforcement and compliance-linked incentives to improve food quality across the supply chain.

Aayog member M Srinivas chaired a high-level meeting with stakeholders last week to discuss ways to strengthen food safety surveillance, improve enforcement and enhance coordination among agencies.

Global best practices are being examined to determine how they can be adapted to strengthen India's food safety standards, a senior government official aware of the discussions told ET.

"Multiple suggestions have come for checking contamination across the food chain," the official said, adding that the Aayog would recommend policy interventions aimed at significantly reducing food-borne diseases.

Also Read: India must tighten food safety regime before India-EU FTA takes effect, says GTRI

The proposals include farm-to-fork traceability to monitor chemical residues at the agricultural production stage and detect contamination and adulteration at the supplier, distributor and retail stages through more intensive on-site inspections. The government is also considering linking access to credit with compliance scores.

Other measures under consideration include expanding the network of accredited food-testing laboratories, increasing independent third-party sampling and deploying mobile testing facilities to improve on-site screening.

The government is also examining the installation of advanced cold-chain infrastructure and transport systems to reduce food spoilage and wastage during storage and transit.

Enhanced surveillance and enforcement could also be introduced at suspected food adulteration hotspots identified through analysis of crop yields, production levels and market prices.

As per official data, India records about 100 million cases of food-borne illness every year, a number projected to rise to 150-170 million by 2030, with implications for public health, productivity and the economy. Food-borne diseases are India's fifth-largest contributor to disease burden, while diarrhoea is the third-leading cause of childhood mortality.