BIS may be made nodal marking agency

NEW DELHI: The Centre is actively considering making the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the national standards body, the nodal marking agency. Mooted by the Cabinet, the proposal means that opinions of all concerned ministries are being elicited on the subject.
If pushed through with the concurrence of the industry, commerce, food, health, food processing and other concerned departments, it would mean that BIS would then lay down quality standards mandatory not just for non-food products, but also for all food products. Right now, BIS standards — adhering to which means the issue of ISI mark to various products across the board — are applicable mandatory only for 134 items. For another 12,000 items, the standards are only voluntary.
Compounding the confusion is the fact that only two products, packaged water and biscuits, are under the purview of the BIS whereas quality standards for products such as softdrinks are reinforced under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act which falls under the ambit of the health ministry. Other standards, such as Agmark, PFA Act, the FPO (Fruit Products Order), MPO (Meat Products Order) and MMPO (Milk and Milk Products Order) fall under a multiplicity of ministries and departments, making co-ordination of surveillance and quality imposition for consumables and non-consumables an extremely difficult task.
The move to make BIS the nodal agency for issuing quality standard markings for all products will complement a parallel development vis-à-vis food products.
That the country should integrate all legislation under different ministries related to food product quality standards is already the brief of a special Group of Ministers (GoM).
The guiding principles of the new law, still in the process of being coined, state that there should imperatively be a single reference point for standards, regulations and enforcement agencies. That single window should be an integral part of an overarching policy framework for ensuring safety and quality of all food, feed and packaging.
The new law should also ensure food standard compliance by facilitating the following: setting up of equipped and certified laboratories for food testing/self regulation; information flow to state governments on food safety and risk management; enforcement and recalls; development of codes of practice, GMP, GHP, HACCP etc; formalisation of appeal procedures.
It should also deal with import and export safety initiative.
Quite apart from the problems faced by the food processing industry on account of multiplicity of laws, regulations and standards as well as standard setting agencies, the process of harmonisaiton of laws has been given an added sense of urgency due to commitments made in the World Trade Organisation and the deadline of 2004 by which laws need to harmonised with Codex and made cohesive and transparent domestically.