Govt to put up an integrated food bill

NEW DELHI: The draft Integrated Food Bill will be placed before a group of ministers by the end of this month for its consideration.

“The draft proposal incorporating feedbacks will be put before the GoM on February 28 for its consideration,� ANP Sinha, joint secretary at the ministry of food processing industries, said at an Assocham interactive session.

The GoM, headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, will meet on March 10 to clear the draft bill for its introduction in Parliament, he said. The draft proposal for integrated food law has already been circulated.

The country does not have any nationally agreed protocol for sampling and testing food, Mr Sinha said, adding that the bill would seek to address such issues and others relating to food safety and public health.

The proposed legislation would harmonise various existing laws in order to accelerate the growth process for food processing industries.

He said the idea behind bringing a comprehensive food law as early as possible was to address quality issues in a focused manner.

The draft has a provision for a food safety authority which would redefine various existing provisions and also fix new food processing norms.

He said the basic aim is to create a national framework for food standard, bringing an element of uniformity in existing food laws of the country.