Ensuring public health through regulating food items

While the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has taken important steps to strengthen hygiene standards and regulate unsafe practices, much more needs to be done to ensure that what reaches the consumer’s plate is genuinely safe, hygienic and transparently sourced

News reports about schoolchildren falling sick after taking food served under the Mid-Day Meal Programme. News reports frequently surface about insects, frogs, lizards, rats, etc., as well as substandard raw materials like rice and pulses, with many foreign ingredients reportedly used to cook mid-day meals in schools. Schools should serve only packaged food, preferably baked food, to ensure hygiene. It will also accommodate the peculiar food habits of some children, such as avoiding onion and garlic. Thirty Parliamentarians once appealed to the Government to replace cooked food in the Mid-Day Meal Scheme with packaged biscuits procured from reputed companies recommended by the Mumbai-based Biscuits Manufacturers Welfare Association (BMWA). The Government can save money by encouraging big packaged-food manufacturers to sponsor the programme in return for publicity for their trade names. Corporates can also be asked to fund the Mid-Day Meal Scheme with packaged food supplied under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which is mandatory for large companies.

Extend scope of IRCTC widely to prepare packaged food for schools and trains

Units of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) should be set up in every district of the country and should also produce baked items. IRCTC can provide packaged food products as mid-day meals in schools and to train passengers, where there are frequent complaints about freshly cooked meals. IRCTC products can then be sold in the open market to foster healthy competition with private companies and offer quality products at economical prices. IRCTC can raise initial funding for such a mega-project through long-term, tax-free bonds. It will also provide large-scale employment, even in rural areas, preventing migration to cities in search of employment.

Opening many IRCTC units in every district will create significant employment, preventing rural youth from rushing to urban areas in search of work. Funds for setting up such a large number of IRCTC units can be generated from special long-term, interest-free IRCTC bonds that are mandatory to disclose unaccounted black money.

Appreciable steps taken by FSSAI

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) deserves praise for taking steps to make it compulsory for all eateries to display hygiene ratings on their doors. But it should be ensured that the hygiene rating is not based only on cosmetic aspects of the dining area. The rating should also cover kitchen and storage areas. It is common for rats to be in eatery stores, and kitchens to be unhygienic.

FSSAI has also taken another important step to regulate the reuse of cooking oil through repeated frying, since repeatedly fried oil is a serious health hazard. The time has come for FSSAI to make it compulsory for every eatery, however small, to install RO water purifiers and prominently display information about their installation. FSSAI should also take steps to ensure that kitchenware for vegetarian and non-vegetarian food is kept separate in eateries to respect the sentiments of vegetarian people. This aspect should also be displayed prominently and compulsorily in all eateries.

Adulterated Honey

The Supreme Court on 19.04.2021 had sought comments from the Central and State Governments on reports of adulterated honey being marketed in India, even in popular brands of renowned companies, where some special type of sugar imported from China, mixed with honey, bypasses tests as required by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Research by the Centre for Science and Environment says only three out of 70 samples of honey marketed in India could pass the internationally accepted NMR spectroscopy test. If the report is correct, then it is playing with the lives of Indian people because diabetic people consume honey, as it is otherwise considered safe for diabetic people. FSSAI should adopt the internationally accepted NMR spectroscopy test for giving sale permission for honey.

Brown sugar should be compulsory

India is experiencing a severe diabetes epidemic, often termed the "diabetes capital of the world", with an estimated 101 million people living with diabetes and another 136 million with prediabetes as of 2025-2026. The best way to control such a diabetic epidemic is to make it compulsory to use brown sugar for all commercial and medicinal purposes (syrups, etc.) instead of normal white sugar. Recently, a famous confectioner of Chandni Chowk (Delhi) introduced a specially prepared sweet for diabetic people. As demand for brown sugar grows, sugar manufacturers will divert production to it instead of white sugar.

Famous branded companies marketing packaged water bottles and cold drinks have dual pricing for the same product: one normal price for open-market sale, and a higher one for sale on flights, in theatres, and in five-starred hotels, etc. This anti-consumer practice must be stopped. The best is to set up water-bottling plants of Rail Neer, marketed by IRCTC, in different parts of the country.

Check use of harmful oils and animal fats

Harmful oils and animal fats are commonly used at roadside dhabas and in some eateries in the name of butter. Central and State Governments should take necessary steps so that such spurious 'butter' cannot be used. After the shocking incident of adulterated ghee being found in the holy prasad of laddoos at Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam during the earlier regime, it has become necessary to take preventive steps to ensure that confectioners and eateries do not use such adulterated desi ghee. Manufacturers of desi ghee must mandatorily share the brand name and other details with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Instead, such information can be made public by directing confectioners, eateries, etc., to display details of branded raw goods, including ghee and oil, at prominent places.

Taking cognisance of alleged incidents of spitting and mixing urine in eatables in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath rightly directed that the name and address of operators, proprietors and managers be displayed at all food centres, making it compulsory for chefs and servers to wear masks and gloves, besides making the installation of CCTV cameras compulsory in hotels and restaurants. Even Minister Vikramaditya Singh of the Congress-led Himachal Pradesh government wanted to follow the same pattern. With so many Rohingyas and Bangladeshis present in India, such steps should be mandatorily taken by all States, keeping aside pseudo-secular politics.

Vegetarianism is spreading fast worldwide, with World Vegetarian Day celebrated every 1st October. The Government of India should approach the United Nations to celebrate 1st October as Vegetarian Day on the lines of Yoga Day.

Only branded milk and milk products may be allowed

Considering the usual reports of unauthorised units found producing synthetic milk and spurious milk products like khoya and paneer. To ensure the supply of pure milk and milk products, at least in cities where branded milk and milk products are easily accessible, with government-owned Mother Dairy and co-operative giant Amul, apart from some other private companies like Vita, Verka, Sudha, Saras and Nandini now marketing milk and milk products, the sale of only branded milk and milk products may be permitted in cities where such branded milk and milk products are available.

Central and state governments should take necessary steps whereby such spurious ‘butter’ may not be possible to be used. After shocking incident of adulterated ghee found used in holy prasad of laddoos in Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam during earlier regime, it has become necessary to take preventive steps to ensure that such adulterated desi ghee may not be used by confectioners and eateries

The writer is Guinness World Record Holder and RTI Consultant; Views presented are personal.