Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been ranked among the top three States in an index released by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which ranks States on food safety parameters. These three States topped in the large States category of the Food Safety Index 2020-21.

Meanwhile, Goa, Meghalaya and Manipur were ranked among the top three States on the Food Safety Index in the smaller States category.

Among UTs, Jammu & Kashmir, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and New Delhi secured the top ranks.

Ranking parameters

The index ranks States on five parameters of food safety including human resources and institutional data, compliance, food testing facility, training and capacity building besides consumer empowerment.

The Food Safety Index was released by Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday which also marked 15 years of formation of FSSAI.

Speaking at the event, Mandaviya said that awareness needs to be created among consumers regarding sub-standard foods and that a healthy society can only be built if citizens have access to quality and a balanced diet, for which best efforts are required to be put by the concerned stakeholders.

He added that along with government efforts in enforcement of quality standards, industry players as well as consumers also have a big role to play in achieving the goal of 100 per cent food safety.

Meanwhile, a findings of a pan-India survey focused on identifying the presence of industrially produced trans-fatty acid content in the selected foods was also released by the FSSAI.

“Samples of various packaged food items under six pre-defined food categories were collected from 419 cities and districts across 34 States and UTs. Overall, only 84 samples, i.e. 1.34 per cent were found to have more than 3 per cent industrially produced trans fats from the total of 6245 samples,” the FSSAI said in a statement

FSSAI CEO Arun Singhal said the authority has been working on a priority basis to eliminate industrial trans-fat in foods as well as malnutrition by promoting fortified foods.

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