Safe, Healthy, and Sustainable Diets : Role of Food Regulatory Bodies and Innovations from India
The paper discusses in brief India’s food regulatory system in the context of modernized frameworks and examples of well-developed and mature regulatory systems from five selected developed countries (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Stat...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099400108222241380/IDU18e979bb51a2ae143d4195b51811986939804 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37928 |
| Summary: | The paper discusses in brief India’s
food regulatory system in the context of modernized
frameworks and examples of well-developed and mature
regulatory systems from five selected developed countries
(Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, and the
European Union). India’s food regulator, the Food Safety and
Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), established in 2008,
has developed a modernized regulatory system that aligns
well with the most recent food safety regulatory systems
model of the World Health Organization (WHO) (2018). As it
continues to strengthen the regulatory system to enhance
food safety, FSSAI is applying innovative approaches to
address the country’s unique challenges of food safety,
public health, and sustainable diets. The paper discusses
two of FSSAI’s innovations: (i) approaches to enhance the
safety of food businesses operating in India’s huge informal
food sector; and (ii) proactive direct engagement with
consumers at scale to promote safe, nutritious, healthy, and
sustainable diets by influencing behavior change, thus
contributing to improvements in public health, nutrition,
and environmental sustainability. The paper also describes
FSSAI’s regulatory leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic
to promote food safety. The paper concludes that the
approaches and innovations adopted by FSSAI appear promising
and there are lessons that could be adopted and adapted by
other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). These
approaches have not yet been evaluated but do merit a deeper
study and discussion that may well lead to expanding the
roles food regulatory bodies could play in promoting food
safety, public health and nutrition, and sustainability.
Whether food regulators are well-placed to take on wider
roles may vary by country and the system of public
administration, but it is not inappropriate per se for
regulators to have that expanded role. |
|---|