Tamil Nadu tops food safety index

• Tamil Nadu topped the State Food Safety Index (SFSI) this year, followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Other Toppers:

• Smaller States: Goa stood first, followed by Manipur and Sikkim.
• UTs: Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh secured the first, second and third ranks.

About SFSI:

• The SFSI measures the performance of States on the basis of five parameters-
  • Human Resources and Institutional Data,
  • Compliance,
  • Food Testing – Infrastructure and Surveillance,
  • Training & Capacity Building and
  • Consumer Empowerment.
• Rating by: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
• On the occasion of World Food Safety Day, Ministry of Health launched various innovative initiatives by the FSSAI, including the-
  • Eat Right Research Awards and Grants – Phase II,
  • Eat Right Creativity Challenge – Phase III,
  • A school-level competition, and
  • The logo for AyurvedaAahar.

From Loser to Winner:

• In 2018-19 FSSAI released data on enforcement of norms.
• That was the first year the data had been compiled for unsafe, substandard and labelling defects separately.

Prelims Takeaway:

• FSSAI
• SFSI