‘Sub-standard edible products won’t enter market after 2019’

Coimbatore: No edible product with sub-standard quality could enter the Indian market after 2019 as stringent punishments for adulteration were proposed under the FSSAI Act, secretary of the Nutrition Society of India B Dinesh Kumar said here on Friday.
Dinesh Kumar inaugurated the national conference on ‘Challenges and sustainable approaches towards food and nutrition security – a global perspective’ at Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women.

Speaking to TOI after the inaugural function, he said at present all kinds of products enter the market and adulterated products are identified only during the inspections. “Once FSSAI Act is passed, such products could not even enter the market,” he added.

Scientific validations, including analyzing 30 years of history of the product and 15 years of scientific data, would be done on all the products and it would be released to the market only if it clears the validations, he said.

Dinesh Kumar said nutri vigilance was already in place for the past two years. About five to 10 edible products with sub-standard quality are banned from the market, he added.

Stressing the importance of organized way of disposing wastes, Dinesh said the pollutants including heavy metals percolate into soil, affecting farm products and living organisms.

“We have already exploited the soil. Pesticides have started to degrade the fertility of soil. Now, we must adopt steps to improve the quality of soil,” he said.

He said the need of the hour is to prevent the environment from further damage as there is a hope that the damaged portion could be recovered with growing technology.

To achieve it, enough awareness should be created among the public, stringent punishment should be given to the violators and proper monitoring system should be implemented, he said. Even though monitoring measures have started to evolve, they are still in infant stage, he added.