Standards, guidelines and ethics should not be compromised on the pretext of facilitating ease of doing business, Sanjay Dave, international expert to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Health Organisation and former chairman of Codex Alimentarius Commission, has said.
Indian importers of food materials battle for relaxing food standards and specifications, when other countries insist on stringent standards for food items from India, he said in a keynote address at a national webinar on ‘Quality Standards in Agriculture’ organised by the city-based Centre for Innovation in Science and Social Action (CISSA) here on Sunday.
Mr. Dave said Indian food laws should become part of the academic curriculum of Indian universities.
“Unfortunately, in India this does not happen. It is astonishing for us that Michigan State University in the U.S. has an academic programme on Indian food laws.”
For safe food
To ensure that food supply to consumers is safe and healthy, there is need for proper standards, harmonisation of standards and capacity building of various stakeholders in food sector, he opined.
Other speakers at the webinar pointed out that with the recent structural reforms in agriculture, India is now in a position to address the needs of food security and also become a reliant supplier of farm produce in the international market.
They observed that though India has succeeded in achieving high production and productivity in the farm sector, the country is yet to attain a comfortable position in meeting global quality standards.
Devendra Prasad, Deputy General Manager, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), and Suresh Kumar S., Director, Agricultural Marketing division of Union Ministry of Agriculture, spoke.
