Food Bill goes to Cabinet for nod

The draft Integrated Food Bill — the Food Safety and Standards Bill, 2005 — was on Tuesday cleared by the Group of Ministers (GoM)...

The draft Integrated Food Bill — the Food Safety and Standards Bill, 2005 — was on Tuesday cleared by the Group of Ministers (GoM) and will now go to the Cabinet for approval.

The GoM has also decided not to repeal the Infant Milk Food Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Feeds (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Amendment Act, 2003 (IMS Act, 2003). This move had generated controversy and today it was decided at the GoM that the Act would not be repealed but amended.

‘‘This is a major breakthrough. Fifteen laws belonging to seven to eight ministries will be repealed and will be merged into a single law. The idea is that there will be one law governing all processed food issues,’’ said Subodh Kant Sahai, Minister of State for the Ministry of Food Processing Industries. ‘‘The infant milk food substitutes…will not be repealed but we will amend it,’’ he said.

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The food bill seeks to bring food manufacturing, sale and safety issues under one integrated bill. The draft bill also looks at bringing international standards to food issues in India and seeks to impose tough sanctions on the food processing industry.

The bill will also put into place a regime by which all food items sold in the market place will be marked and labelled. The new measure looks at changing the way food is sold, bringing in greater accountability. The draft Food Safety and Standards Bill, 2005 will do away with eight laws and bring modification in eight other laws.

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