New Delhi : Swiss food major Nestle on Wednesday set up a food safety institute to help develop standards in food safety and quality.
Inaugurating the Nestle Food Safety Institute (NFSI) in Manesar, Haryana, Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) CEO Pawan Agarwal, told mediapersons that unlike its counterparts in the developed world, the food regulator in India faces many challenges.
“No country has such a diverse food ecosystem in the world like India. Ensuring food safety and quality in India is a huge task, considering we have such a diverse range of food operators,” Agarwal said.
An institute like this will not only help develop food safety and quality standards, but can create skill development and skill enhancement of different food providers whose operations range from small to large, he said.
Unlike food regulators in the advanced countries, FSSAI, with its “meagre” resources will find it difficult to take care of capacity building, Agarwal said. He added that it is here that institutes like NFSI can play a big role. He also exhorted other food companies to initiate similar ventures to meet India’s growing demand for safe and healthy food.
NSFI, located in Nestle R&D Centre India, has been set up at a cost of ₹7 crore and will draw food safety and research expertise from 40 research centres across the world, said Nestle India Chairman and Managing Director Suresh Narayanan. Nestle India has no control over the institute, as it is directly under the Nestle Research Centre in Lausanne in Switzerland.
He said that Nestle would be happy to collaborate with regulatory bodies and industry to help improve food safety and quality standards in the country.
Agarwal hoped that the new centre will be able to conduct training programmes on food safety management, testing methods and regulatory standards so that smaller players in the industry and technical personnel in regulatory bodies can benefit.
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