Gujarat has been ranked the best state in the food safety index, according to the annual report released by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which ranks states on food safety parameters. Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh are among other states that topped in the large states category of the Food Safety Index 2020-21.
Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Bihar are amongst the worst performers.
Every Year, FSSAI releases the State Food Safety Index based on the overall performance of the states and Union Territories in the previous financial year to create a positive competitive environment across the states and UTs to meet the objectives of the Food Safety and Standards Act to provide safe food to the general public at large.
Yesterday, on September 20, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya released the FSSAI’s third State Food Safety Index (SFSI) to measure the performance of states across five parameters of food safety. These parameters are availability of human resources such as number of Food Safety Officers; coverage of food businesses in licensing; food testing; training and capacity building of regulatory staff and laboratory personnel; and consumer empowerment.
To ensure comparability among similar entities, FSSAI for generation of SFSI Index has classified states and UTs into three categories — large states, small states and union territories.
Among the smaller states, Goa stood first followed by Meghalaya and Manipur. Amongst Union Territories, Jammu & Kashmir, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and New Delhi secured the top billing. Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram, Ladakh, Puducherry, and Lakshadweep fared the worst.
