At least 50 chief executives of processed food companies met with G. Kamala Vardhana Rao, chief executive of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, on Friday, according to people familiar with the matter, with many of them stressing that setting up more well-equipped testing laboratories in India could help reduce food adulteration.
Their proposal comes amid a series of cases of packaged food companies producing adulterated products, not complying with regulations and circumventing testing procedures. The most recent controversy is over spice brands such as MDH and Everest, which have been banned in Hong Kong and several other countries for allegedly containing carcinogenic pesticides.
Keeping this in mind, the CEOs also emphasised the need for training food safety officers to better understand surveillance and advocated for addressing safety challenges at the farming level, people familiar with the matter told NDTV Profit on condition of anonymity.
Apart from spice companies, other brands that have faced scrutiny in India and abroad in the past include Nestle’s Maggi and Patanjali.
