VOLUNTARY FOOD LAWS/STANDARDS ASSIGNMENT OF FOOD QUALITY-ANALYSIS & ASSURANCE SUBMITTED TO DR.

ALKA JOSHI

BY SOMYA MEHNDIRATTA B.TECH FOOD TECHNOLOGY 3RD YEAR,5TH SEMESTER ENROLLMENT NO. A4312610017

INTRODUCTION
Food law encompasses a wide range of food legislation and accompanying regulations that govern the way the food has been cooked, processed, served, distributed, and eaten. They impact individuals and organizations.Food Law can be termed to take into account the legal hurdles that food entrepreneurs, food producers, and those starting new food initiatives have to overcome in order to become viable legal entities. This entails mainly the permitting and licensing processes through which food producers and operators have to navigate. The objective of the Voluntary food Guidelines is to provide practical guidance & to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security, in order to achieve the goals of the World Food Summit Plan of Action. Voluntary food laws/standards are not mandatory.The adaptation of these standards/laws depends on the choice of the organization/company & if adapted they provide an extra recognition to the company/organization in the International as well as National market. There are mainly 7 voluntary food laws/standards: 1.BIS 2.AGMARK 3.Codex Alimentarius 4.HACCP 5.Management Systems For Quality & Food Safety 6.Plant Quarantine Order 7.Export (Quality Control & Inspection) Act,1963

BIS
There are two organizations, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI), currently dealing with the voluntary standardization and certification systems in the food sector in India. The activities of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) are two fold - formulation of Indian Standards in the processed food sector and their implementation by promotion and through voluntary and third party certification system. BIS has on record, standards for most of the processed foods. These standards in general cover raw materials permitted and their quality parameters, hygienic conditions under which the product is manufactured and packaging and labeling requirements. Manufacturers complying with the standards laid down by BIS can obtain an ISI mark which can be exhibited on their product packages. BIS has identified certain items like food colors/additives, vanaspati and containers for

their packing, Milk powder and condensed milk for compulsory Certification. BIS empowered through a legislative Act of the Indian Parliament known as the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986, operates a product certification scheme. The product certification scheme is basically voluntary and aims at providing quality, safety and dependability to the ultimate customer. Presence of certification mark known as Standard Mark on a product is an assurance of conformity to the specifications. The conformity is ensured by regular surveillance of the licensee's performance by surprise inspections and testing of samples, drawn both from the factory and the market. Manufacturers complying with standards laid down by the BIS can obtain and "ISI" mark that can be exhibited on product packages. BIS has identified certain items like food colours/additives, vanaspati, and containers for packing, milk powder and condensed milk, for compulsory certification.The BIS product certification scheme is largely based on ISO Guide 28, which provides general rules for third party certification system of determining conformity with product standards through initial testing and assessment of a factory quality management system and its acceptance followed by surveillance that takes into account the factory quality management system. The BIS Product Certification Scheme is open to manufacturers in all countries without discrimination. While a licence can be granted for any Indian Standard specifying product characteristics, which is amenable to certification, the broad areas of technologies now under certification are agriculture, food Beverages and the tobaccos among other sectors.

AGMARK
The Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) enforces the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act 1937 (and ammended in 1986). Under this Act, Grade Standards are prescribed for agricultural and allied commodities which are known as 'Agmark' Standards. Grading under the provisions of this Act is voluntary. Manufacturers who comply with standard laid down by DMI are allowed to use "Agmark" labels on their products. The present AGMARK standards cover quality guidelines for 205 different commodities spanning a variety of Pulses, Cereals, Essential Oils, Vegetable Oils, Fruits & Vegetables, and semi-processed products like Vermicelli. The certification also marks the food standards keeping in mind the requirements of WTO. \Quality Grading and Certification for : Export & Domestic Trade

CODEX ALIMENTARIUS
A code of international food standards.The purpose of Codex is to guide and promote the elaboration of definitions and requirements for foods and assist in their harmonization ,To facilitate world trade & To promote consumer protection The name Codex Alimentarius is taken from Latin and translates literally as food code or food law. The Codex Alimentarius is a series of food standards, codes and other regulations adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) that countries can use as models in their domestic food legislation and regulations, and which can be applied to international trade. Codex provides the assurance that any foods produced according to its codes of hygienic practices and complying with its standards are safe and nutritious and offer adequate health protection. The CAC was created in 1962 by two United Nations organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).Its main purpose is to promote consumer protection and to facilitate world trade in foods through the development of food standards, codes of practice and other guidelines (FAO/WHO, 1999). Since its inception, the CAC has been responsible for implementing the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Program (FAO, 2000). The CAC is an intergovernmental body with a current membership of 165 Member governments. Membership is open to all Member Nations and Associate Members of FAO and WHO. In addition, observers from international scientific, food industry, food trade and consumer associations may attend sessions of the Commission and of its subsidiary bodies. While observer organizations can fully participate in the proceedings of the meeting, by statute, only Member governments can participate in any decision process. The work of the CAC is divided between two basic types of committees. The first type deals with general subject matter(s) that cuts across all food classes or groups. The work of the second type of committee, the Codex Commodity Committees, is specific for foods within a class or group. There are nine general subject matter committees, each with different responsibilities. These Committees deal with matters such as hygiene, veterinary drugs, pesticides, food additives, labeling, methods of analysis, nutrition, and import/export inspection and certification systems. The subject matter committees interact with the Commodity Committees. For example, the Committee on Food Labeling proposes standards for labeling and for specific labeling requirements of commodities in co-operation with the specific commodity committees. The second type of Committee is one that deals with a specific type of food class or group, such as dairy and dairy products, fats and oils, or fishes and fish products. There are 12 Commodity Committees. Each works on a specific food or class of food. Since its beginning, the CAC has adopted 204 different standards for food in all of the main groups of food traded at the international level.

HACCP
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Stand-alone Certification against IS 15000:1998 and HACCP based Quality System Certification provides for two Certification through one audit Certification of Quality System against IS/ISO 9000 and Certification of HACCP against IS 15000:1998. HACCP is a process control system designed to identify and prevent microbial,physical & chemical hazards in food production. It includes steps designed to prevent problems before they occur and to correct deviations as soon as they are detected. Such preventive control system with documentation and verification are widely recognized by scientific authorities and international organizations as the most effective approach available for producing safe food. HACCP involves a system approach to identification of hazard, assessment of chances of occurrence of hazards during each phase, raw material procurement, manufacturing, distribution, usage of food products, and in defining the measures for hazard control. In doing so, the many drawbacks prevalent in the inspection approach are provided and HACCP overcomes shortcomings of reliance only on microbial testing. HACCP enables the producers, processors, distributors, exporters, etc, of food products to utilize technical resources efficiently and in a cost effective manner in assuring food safety. Food inspection too would be more systematic and therefore hassle-free. It would no doubt involve deployment of some additional finances initially but this would be more than compensated in the long run through consistently better quality and hence better prices and returns.

The HACCP seven principles

Principle 1: Conduct a hazard analysis. Plans determine the food safety hazards and identify the preventive measures the plan can apply to control these hazards. A food safety hazard is any biological, chemical, or physical property that may cause a food to be unsafe for human consumption. Principle 2: Identify critical control points. A critical control point (CCP) is a point, step, or procedure in a food manufacturing process at which control can be applied and, as a result, a food safety hazard can be prevented, eliminated, or reduced to an acceptable level. Principle 3: Establish critical limits for each critical control point. A critical limit is the maximum or minimum value to which a physical, biological, or chemical hazard must be controlled at a critical control point to prevent, eliminate, or reduce to an acceptable level. Principle 4: Establish critical control point monitoring requirements. Monitoring activities are necessary to ensure that the process is under control at

each critical control point. In the United States, the FSIS is requiring that each monitoring procedure and its frequency be listed in the HACCP plan. Principle 5: Establish corrective actions. These are actions to be taken when monitoring indicates a deviation from an established critical limit. The final rule requires a plant's HACCP plan to identify the corrective actions to be taken if a critical limit is not met. Corrective actions are intended to ensure that no product injurious to health or otherwise adulterated as a result of the deviation enters commerce. Principle 6: Establish procedures for ensuring the HACCP system is working as intended. Validation ensures that the plants do what they were designed to do; that is, they are successful in ensuring the production of a safe product. Plants will be required to validate their own HACCP plans. FSIS will not approve HACCP plans in advance, but will review them for conformance with the final rule. Verification ensures the HACCP plan is adequate, that is, working as intended. Verification procedures may include such activities as review of HACCP plans, CCP records, critical limits and microbial sampling and analysis. FSIS is requiring that the HACCP plan include verification tasks to be performed by plant personnel. Verification tasks would also be performed by FSIS inspectors. Both FSIS and industry will undertake microbial testing as one of several verification activities. Verification also includes 'validation' the process of finding evidence for the accuracy of the HACCP system (e.g. scientific evidence for critical limitations). Principle 7: Establish record keeping procedures. The HACCP regulation requires that all plants maintain certain documents, including its hazard analysis and written HACCP plan, and records documenting the monitoring of critical control points, critical limits, verification activities, and the handling of processing deviations.

Management Systems for Quality and Food Safety

ISO 9000 Quality Management Systems The ISO 9000 system is looked at as a system with minimum quality requirements. It builds a baseline system for managing quality. The focus, therefore, is on designing a total quality management system, one that complies with external standards, but includes the specific requirement of industry and integrates elements of competitiveness.The millennium standard (ISO 9000:2000) has changed the focus from procedure to process. The main features of the ISO 9000:2000 standards are: Refinement in the presentation to make reading easy and elimination of general inauditable statements such as "consideration shall be given .The present standard gave an impression that it was applicable to manufacturing situation though it was applied in organizations of different types and sizes, including the service sector. The new standard is a broad-based standard applicable to all sectors. In the new standards, approach has changed from continuous improvement to continual improvement. Continuous improvement remained an implied approach to quality improvement in ISO 9000.

Plant Quarantine Order

India introduced the Plant Quarantine (Regulation of Import into India) Order in 2003 to prohibit and regulate the import of agricultural articles. Orders include: A ban on the import of certain plants and planting materials from designated countries (eg sugarcane from Australia) A restriction on the import of other plants and plant materials to authorized institutions, with additional declarations and special conditions attached. A requirement for additional declarations (such as a phytosanitary certificate issued by the exporting country) and special conditions for a further positive list of plants and plant materials. The Order, with amendments, is available at the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation and Plant Quarantine Organization of India websites. The implementing agency is the Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine, and Storage, under the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture.

Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act, 1963

The Export Inspection Council is responsible for the operation of this Act. Under the Act, a large number of exportable commodities have been notified for compulsory pre-shipment inspection. The quality control and inspection of various export products is administered through a network of more than fifty offices located around major production centres and ports of shipment. In addition, organizations may be recognized as agencies for inspection and /or quality control. Recently, the government has exempted agriculture and food products, fruit products and fish and fishery products from compulsory pre-shipment inspections; provided that the exporter has a firm letter from the overseas buyer stating that the overseas buyer does not require pre-shipment inspection from official Indian inspection agencies.

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