Food Regulatory Authority
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16:45 IST
RAJYA SABHA

The Government has established Food Safety and Standards Authority of India under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 consisting of 23 members including Chairperson of the Food Authority and appointed independent scientific experts as members of its scientific panels.

The scientific experts in these panels have been selected according to the approved procedures. With a view to bring together the best scientific expertise available in the country for forming scientific opinions, Scientists have been selected as members of the Panels/Committee in their individual capacity of being a scientist and an expert in their respective fields irrespective of their present association or affiliation with any public or private sector organisation. This is in accordance with the international practice followed in respect of Committees requiring high level expertise on any specific subject.

An elaborate procedure has been laid down to manage conflict of interest. The members of the Scientific Committee and Panels are required to submit an annual declaration of interest and declaration of any possible conflict of interest before each meeting of the Scientific Committee and panels. Whenever a conflict of interest is established, Chairman of the panel/Committee is required to exclude such a scientist from consideration of items in the agenda.

Thus an elaborate conflict of interest procedure has been introduced in this standard setting body (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) in the interest of absolute transparency and objectivity.

The guidelines to Scientific Panels and Committee make it very clear that having an interest in a particular scientific issue does not necessarily mean a conflict of interest. In fact, keen intellectual interest in scientific issues is a pre-condition for participation in such Committee and Panels. It is based on the recognition that any scientist can contribute to scientific knowledge and safety of food, if discussions and conclusions are based on reliable scientific evidence, open discussion and rigorous validation procedures.

The Scientific Panels will provide scientific opinion to the Food Authority which would be reviewed by the Scientific Committee and the final decision would be taken by the Food Authority consisting of members from various stakeholders including the consumer organizations.

This information was given by Minister for Health and Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question raised in Rajya Sabha today.

MV/GK