• December 20, 2022

Food standards drop lower in Kerala: Kerala slips to 6th position in India; Tamil Nadu tops food safety index

Food standards drop lower in Kerala: Kerala slips to 6th position in India; Tamil Nadu tops food safety index

KOLLAM Dec 20: Kerala has slipped to the sixth position in the state food safety index. The state has now moved down from the second position in the list of 18 states to the sixth position. Tamil Nadu topped the list with 82 points. Gujarat came second with 77.5 points.

Kerala was ranked second in the 3rd SFSI (2020-21). This was an improvement from the 4th rank in the 2019-20.

In the list of 18 larger states, Tamil Nadu is ranked first with 82 points, followed by Gujarat with 77.5 points. Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh are ranked third and fourth. The fifth position is shared by West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. Kerala secured 57 points, a drop from 70 points in 2020-21.

Kerala’s performance has dropped in parameters of food safety, including availability of human resources like number of Food Safety Officers, pendency of cases, facility of adjudications and appellate tribunals and creating consumer awareness.

Of the five parameters considered, the state was able to excel only in the quality of laboratories. Three laboratories from the state have been accredited at the national level.

Kerala has not been able to make any headway in implementing the decision of the state district level steering committee and settling penalties for violations. Moreover, the state has not been able to excel in the implementation of food safety and standards authority of India(FSSAI) and awareness campaigns for consumers.

Kerala did not perform better than the previous year on parameters such as conducting a special drive on food safety, organizing camps, setting up of a help desk system and redressal of consumer grievances.