"The Food Safety and Standards Act empowers the Food Authority to collect, collate, analyse and summarise relevant scientific and technical data on exposure of individuals to risks related to the consumption of food as well introduction of a rapid alert system," D H Pai Panandiker, the Chairman of International Life Science Institute, said at a function here.
"To oversee these parameters, a surveillance and monitoring system under the Food Authority will be essential," he said.
Emphasising on providing balanced diet through food fortification, Panandiker said "it has been estimated that the loss in India due to low productivity from micro nutrient deficiencies would be more than Rs 1 lakh crore while the cost of fortification would be hardly Rs 5,000 crore".
G Balachandhran, the Chief Executive Officer of Food Authority of India, spoke in detail about the new Act which replaces the Prevention and Food Adulteration Act.
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The new law has provision for imposing heavy penalties on the offenders. Kanta K Sharma, a nutritionist, underlined the need to spread awareness about the labelling of food nutrient as well about balanced diet.