Why in the News?

Recently, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) published the State Food Safety Index in which 15 out of 20 states recorded lower 2023 scores compared to 2019.

About the State Food Safety Index:

• Since 2019, FSSAI has released the State Food Safety Index (SFSI) each year on June 7 on the occasion of World Food Safety Day.
• SFSI scores are given out of a total of 100 points that are calculated based on five parameters with different weightages:
• Human Resources and Institutional Data
• Compliance
• Food Testing Infrastructure
• Training and Capacity Building
• Consumer Empowerment.
• In the 2023 index, a new parameter called ‘Improvement in SFSI Rank’ was added, which assesses improvement in each state’s rank from the year before.
• The primary goal of this index is to ensure that citizens have access to safe and nutritious food.
• This index is a dynamic and comprehensive system that offers an objective way to assess food safety across all states and UTs.
• States and UTs are categorized into three groups: large states, small states, and UTs, for evaluation and comparison.

Key findings from the report:

• 19 out of 20 large states — including Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh — recorded a drop in their 2023 scores from 2019.
• The most substantial drop was observed in the 'Food Testing Infrastructure' category, with states like Maharashtra, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh receiving lower scores in this aspect.
• Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand also had reduced scores in the 'Compliance' category.
• In the 2023 index, the 'Human Resources and Institutional Data' category was given the third-highest importance, accounting for 18% of the evaluation (it was 20% in previous years).
• The only category that showed notable improvement was 'Training and Capacity Building,' which was given the least importance, 8%, in the 2023 index (compared to 10% in previous years).