Innovation in Food Safety and Regulation

Food is essential for sustenance of life and well being. Now the importance of food has gained a new dimension such as its use to enhance physiological functionality. Food is now being used as supplement to ward off diseases. Safety of the food from the time of its production till consumption has to be regulated. In India the food safety and standards authority is the regulatory authority. The authority has enacted the FSSAI Act in the year 2006. The contamination of the food may be intended or unintended. Among the contaminants microbial contamination is most common. Now process based contaminants are emerging as newer contaminants. Following quality standards like HACCP and GMP will enable in reducing the levels of some of these contaminants. These issues have eventually led to the development of new technologies to evolve better processing and packaging methods to minimize. The safety of food has to be ultimately communicated to the consumers. This is achieved by the food label. The FSSA Act 2006 of India defines labeling as "labeling includes any written, printed or graphic matter that is present on label accompanying the food". The food labels give all the information that is essential. Regulation will have major impact on food innovation. It involves a complex process which is nevertheless required to ensure the safety of foods.