Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) organised a webinar aligning with the theme of World Food Day, 2020-Growth, Nourish and Sustain together. Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare released the book ‘Do you Eat Right?’ at the inauguration of a webinar aligned with the theme of World Food Day, 2020 — Growth, Nourish and Sustain together.
The book translates the technical concepts on food and nutrition and relevance of various Eat Right initiatives into simple conversational style for the general public. Food Safety and Hygiene Guidelines for Safe Reopening of School Canteen/Mess which provides best practices to be followed by schools in the ‘New Normal of COVID-19’. The ‘Orange Book’ was also launched for Eat Right Campus which serves as a resource guide to implement the mandatory food safety and hygiene requirements in campus canteens, ensure provision of healthy and environmentally sustainable food and build awareness among the individuals.
The Minister also released the Daily Requirements and Food Fortification- A handbook for States/UTs to address the prime concerns around food fortification, along with the first quarterly NetProFaN Newsletter entailing details of various activities conducted by the professionals working in the field of food safety and nutrition across the country.
Along with the book launches, FSSAI started two challenges: The Eat Right Creativity Challenge based on the theme of ‘Eat Safe, Eat Healthy’ and ‘Food Safety during COVID 19’ for school students in two categories i.e. poster-making and photography. In association with the Smart Cities Mission by the Ministry of Urban Affairs, FSSAI announced ‘The Eat Smart City Challenge’ to promote safe, healthy and sustainable food environment for improving public health and quality of life in the smart cities of the country.
Aligning with this year’s theme for World Food Day, FSSAI focused on the elimination of trans fats from the food supply chain to ensure that the food being served to the population is safe and nutritious. Dr. Roderico H. Ofrin, WHO representative, during his special remarks, emphasized on elimination of trans fat from the food supply chain by adopting the approach of ‘REPLACE’ which is technical guidance to eliminate industrially-produced trans-fat from national food supplies and prevent non-communicable diseases among the public.
