4th State Food Safety Index released on World Food Safety Day 2022

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya released the 4th State Food Safety Index on the occasion of World Food Safety Day i.e. on 7 June 2022. World Food Safety Day is celebrated every year on 7 June. This year the theme of World Food Safety Day was "Safer Food, Better Health".

The index is prepared by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The first state food safety index was released on 7 June 2019 for the year 2018-19.

The index measures the performance of States based on five indicators of food safety. The winning states/Uts are then felicitated based on the ranking.

The five parameters are:

1. Human Resources and Institutional Data (20% weightage)
2. Compliance (30% weightage)
3. Food Testing- Infrastructure and Surveillance (20% weightage)
4. Training and Capacity Building (10% weightage)
5. Consumer Empowerment (20% weightage)

This year, the ranking of States/ UTs is based on the performance for the years 2021-22. The winners of the 4th State Food Safety Index are as follows:

• Among the larger states, Tamil Nadu topped the list, followed by Gujarat and Maharastra.
• Among the smaller states, Goa topped the list, followed by Manipur and Sikkim.
• In the case of UTs, Jammu and Kashmir topped the list, followed by Delhi and Chandigarh.

The States with significant improvement in ranking during last year:

1. Large States Category- Uttarakhand
2. Small States Category- Tripura
3. UTs category- Ladakh

On this occasion, the Health Minister also launched the logo for “Ayurveda Aahar” for easy identification of aahar products. The green color used in the logo represents that Ayurveda aahar is natural, biotic, wholesome, herbal and organic. The 5 leaves represent 5 elements - Akash, Vayu, Agni, Jal and Prithvi.