Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was established under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as per provisions contained in the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 (i.e. FSS Act 2006) and it has been mandated for laying down science-based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.
As per Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, FSSAI has taken following steps to promote healthy food habits among the youth, especially among school students:
- Food Safety and Standards (Safe food and balanced diets for children in school) Regulations, 2020, has been promulgated, which specifies the responsibilities of School Authority to ensure safe food and balanced diets on school premises, promotion of safe food and balanced diet in and around school campus, food marketing and advertisement and selling to children in school premises along with Monitoring and Surveillance. This regulation also contains “General Guidance for Providing Safe food and balanced diet to Children” and “General guidance for selection of Foods”.
- FSSAI has taken up Eat Right School Programme under the Eat Right India Initiatives, which aims at promoting awareness about food safety, nutrition and hygiene among school children, and through them among the community at large. So far 531 number of Eat Right Programmes were conducted, wherein school children are encouraged to attend in large numbers.
- The Eat Right School Programme, initiated by FSSAI, aims to certify schools as Eat Right Schools through the Eat Right matrix. This matrix serves as a monitoring and evaluation tool designed to foster a safe and wholesome environment for children from an early age. By implementing this matrix, the programme ensures that schools adhere to standards promoting healthy eating habits and food safety practices, contributing to the overall well-being of students.
- FSSAI has also created a rich repository of content (i.e. Eat Right resource materials) created by domain experts that is absorbed and adopted for school curriculum for students as well as for Teacher Training.
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