Food Safety and Standards Authority of India introduced its new initiative ‘Indian Food Recovery Alliance (IFRA) on the occasion of National Conclave on Nutrition Security – Convergence and Partnerships.
IFRA is a coalition of food recovery partners in country to fight issue of hunger and also prevent food loss and food waste in India.
Various food recovery partners showcased their existing models of food recovery along with the integrated web based platform that is being developed.
Initially released on a pilot level, this web based platform allows interested donors, individuals and volunteers to register themselves to be a part of this initiative.
After the pilot study, the main platform and mobile applications will be accessible for the registered people to donate food through online communication with food recovery agencies that will ensure proper distribution after reasonable due diligence. The donors will be able to track all the data, information and the status of the food they will donate through their personal logins. This platform will also provide guidance to citizens, food businesses and various food recovery agencies on prevention of food loss and food waste and safe recovery of surplus food.
In India, multiple food recovery agencies are already functional in various cities. Together,
Organisations including No Food Waste, Feeding India, Indian Food Banking Network, Roti Bank, Annakshetra, Giveaway India, Robin Hood Army etc., feed are some of the food recovery agencies that are already functional in various cities.
During his keynote session, Pawan Agarwal, CEO FSSAI said, “wastage of food & loss is recognized as a global challenge also there is significant food loss and food waste in India. This initiative is an effort to recover surplus food that is lost and wasted at various stages in India every year. Through this initiative several food recovery agencies will be able to work uniformly towards one common goal of saving food and distributing it to the needy so that India is able to eradicate hunger problems.”
He also mentioned about the draft regulation of surplus food recovery and food distributions are already formulated safe recovery of surplus food.
Progress on food fortification was also discussed and reviewed by FSSAI.
A comprehensive report on Large Scale Food Fortification in India – The Journey So Far and Road Ahead was released by Ashwini Kumar Choubey, State Minister of Health & Family welfare. The redesigned and updated web portal on food fortification was also launched by him.
Creating a network of networks from entities across sectors in India and leveraging the power of technology so that there is an ease of communication among all the stakeholders and everybody can take a step closer towards reducing food wastage in a uniform direction is the main aim of FSSAI.
With respect to Fortification, the next phase involves wide consumer outreach to build awareness and sensitise people to the need for fortification.
Minister also appreciated the efforts of FSSAI and food recovery networks to join hands for this noble cause. He mentioned that it is a social and moral responsibility of every individual to feed the needy and prevent food waste.
Directives have been issued from the key Central Ministries and dynamic State government like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and UT Chandigarh have set up cross ministerial working groups. Development partners have offered unstinting support with resources.
New fortified variants from various food businesses are being launched every month, the latest being ITC’s “Aashirwad” and General Mill’s “Pillsbury” in wheat flour, and DCP Foods’ “Asbah” and LT Foods’ “Daawat-Rozana” in rice.