Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu lead food safety ranking; Himachal tops in region

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 20

Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu lead the third state food safety index rankings released by the food regulator on Monday while Himachal Pradesh is the top ranked regional state at sixth place.

Punjab and Haryana are 11th and 12th, respectively, among 20 large states with Bihar ranked last.

Among the UTs, Jammu and Kashmir is the leader followed by Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi and Chandigarh.

Among eight small states, Goa is ranked first and Mizoram last.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India releases the State Food Safety Index annually based on the overall performance on food safety indices.

The first such report was released on World Food Safety Day on June 7, 2019.

The report assesses the following major indicators – availability of human resources in the food sector in proportion to the population; overall coverage of food businesses in licensing and registration commensurate with size and population; promptness in attending to the consumer grievances and availability of help desk and web portals for grievance redressal; food testing infrastructure and surveillance to ensure quality of foods; training and capacity building of the regulatory staff and laboratory personnel; and consumer empowerment through food fortification, eat right and hygiene rating of restaurants.

Rankings (in order of rank)

Large states (20): Gujarat, Kerala, TN, Odisha, UP, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Telangana, Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar

Small states (8): Goa, Meghalaya, Manipur, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram

UTs (8): J&K, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Ladakh, Puducherry, Lakshadweep.