Food security in India: Third State Food Safety Index released! Food security is crucial and an essential aspect for society. Food security refers to healthier and hygienic handling of meals at all levels of the chain so that illness from contaminated meals can be prevented. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 10% of the population across the world falls ill due to consumption of contaminated meals, although each and every year, 4.2 lakh folks die by consuming contaminated meals, and of these, 1.25 lakh are children aged beneath 5 years. Accordingly, to encourage states to enhance meals security in their jurisdiction, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) releases State Food Safety Index or SFSI. Now, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya released the third SFSI.
The ranking was carried out by dividing the states and UTs in 3 categories – significant states comprising 20 states, tiny states comprising the remaining eight states, and UTs comprising all of the eight Union Territories of India.
As per the ranking of the 20 significant states, Gujarat was the most effective state in the nation in terms of meals security with 72 points out of one hundred, highest across all the categories. Southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu bagged the second and the third areas respectively for making certain meals security in the regions. Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka and Telangana formed the rest of the leading-10 states in this category of states. Among the significant states, Bihar ranked last at 20th position, although Andhra Pradesh was placed 19th and Rajasthan was 18th.
Meanwhile, in the tiny states, Goa topped the list, followed by Meghalaya and Manipur. Among the eight tiny states, Mizoram ranked last.
As far as the eight UTs are concerned, Jammu and Kashmir was ranked as the UT with highest meals security, although Andaman and Nicobar Islands had been ranked second and national capital of Delhi was ranked third. Lakshadweep was ranked as the UT with the lowest requirements of meals security, securing only 18 points out of one hundred, the lowest amongst all categories.
The states and UTs had been ranked on the basis of 5 parameters – Human Resources and Institutional Data possessing 20% of the weightage, Compliance with 30% weightage, Food Testing – Infrastructure and Surveillance becoming offered 20% weightage, Training and Capacity Building possessing 10% weightage and Consumer Empowerment becoming offered 20% weightage.