Clipping 'Conflict of Interest'

In-house food testing laboratories (FTLS) operated by Food Business Operators (FBOS) appear to be facing problems with the food regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) planning to stop operations of such labs. It has already denotified in-house FTLS of some big FBOS last month. Some FBOS wishing to start their own labs had applied to the regulator, but the regulator has rejected their applications.

Testing foods in labs is one of the integral components of ensuring food safety. FBOS have to test their products once in six months for the parameters set for the product category. Several FBOS send their products to Fssai-notified labs for testing and approval. But some major FBOS have their own in-house FTLS to test and approve their own products. The FSSAI has discouraged this practice of in-house testing by its notification issued in February.

The FSSAI'S action decision, however, may prove to be controversial. Some FBOS have approached the FSSAI to reconsider it. They had approached the FSSAI on the basis of the NABL newsletter of October 2022 stating that FSSAI has decided that in-house FTLS will not be considered for FSSAI recognition. After that, in February, the regulator issued a notification derecognising and denotifying FBOS' in-house FTLS.

The food regulator's rationale is that FBOS running their own food labs for compliance is a conflict of interest as very senior management teams of both are the same which makes the regular monitoring and verification of minor details difficult. In some cases, the labs are even set up within the manufacturing areas of the FBOS. In short, the FSSAI is insisting on third party testing for compliance of standards, safety and quality. It appears to have no objection in FBOS using in-house labs for R&D, new product development and internal testing. The test results from the in-house labs can be used for further improvement in products or the FBO getting satisfied about the safety and standards of its own product. But those test results cannot be submitted to the FSSAI for approval of the product. For that, results from independent FTLS only should be submitted.

The point of conflict of interest (in getting products tested from in-house FTLS) is also considered as a negative factor by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) in its NABL approval procedure. The food regulator's insistence on third party testing seems logical.

However, the FBOS feel that to make the business viable as well as to maintain quality of products, they need in-house FTL. When a huge amount is invested in setting-up a lab and an equally huge amount is spent each month on salaries and other inputs, naturally FBOS will prefer to test samples in-house rather than sending samples to outside labs.

FBOS need to get their products tested timely. It is possible when FTLS are easily available in various geographical areas, another argument cited by FBOS. That highlights the issue of availability of adequate infrastructure. FSSAI has recognised over 260 labs

– 225 primary, 14 referral and 14 national labs. No doubt, the number has increased a lot in the last few years. Still, experts feel that the number may not prove to be adequate considering that over one lakh of food samples are tested in laboratories. With this denotification, the burden on other labs will increase as the products of the FBOS will also have to be sent to independent third party labs. Similarly, small FBOS which were getting their products tested from such in-house labs will now have to send their products to regular labs as, in October 2022 itself, the FSSAI did not allow them to test others' products.

Though some of the FBOS have submitted their case in favour of in-house FTLS, in view of the safety and standards, testing by the third party independent labs will definitely have more value and confidence level among consumers.