New Delhi, Apr 23 (KNN) The Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided to notify ‘Food Import Clearance System’ as essential service during the lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic.

It has also decided to keep all the import offices of the apex food regulator open and functioning on every working day fr0m 9.30 am-6 pm.

The FSSAI has in this regards made an announcement and added that it has its Authorized Officers  at  six  locations -  Chennai,  Kolkata,  Mumbai,  Delhi,  Cochin  and  Tuticorin covering 21 points of entries for ensuring compliance to the provisions of FSS Act, 2006, and Regulations  made  thereunder. 

Further, there are another 396 locations throughout the country where Customs officials have been notified as Authorized Officers by FSSAI.

The food watchdog’s Food Import Clearance System has been seamlessly integrated with the Customs ICE GATE (Indian Customs Electronic Commerce/Electronic Data Interchange Gateway) while selective sampling and testing of food articles on the basis of risk profiling is being done by the FSSAI.

According to  the  FSSAI, the food  articles  when  referred to  it  for  clearance  by  the  Customs Authorities are subjected to scrutiny of documents, visual inspection, sampling and testing in  order  to  determine  whether  or  not  they conform  to  the  safety  and  quality  standards established and laid down under various Food Safety and Standards Regulations.

If sample is found conforming then No Objection Certificate (NOC) is generated and if not conforming, then Non-Conforming Report (NCR) is generated.

Meanwhile,  FSSAI  has  further  extended  the  provision  of  the  provisional  NOC  to  imported food products amid lockdown for maintaining the supplies of commodities including edible oils and food grains till May 30, 2020.

According to a FSSAI’s notification the importer shall declare and submit the undertaking declaration in the form to concerned Authorized Officer who is directed to carry out visual inspection on the same day without delay and upon satisfactory visual inspection shall draw samples and issue provisional no objection certificate without waiting for analysis report fr0m the laboratory.

The final NOC shall be given after the analysis report comes fr0m the laboratory. Previously the NOC was given till April 15, 2020.