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Action Area - EatSmart Cities Challenge

Creating a Sustainable Food Environment

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Save Food, Share Food


About

It seems illogical, not to mention unethical, that huge quantities of usable surplus food are thrown away/wasted, even as the underprivileged are unable to afford just 1 square meal a day. The 'Save Food, Share Food’ initiative aims to tackle the problem of surplus food wastage by bridging the gap between food business operators, surplus food distribution organizations and those in need. It is also geared towards encouraging food donation amongst food businesses and adopting robust practices to reduce food loss and food wastage in the supply chain.

A network of Surplus Food Distribution Organizations known as 'Indian Food Sharing Alliance' (IFSA) has been created along with a technology platform (website and an upcoming mobile application) to scale up safe and hygienic food donation (pre-packaged, fresh, cooked food), reduce food wastage and ensure safe food collection and distribution through registered agencies. Awareness generation about food loss and food wastage amongst citizens through behavior change strategies is also taken up.

Role of Stakeholders

  • Surplus Food Distribution Agencies: These agencies constitute the IFSA network and are the nodal point of this initiative. They are responsible for the core activity of food collection and distribution.
  • Food Businesses and their Associations: Hotels and restaurants, retailers (perishables and packaged foods) and food processing industries that produce and handle food are encouraged to adopt practices to reduce food wastage and donate surplus food to the needy.
  • Beneficiaries: Orphanages, slums, shelter homes, etc. are the end consumers who will receive the food from food distribution agencies.
  • Food Safety Departments of States/UTs: They are responsible for hand holding surplus food distribution agencies to get FSSAI registration and organizing food hygiene and safety training for IFSA team.
  • All Businesses: They can support in development of proper food safety management systems in the supply chain for surplus food distribution agencies by providing refrigerators/ deep freezers/vans etc. through their CSR funds.
  • Government Departments: Government departments related to Human Rights, Consumers, Food Processing Industries etc. can help in spreading awareness about these initiatives to scale up the effort.

Steps for Implementation

  • FSSAI (Central and State departments) to identify and connect new surplus food distribution agencies with existing IFSA teams.
  • State Food Safety Department may conduct workshops for surplus food distribution agencies and their volunteers where the key agenda can be:
    • FSSAI Registration of surplus food distribution agencies
    • Food safety awareness training for surplus food distribution agencies and volunteers
    • Sensitization about Save Food, Share Food Initiative, its campaigns and Food Safety and Standards (Recovery and Distribution of Surplus Food) Regulations, 2019.
  • State Food Safety Departments may connect agencies with food businesses such as leading hotels, companies and their associations in the district/city.
  • State Food Safety Departments may conduct consumer awareness drives at public events/State Department events, food donation drives etc.

Resources

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Success Stories

At present, 82 food distribution agencies are part of the IFSA network. These agencies are collecting surplus food and feeding the underprivileged in more than 100 districts. Over 50 million meals have been donated by these agencies so far. FSSAI was awarded the SKOCH Platinum award for this initiative in year 2018.



Safe and Sustainable Packaging in Food and Beverage Sector


About

Objective

Safety and sustainability of food packaging (especially plastics) has become a subject of importance to all businesses due to its impact on health and the environment. FSSAI has taken the lead in addressing these concerns by taking out advisories on alternative food packaging materials and conducting awareness programs towards plastic waste management.

Role of Stakeholders

  • Food Businesses: They may pledge to reduce the packaging/plastic footprint and to develop infrastructure and systems for its segregation/recycling.
  • Food Safety Departments of States/UTs: These departments may create awareness and educate the public on use of alternatives to plastics, proper plastic disposal and waste management.
  • Consumers: Consumers may responsibly segregate waste and properly dispose of packaging materials to ease collection and recycling.
  • Regulators: FSSAI has constituted a Scientific Panel on Packaging to deal with the challenges in the area and to address them accordingly in the regulations. The Food Authority has also linked various eminent research organizations working in the same field and constituted a Network for Scientific Co-operation for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (NetSCoFaN), namely the safer & sustainable packaging group to provide necessary scientific research, data and knowledge.

Steps for Implementation

  • Many Food businesses have pledged to eliminate single-use plastic in the coming years; develop environment-friendly substitutes and also adopt an efficient plastic collection and recycling/disposal system. This may be taken up appropriately during food inspection/audits etc. by the field offices.
  • In alignment with the Swachhata Hi Seva Campaign, various awareness generation and collection drives were organized to free houses, offices and workplaces from single-use plastic. FBOs may be asked to organize such activity and this could be made a part of the social responsibility system. 

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Success Stories

In September 2019, twenty-two of the top food companies including multinational companies committed to effectively manage plastic waste in their operations and reduce plastic footprint in the coming years in the presence of Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Hon’ble Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare. The food companies also signed a voluntary pledge to reduce plastic footprint in the coming years.

A plastic collection drive, organized by FSSAI from 12th – 19th September, 2019 led to collection of approximately 305 kgs of waste including polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, poly propylene (PP) pouches, low/high density polythene, hard plastic and multi-layered plastics.

Cricket legend Shri Virat Kohli, who is a powerful influencer, joined hands with FSSAI and reached out to millions of fans through his social media accounts to spread awareness around ‘plastic waste free India’.

Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO)


About

Food Business Operators (FBOs) often use the same cooking oil for repeated frying. The consumption of Used Cooking Oil (UCO) leads to adverse health effects since total polar compounds (TPC) are formed during frying. These compounds are associated with several diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, liver diseases, etc. UCO is either not discarded at all or disposed of in an environmentally hazardous manner; choking drains and sewerage systems. Also, UCO from organized FBOs reportedly finds its way to small restaurants/dhabas and roadside vendors.

UCO can be repurposed as a feedstock for manufacturing biodiesel or to make soap etc. To harness this potential at scale, FSSAI has launched the Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO) initiative, an ecosystem to enable the collection and conversion of UCO to biodiesel, soap or other products, which is good for the health of people and the planet.

Role of Stakeholders

  • Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas: It is responsible for monitoring and administrative matters for conversion of UCO to biodiesel
  • Pollution Conservation Research Association: It is responsible for research and technical support for conversion of UCO to biodiesel
  • Food Business Operators: They are to provide UCO to biodiesel manufacturers/collection agencies instead of using it repeatedly
  • Oil Marketing Companies: They are the suppliers of the biodiesel manufactured from UCO.
  • Biodiesel Manufacturers: They collect UCO and convert it to biodiesel
  • Biodiesel/Biofuel Boards: Their role is to provide administrative support for conversion of UCO to biodiesel.
  • Biodiesel Association of India (BDAI): Their role is to on-board biodiesel manufacturers to use UCO as feedstock and in turn help in creating an ecosystem to convert UCO to biodiesel and facilitate collection of UCO.
  • FSSAI:
    • Issuance of guidelines, SOPs, Checklist, Sticker etc.
    • Provisional enrolment of biodiesel manufacturers for collection of UCO from FBOs. The enrolment is valid only for one year from the date of issue or until a registration mechanism is devised in States/UTs as per the clause (xiv) of the Gazette Notification dated 30th April 2019 Vide No. P-13039(18)/1/2018-CC(P-26825) issued by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, whichever is earlier.
  • State Food Safety Commissioners:
    • Ensure that FBOs whose consumption of edible oil frying capacity is more than 50 litres per day are maintaining usage records.
    • Award RUCO sticker as per SOPs & Checklist to RUCO compliant FBOs.

Steps for Implementation

  • State Food Safety Departments to sensitize the FBOs about the adverse health effects of UCO using the content provided and available on the FSSAI website. (https://fssai.gov.in/ruco/)
  • State Food Safety Departments to ensure that FBOs with consumption of more than 50 liters of cooking oil per day mandatorily maintain UCO disposal records as per the directions issued by FSSAI at https://fssai.gov.in/ruco/direction.php
  • FSSAI to enroll eligible biodiesel manufacturers and update the same on RUCO website. The guidelines for collection of UCO from FBOs by biodiesel manufacturers are available at https://fssai.gov.in/ruco/guidelines_for_collection.php. Also, FSSAI to update the list of collection agencies who will collect UCO from FBOs on behalf of biodiesel manufacturers  so that the FBOs can contact them for giving their UCO for conversion to biodiesel. The list of enrolled biodiesel manufacturers is available at https://fssai.gov.in/ruco/enrolled-biodiesel-manufacturers.php.
  • State Food Safety Departments to encourage FBOs to adopt RUCO and support the initiative to make it sustainable.
  • FSSAI to keep record of status of implementation in all states in order identify the gaps and assist States to address it.
  • FSSAI and State Food Safety Departments through their various social media platforms to conduct mass awareness campaigns among the citizens about the RUCO initiative and health hazards of UCO by using posters, flyers, videos in public places or sticking posters in high visibility areas (https://fssai.gov.in/ruco/picture.php)
  • FBOs may commit to not using cooking oil with TPC more than 25% and donating UCO to biodiesel manufacturers. Pledges by various FBOs are available at https://www.fssai.gov.in/ruco/pledge.php

Resources

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Success Stories

RUCO was formally inaugurated in the State of Gujarat on 4th September, 2018 in association with the Gujarat State Food and Drug Control Administration. At the launch programme, the stakeholders undertook a pledge to collect at least one crore litres of UCO each year for the generation of biodiesel from the State.

Within a short span of time, FSSAI has empanelled 16 Biodiesel Manufacturers across the country for collection of UCO and its conversion into biodiesel. These biodiesel manufacturers have so far collected around 55 lakh litres of UCO and manufactured around 39 lakh litres biodiesel.

In Haryana, an entrepreneur buys over 5,000 kg UCO from over a thousand restaurants in Delhi/NCR every day and converts it into biodiesel. The company has sold over 10 million litres of biodiesel within the first year of its plant operations. This company is receiving huge demand from existing and new customers, thereby cutting imported crude oil dependence, fighting pollution, managing illegal discharge of oil into drainage systems and checking edible oil adulteration.