FSSAI asked to check pesticides in food items

NHRC directed Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to submit its within eight weeks from the date of receipt of notice.

The National Human Rights Commission has issued notice to food regulator FSSAI over reports of pesticides being found in food items more than the prescribed limit, Health Minister J P Nadda said.

"NHRC has taken suo-moto cognisance of a news report published in the Times of India on October 5 titled 'Pesticides-soaked food samples double in 6 years'.

"In its notice, NHRC directed Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to submit its within eight weeks from the date of receipt of notice," the Union Minister said in a reply to Lok Sabha.

Maximum residual levels of pesticides in fruits and vegetables and other food products have been fixed under the Food Safety and Standards (Contamination, Toxins and Residues) Regulation, 2011.

"Presence of pesticides residues beyond these levels in food products including food, vegetables and meat is treated as a violation of the said regulations, which attracts penal action under the Act," he said.