As per the data shared by the government in the Lok Sabha, 47.5% of the cases registered in the country between 2015-16 & 2019-20 for food safety & standards violations were registered in Uttar Pradesh alone. The conviction rate in such cases continues to be very low at less than 15%. With the proliferation of food joints & home-chefs entering the Indian food industry, it has become more important than ever to conduct regular inspections and ensure strict adherence to the rules and regulations pertaining to the hygiene and quality of food being served. Consuming poor quality food & food prepared in unhygienic conditions can sometimes prove to be fatal. Hence, it is of utmost importance that the government strictly monitors the industry. Besides the quality of food being served in food outlets, the presence of adulterants is also to be checked regularly. FSSAI set up to monitor the quality of food and hygiene The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare established the Food Safety and Security Authority of India (FSSAI) under the Food Safety and Security Act, 2006 (FSS) consolidating all the erstwhile laws relating to food, in an effort to regulate the science-based standards of food and for manufacturing, packing, storage, distribution, import, and sale. This is to ensure good quality food for human consumption. The Act mandates maintenance of hygienic conditions in and around manufacturing premises has provisions for assessment and management of risk factors to human health in a scientific manner. State governments implement the provisions under the Act Standards for food products and additives and quality parameters have been prescribed in the Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011. It is mandatory that all Food Business Operators (FBO) or the persons in the business of selling food comply with the standards given in these regulations. State governments have been entrusted with the responsibilities of implementation and enforcement of the provisions under the FSS Act and the FSS rules. State Food Safety Officers may conduct inspection at any food outlet As per the existing regulations, State Food Safety Officers must regularly conduct surveillance, monitoring, and inspection activities to check for compliance with the provisions of the act. For this, they may draw samples of food items from an outlet and send them to the laboratories which are recognised by FSSAI for analysis. In cases where samples are found to be non-conforming to the provisions of the Act and the Rules and Regulations made under the act, the action is taken against the FBO under the penal provisions of the FSS Act. For instance, if a person sells unsafe food which results in death, they are liable for imprisonment ranging from 7 years to life imprisonment, in addition to a penalty of Rs. 10 Lakhs. Number of food samples analysed has increased by more than 60% in 5 years As per data shared by the government recently, the number of samples analysed across the country has increased by nearly 64% in the last five years. Over 72,499 samples were analysed in 2015-16, of which about 22% of the samples or 16,133 samples, were found to be non-conforming with the prescribed standards. The percentage of samples identified to be non-conforming increased to nearly 28.6% in 2018-19 when the number of samples tested was above one lakh and about thirty thousand were non-conforming. In 2019-20, though over 1.18 lakh samples were tested, the percentage of samples which were non-conforming was about 25%. More than half the samples analysed in India are from four states Of the 1.18 lakh odd samples tested in 2019-20, nearly 18% of the samples were from Uttar Pradesh. While more than 20,000 samples analysed from UP, more than 15,000 samples were analysed from Madhya Pradesh, and more than 10,000 samples each from Gujarat and Tamil Nadu were analysed in 2019-20. These four states alone accounted for 51% of all the samples analysed in India in 2019-20. The number of samples being analysed varies across states. With more than 10,000 samples being analysed in each of the last five years, UP has been the state which has conducted the most sample analysis in each of these years. The same state has also reported the highest percentage of samples identified to be non-conforming to the government laid standards or adulterated- from 42% in 2016-17 to about 59% in 2019-20. All the states except Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have increased the scale of sample analysis. During the five-year period, the percentage of samples found to be non-conforming has reduced gradually in the states of Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh.