Central Idea

Four years after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) introduced a state-wise index to encourage improvements in food safety, alarming trends have emerged.
A significant number of large Indian states have witnessed a drop in their food safety scores in 2023 compared to 2019.
This analysis delves into the details of these findings, highlighting the key parameters, their weights, and how the states fared.

Understanding the State Food Safety Index (SFSI)

FSSAI has developed the State Food Safety Index to measure the performance of states on various parameters of Food Safety.
It was first rolled in 2018-19.
This index is based on the performance of the State/ UT on five significant parameters set by the Health Ministry, namely

In 2023, a new parameter, ‘Improvement in SFSI Rank,’ was added, altering the weightages of existing parameters to maintain a total score of 100.
The Index is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model that provides an objective framework for evaluating food safety across all States/UTs.

Maharashtra: Witnessed the most significant drop, with a score of 45 in 2023 compared to 74 in 2019.
Bihar: Scored 20.5 in 2023, down from 46 in 2019.
Gujarat: Recorded a score of 48.5 in 2023, a sharp decline from 73 in 2019.

Food Testing Infrastructure: Witnessed the most substantial decline, with the average score dropping to 7 out of 17 in 2023 from 13 out of 20 in 2019.
Compliance: Received the highest weightage in 2023 but experienced a drop in scores for states like Jharkhand, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar.
Consumer Empowerment: Scored the highest in Tamil Nadu, while Bihar saw a significant decrease in this parameter.
Human Resources and Institutional Data: Experienced a decline in scores for states like Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
Training and Capacity Building: Recorded an improvement, with the average score increasing to 5 out of 8 in 2023 from 3.5 out of 10 in 2019.