Indian government is about to bring in a system which will have a check on all the imported food items. Though other countries have stringent policies, there were not much guidelines or stringent rules as far as selling imported food items in India. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), has teamed up with Hyderabad’s National Institute of Smart Government (NISG) for this project.

The new integrated IT-enabled imported food safety system is expected to be finalized by mid of 2010. This will enable to recall imported foods in case of contamination or issue alerts and warnings on dubious ingredients. It will also help in reducing lead time for clearance of imported foods at ports. The parameters will be different for different categories of foods. The decision has come in view of many imported foods flooding the market. Currently, there are number of beverages, chocolates, biscuits, fruits and other processed foods in the market.

The food price inflation, which is at an 11-year high, is threatening to dent the shining economy and providing doubting Thomases a weapon to play down India’s laudable performance. As inflation prompts consumers to cut down unnecessary expenditure, it may impact GDP growth, if allowed to continue indefinitely. Before starting the blame game, it would be worth analyzing the root cause of the problem.

The reason most bandied about for inflated prices is the bad monsoon. The Indian farmers had to endure extreme natural calamities of drought and floods within a span of three months. Though the drought, the worst since 1972, affected a large agricultural area covering 13 states, is it really the culprit?

Even after more than 60 years of independence, it is a shame that the majority of Indian farmers are forced to depend on monsoons for irrigation. It is high time that suitable alternatives are found, so that droughts do not wreck havoc on food production and prices year after year.

Another aspect that cries for attention is the food storage infrastructure. According to rough estimates India loses a whopping 50,000 crore worth of food products to inadequacy in storage and transportation. Food saved is equivalent to food produced. Improving storage and transportation facilities itself is more than enough to attain food sufficiency, contain the after effects of natural calamities and thereby food prices.

Increasing agricultural yield by incorporating latest technology is another way to counter the problem.

The government is proposing uplifting of rural areas and inclusive growth as a long term measure. However, cracking down on hoarders and black marketers is necessary to prevent further worsening of the situation.