UPSC Prelims 2018 · Question 23 of 99

UPSC Prelims 2018 question on FSSAI Food Safety Act

Consider the following statements:

1. The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 replaced the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954.

2. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is under the charge of Director General of Health Services in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer

Answer: A. 1 only

Verdict

Only statement 1 is correct, so the answer is (a) 1 only.

Statement by statement

Statement 1 is CORRECT. The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 repealed a whole cluster of earlier central laws on commencement, including the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, the Fruit Products Order, 1955, the Meat Food Products Order, 1973 and the Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992.

Statement 2 is INCORRECT. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the administrative ministry for the implementation of FSSAI, which has its own Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer. Food adulteration work did sit under the Directorate General of Health Services from 1954, but FSSAI was deliberately detached from that direct administrative control and holds independent authority.

Source

FSSAI introduction on its official website, and The Hindu BusinessLine report on the FSSAI organic food logo.

How to crack it

Statement 2 works by offering a fact that used to be true. Food adulteration really was a Directorate General of Health Services subject before 2006, and the statement quietly carries that forward past the reform. When a question names an old parent office for a body created by a recent Act, ask whether the Act's purpose was precisely to break that link.

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