Panaji: The ‘Eat Right India’ movement, led by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), and its various initiatives were showcased to a national and global audience at the Lighthouse India event today. It was organized by The World Bank as part of its country engagement strategy.
Organized on the sides of the 21st Session of the Coordinating Committee for Asia (CCASIA) meeting in Goa from 23-27 September 2019, the event saw participation of representatives from 24 Asian countries as well as over 20 states from India that included State Food Safety Commissioners, industry, academia, consumer interest groups and professional bodies.
The Eat Right India Book, Docket, and film were released at this event. A case study of the Eat Right India movement by the World Bank was also shared with the participants. The event was live telecast to 62 higher education institutions across the country to provide exposure to college students.
Rita Teotia, Chairperson, FSSAI inaugurating the event, remarked, “Eat Right India is a powerful movement to change the way India eats. The Indian experience is worth sharing and celebrating owing to its unique approach to addressing its enormous challenges to ensure safe, healthy and sustainable diets.”
Representatives from FSSAI introduced several new initiatives such as the Clean and Safe Sweet Shops, Food Safety Mitra, an online portal and the innovative ‘Eat Right Smart Jacket’ as an identity for FSSAI-trained staff for inspection and enforcement in the field.
The day long interactions highlighted key strategies FSSAI is currently adopting to take Eat Right India to all 130 crore Indians.
Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI traced the journey of Eat Right India through the CLEAR framework, which includes “Convene stakeholders and commit to a common goal, Listen, look and learn from each other, Engage, excite and enable citizens and stakeholders, Act to build credibility and Review and revise the approach”. He added, “Mahatma Gandhi is the inspiration behind Eat Right India, whose philosophy on food and nutrition was the driving force behind his political and social movements.”
