Guidance Document for
Consumer Interfaces
Food Safety & Standard Authority of India
FDA Bhawan, Kotla Road
New Delhi – 110002
Tel No – 11-23236975, www.fssai.gov.in
Contents –
1.
2.
3.
4.
Introduction
Sensitization towards consumer grievances
Need for an effective Consumer Grievance Redressal Mechanism
Right To Consumer
a. FSSAI – Legal Provisions, Prohibition & Restriction On Sales
b. Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
5. Citizen Connect
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
Mail
Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Website
SMS
Toll Free No.
FSSAI App – Food Safety Connect
Letters
Walk-in
6. Consumer Friendly Initiatives to redress consumer grievances
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Food Safety Connect
CUG Network
Helpline Extension
Local Circles
GAMA Portal
Smart Consumer App
CPGRAM Portal
7. Consumer Grievance Redressal Mechanism
a.
b.
c.
d.
Consumer Cell
Redressal Mechanism
Time Period
Benefits
8. Consumer Oriented FSSAI Initiatives
a.
b.
c.
d.
DART – Detect Adulteration through Rapid Test
Safe & Nutritious Food – Home, School, When Eating Out, Workplace
Food Safety Display Boards
Water Portal
Annexures
1. Feedback form for FBOs
2. Important weblinks
Introduction
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been established under
Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 for laying down science based standards for articles
of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure
availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.
FSSAI has been making endeavours to ensure safe food to the citizens of the country and
one of the effective ways is to redress grievances of citizens in a meaningful manner by
effectively coordinating with different State FDA’s & Food Business Operators and trying
to eliminate the causes of grievances, thus ensuring safe food to the citizens.
Redress of consumer grievances, being one of the most important initiatives, FSSAI
formulates Consumer Grievance Redressal Mechanism for effective, timely and
satisfactory redressal of consumer grievance.
Applicability
The consumer grievance redressal mechanism is applicable to all the consumers,
consuming food and having grievance against them. The consumers can register their
grievance to FSSAI through any medium of contact as described in the document. It is also
applicable to all the Food Business Operators who are licensed or registered under FSSAI,
across country, to satisfactorily redress the concern of the consumer in well-established
time frame.
Objective
The objective of formulating the Consumer Grievance Redressal Mechanism is to –
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
To promptly address and resolve consumer grievances fairly and equitability.
To provide enhanced level of customer satisfaction.
To provide easy accessibility to the customer for an immediate grievance redressal.
To educate the customers about their right to safe food.
To ensure that the customers are responded with courtesy & on time.
To identify systemic flaws in the operational functions of the organization and
products suggesting corrective measures.
Grievance / Complaint
A “Grievance / Compliant” is defined as any communication that expresses dissatisfaction
about an action or lack of action, about the standard of service/ deficiency of service of a
company and/or any intermediary or asks for remedial action.
A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction with a product or service, either orally or
in writing, from a customer. A customer may have a genuine cause for complaint,
although some complaints may be made as a result of a misunderstanding or an
unreasonable expectation of a product or service.
Sensitization towards consumer grievances
While occasional problems with service of merchandise are, to some extent, inevitable,
dissatisfied customers are not. Companies can learn to recover from mistakes. A good
recovery can turn angry, frustrated customers into loyal ones.
Grievances offer businesses an opportunity to correct immediate problems. In addition,
they frequently provide constructive ideas for improving products, adapting marketing
practices, upgrading services or modifying/upgrade technologies and practices and
product information.
Recognizing the importance of responding fairly and efficiently to buyer disappointment
in the marketplace, many businesses have established effective and innovative systems
for resolving consumer complaints. Within any industry, those companies with a positive
philosophy and a reputation for fair complaint-management have a competitive edge.
A management philosophy that embraces customer satisfaction as a primary goal of
business, instead of defending the company in the face of complaints, can change the rules
of the game for companies. It shifts the emphasis from the cost of pleasing a customer to
the value of doing so, and trusts front-line employees to use their judgment.
Need To Address Consumer Grievances
Generate Loyalty, Goodwill and Word-of-Mouth
By talking back when they believe they have not received their money's worth,
consumers give businesses an opportunity to correct the immediate problem and restore
goodwill. Experience shows that consumers who complain about products and services
continue to frequent the businesses and buy the products they complain about if they
believe the complaint was resolved fairly.
Research into complaint behaviour reveals that only a fraction of dissatisfied consumers
complains to business and, thereby, gives the company an opportunity to correct the
problem. There is evidence that some consumers do not complain because they are
sceptical about business's willingness or ability to resolve disputes fairly. Consumers
simply withdraw their patronage and criticize the company or the product to others.
Such findings underscore the importance to business of consumer grievance redressal
mechanism that is well-publicized and easily accessible. An unregistered complaint may
do as much harm as one that is mismanaged or not resolved.
Careful complaint management can save business unwanted costs. For example, negative
word-of-mouth publicity from dissatisfied consumers means lost revenue and
necessitates additional investment in advertising to attract replacement customers.
Complaints and complaint trends tell business how to do its job better by alerting
management to problems that need prompt attention and correction. Furthermore, they
indicate long-range opportunities for product innovation and problem prevention.
Need for an effective Consumer Grievance Redressal Mechanism
Most managers responsible for food safety dread a customer complaint. Whether it is
received directly from the consumer or from a retail customer, at best it represents in
their minds, a failure of their food safety management system. In the worst case scenario,
it can trigger a crisis management situation leading to a recall or withdrawal of product
from the market. Complaints can be costly leading to a loss of business and customer
confidence.
In many ways, customer complaints are one of the more obvious indications that
improvement can be achieved and this responsibility usually falls to the food safety
manager. At the same time, complaints are a fact of life for any food business. They are
practically unavoidable. A food process, like any other process, experiences variation and
other failures which can lead to complaints. As people producing food for consumption
we should always maintain a reasonable level of discomfort regarding process variation
and the resultant issues. This is the basis upon which we build a culture of dealing with
complaints professionally.
Core to this is the complaints handling procedure and the supporting management
practices that ensure we maintain complaints at acceptable levels, address critical
complaints correctly, protect public health and embrace continuous improvement. The
objective of any food safety management system is protection of the health of the
consuming public. This is driven by the legal, commercial and moral obligations of the
food business not to cause harm, injury or death to any individual who consumes its
products. Food safety management is an effective tool in meeting these obligations. As is
the cause with any management system the identification, collection and analysis of data
is essential to allow decisions to be made and actions taken.
When it comes to the safe production of food any data which indicates a real or pending
failure in control is enormously valuable. Customer complaints are one such data source
that provides the management systems with high quality information necessary for
effective control and to generate improvement in food safety programs.
Right to Consumer
1. FSSAI – Legal Provisions
The mandate of FSS Act, 2006 is to provide safe and wholesome food for the human
consumption. Consumer are major stakeholder in the food chain, accordingly consumers
are empowered under section 40 of FSS Act, 2006 and 2.4.4 of FSS Rules, 2011.
As per the Section 40 of FSS Act –
Purchaser may have food analysed.
(1) Nothing contained in this Act shall be held to prevent a purchaser of any article of
food other than a Food Safety Officer from having such article analysed by the Food
Analyst on payment of such fees and receiving from the Food Analyst a report of his
analysis within such period as may be specified by regulations:
Provided that such purchaser shall inform the food business operator at the time of
purchase of his intention to have such article so analysed:
Provided further that if the report of the Food Analyst shows that the article of food is not
in compliance with the Act or the rules or regulations made thereunder, the purchaser
shall be entitled to get refund of the fees paid by him under this section.
(2) In case the Food Analyst finds the sample in contravention of the provisions of this Act
and rules and regulations made thereunder, the Food Analysts shall forward the report to
the Designated Officer to follow the procedure laid down in section 42 for prosecution.
As per 2.4.4 of FSS Rules
Purchasers may have the food analysed
1. A Purchaser of food article may, if he so desires, have the article analysed by the Food
Analyst according to the procedure notified by the Food Authority.
2. If the Purchaser desires to have the food article purchased by him to be analysed by the
Food Analyst, he shall give a notice in writing, then and there, in Form V B of his intention
to have it so analysed to the person from whom he has purchased the food article.
3. The provisions of Rule 2.4.1 shall mutatis mutandis apply except 2.4.1 (9) (i, iv) , 10 (ii,
iii), 11, and 16 and with the modification that the samples shall be divided into two parts
or two already sealed packages will be taken each of which will be marked and sealed or
fastened up in such a manner as its nature permits and the signature or thumb
impression of the person from whom the sample has been taken or a witness will be
affixed on the label mentioned in 2.4.1 (8). The purchaser will forward one part of the
sample to the Food Analyst and the other to the Designated Officer which can be used in
the event of appeal by the Food Business Operator against the finding of the report of the
Food Analyst.
4. The Purchaser shall pay the prescribed fee to the Food Analyst for carrying out the
analysis.
5. The Food Analyst shall send to the Purchaser his report on analysis of the article of
food and if the finding of the report is to the effect that the article of food is
adulterated/misbranded/contaminated or does not conform to the standards prescribed
under the Act or the Regulations, the Food Analyst shall also send his report in triplicate,
to the Designated Officer of the area in which the article of food was purchased, besides
sending a copy of the Report to the Purchaser.
6. The report of the Food Analyst shall be sent within 14 days of the receipt of the article
of food for analysis and such report shall be in Form VII A.
The Chapter IX of FSS Act, 2006
It provides various Sections (49 to 59) for offences and penalties against adulterated,
misbranded, substandard etc.
Details of Offences and Penalties under FSS,Act
Section
Offence
Persons
covered
Food not of quality
demanded by
purchaser;
50
51
52
53
54
Not in compliance
with the Act
Sub-standard food
Misbranded food
Misleading
advertisement: False
description; or
Nature or quality or
substance;
Food contains
extraneous matter
Seller
Manufacturer,
Seller, Storage,
Distributor,
Importer
Imprisonment
Fine (Rs.)
Petty
Manufactur
ers
Penalty<R
s.
-
2Lakhs
-
5 Lakhs
-
-
3 Lakhs
-
-
10 Lakhs
-
-
1 Lakhs
-
25,00
0/-
-do-
Publisher or
any person
involved in
publishing
Manufacturer,
Seller, Storage,
Distributor,
Importer
55
Failure to comply with
FSO direction
Food business
operator or
importer
Unhygienic or
unsanitary:
56
Processing; Or
Manufacture
Manufacturer or
processor
-
2 Lakhs
-
-
1 Lakhs
-
-
57
Possessing Food
adulterant
Manufacturer, Seller,
Storage, Distributor,
Importer
-
Injurious to
health -10
Lakhs;
Noninjurious to
health- 2
Lakhs
58
Where no specific
penalty provided
Any person
contravening
-
2 Lakhs
-
1 Lakhs
3 Lakhs
5 Lakhs
10 Lakhs
-
No injury – 6
months
Non-grievous
59
Unsafe food
60
Interference with seized
items
61
Manufacturer, Seller, injury – 1 year;
Storage, Distributor,
Grievous – 6
Importer
years;
Death – 7 years
to Life
imprisonment
Any person
6 months
2 Lakhs
-
Supply of false
information
Any person so
directed
3 months
2 Lakhs
-
62
Obstruction or
impersonation of FSO
without reasonable
excuse
Any person
3 months
1 Lakhs
-
63
Carrying on business
without license
Any person or Food
business operator
6 months
5 Lakhs
Exempt
64
Subsequent offences
Any person
contravening
-
Twice the
punishment
with further
fine/ day
-
FSSAI – Prohibition & restriction on sales.
a.
Unauthorized manufacture and sale of packaged drinking water –
FSSAI has requested the Food Safety Commissioners to undertake the State enforcement
activities on unauthorized manufacture and sale of packaged drinking water without
FSSAI/BIS Mark. As per Regulation 2.3.14 (17) & (18) of Food Safety & Standards
(Prohibition & Restriction on sales) Regulations, 2011 “No person shall manufacture, sell
or exhibit for sale, packaged drinking water and mineral water expect under the Bureau of
Indian Standards Certification Mark”.
b. Sale of loose edible oil –
FSSAI has also requested the Food Safety Commissioner to undertake the state
enforcement activities on sale of loose edible oils. As per Reulation 2.3.15 (1) of Food
Safety & Standards (Prohibition & Restriction on sales) Regulations, 2011 “No person
shall sell or expose for sale or distribute, or offer for sale, or dispatch, or deliver to any
person for the purpose of sale any edible oil –
(a)
Which does not conform to the standards of quality as provided in the Food Safety
and Standard Act, 2006 (34 of 2006) and rules/regulations made thereunder; and
(b)
Which is not packed in the container , marked & labelled in the manner as
specified in FSSAI regulations.”
2. Consumer Protection Act, 1986
The Consumer Protection Act of 1986 gives the consumer basic rights:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Right to be protected against marketing of goods and services which are
hazardous to life and property.
Right to be informed about the quality, quantity, standard and price of goods or
services so as to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices.
Right to be assured, wherever possible, access to variety of goods and services at
competitive prices.
Right to be heard and to be assured that consumers interests will receive due
consideration at appropriate forums.
Right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices.
Right to consumer education.
Citizen Connect
Citizen Connect is an initiative of FSSAI to develop a credible and robust information and
feedback mechanism across various channels to create a responsive ecosystem to bring
each citizen on-board to share their concerns regarding food safety violations.
This “CITIZEN CONNECT” initiative allows a consumer to share their concerns, know
their rights and track Food Business Operators license/registration certificate
authenticity.The main objective of this initiative is to ensure satisfactorily & timely
redressal of concern and to create a robust ecosystem of ensuring food safety in the
country.
FSSAI has provided accessibility to the citizens to raise their concern through following
interfaces:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
e-mail - [email protected]
Whatsapp - 9868686868
Facebook Page - FSSAI
Twitter - @fssaiindia
FSSAI concern web portal –Food Safety Connect
https://foodlicensing.fssai.gov.in/cmsweb/
SMS- 9868686868
Toll- Free No. –1800112100
Application – Food Safety Connect (android)
Letters – Regulatory Compliance Division, 4th Floor, FSSAI, FDA Bhawan, Kotla Road,
New Delhi – 110002.
Walk-in - Regulatory Compliance Division, 4th Floor, FSSAI, FDA Bhawan, Kotla Road,
New Delhi – 110002.
Independent of the channel through which the concerns are raised, the agents at FSSAI
back-end act as facilitators to qualitatively assess before logging in the concern into the
web based system processing centre. This will help filter non-serious and frivolous
concerns from reaching the concerned authorities and also educating the consumers on
the mandate of FSSAI.
The concerns received through various channels are being processed by a team
trained for the purpose that will qualitatively assess the nature of the concern and
evaluate how best the concern could be addressed.
Service Team Members act as the hub to receive process and serialise the concerns
raised to respective State/UT Officials or Food Business Operators or FSSAI Officials
as per the merits of the concerns.
The team at FSSAI are well trained not only to receive the concerns from the
consumers but also to guide them in case of misplaced expectations and better
understanding of FSS Act, 2006, Rules and Regulations made thereunder.
Consumer Friendly Initiatives to redress consumer grievances–
a)
Food Safety Connect
“Food Safety Connect” is a CONSUMER CENTRIC APP & an online portal by FSSAI that
offers a centralised platform to the Indian consumers to raise concerns related to food
safety and hygiene.Towards securing National Food Safety, FSSAI wishes to bring each
citizen onboard to share their concerns regarding food safety violations. This portal
allows a consumer to share their concernspertaining to food safety & hygiene in a pre
packaged product and when you eat out at a restaurants, dhabbaetc, know their rights,
track Food Business Operators license/registration certificate authenticity and view
related articles/videos on food safety.
The FSSAI team, the State DOs/FSOs and the FBOs – all three stakeholders have online access
to the grievances raised by consumers and recorded in a common online system.The food
concerns that are filtered for completeness and genuineness are forwarded to concerned State
or FBO nodal officer. FBO Nodal Officer is a Senior manager/ Nodal officer designated by
FBO as Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for complaint handling on behalf of the FBO
registered/licensed with FSSAI. The FBO Nodal Officer after accessing the complaint, send a
corrective action report to FSSAI which is then shared with the consumer.
b)
CUG Network –
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has taken as initiative to develop a
Food Safety Network of India (FSNI) wherein all food regulatory authorities shall be
operating in a Closed User Group(CUG) across the country.
This network will bring more coherence in the efforts of maintaining food safety
standards in the country but shall also reduce the response time to the exigencies
emerging out of food safety issues. It will empower the citizens in a big way to have direct
access to the regulatory staff. This will bring more transparency and shall provide an
effective mechanism for grievance redressal. These CUG numbers will be integrated with
Food License & Registration System (FLRS), thereby all the alerts generated by FLRS shall
be messaged on these CUG numbers. There will be dedicated Email ID along with the CUG
number attached to the post/area of the regulatory staff as mapped in the FLRS system.
c)
Helpline Extension
FSSAI is strengthening its consumer care cell by extending its helpline centre activities.
FSSAI is currently operating a contact centre which is available through a toll-free
number. This helpline will now be available round the day & it will be dedicated for
addressing consumer grievances, Food Import Clearance System issues, Food
Registration and Licensing system issues, queries on website& FSSAI initiatives sites etc.
This helpline work force will register grievances on food related issues and attend to
grievances submitted by consumers through app, website, whatsapp and other social
media channels.
The work force will co-ordinate with internal and external stakeholder for closure on
issues raised. This contact center will operate as first point of contact of FSSAI. All issues
raised by various stakeholders will be registered and forward the same to corresponding
division and track to closure. This ought to result in timely addressing and closure of
consumer grievances.
d)
LocalCircles
LocalCircles is India’s leading independent community engagement and social media
platform for causes. It enables citizens to easily come together onlineand on ground for
important citizen issues and share inputs with government at various levels for inclusive
policy and drive constructive collection actionto make citizen life easier and better. FSSAI
together with LocalCircles seeks an opportunity to empower the Indian Citizen to solve
their issue with community supportand Government’s enablement via social media.
LocalCircles along with Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has enabled
India’s largest online community on Food Safety i.e. “Safe & Nutritious Food”.Presently
there are more than 42,000 members in the group, who actively engage with FSSAI and
discuss their issues/grievances and FSSAI provides guidance/solutions to the issues.
e)
GAMA Portal
Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) has launched a web based GAMA (Grievances
against Misleading Advertisements) portal wherein Misleading advertisements related to
Food and Beverages are being forwarded to FSSAI through this portal. Food Safety and
Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has signed anMoU with Advertising Standard
Council of India (ASCI) on 28th June, 2016.ASCI will comprehensively monitor cases of
misleading advertisements in the Food and Beverage sector (F&B) across various media.
ASCI has been given a suomoto monitoring mandate by FSSAI to process complaints
against misleading F&B advertisements. MoU also requires ASCI to report to FSSAI noncompliance of ASCI’s decisions for further action as required per provisions of FSSAI Act.
FSSAI is also ascertaining Nutrient claims and Health Claims by drafting Food Safety
and Standards (Advertisements and Marketing Claims of Food Products) Regulations,
2017 which is under consideration by Panel on Labelling and Claims.The draft includes a
list of recommended Nutritional and Health Claims – Disease risk reduction.Guidelines for
operations of claims approval and complaints redressal has been drafted and under
consideration for expert’s comments by Panel on Labelling and Claims.The said
regulation will be uploaded on website after approval from Food Authority and Ministry
of Health & Family Welfare from comments from public and stakeholders.
f)
Smart Consumer App
Department of Consumer Affairs, Govt. of India launched its “Smart Consumer App” mobile
app on 24th Dec’16to educate & empower consumers to make better choices & furthering the
vision of digital consumers and digital India. It enable consumers use their mobile phones to
access information about products which is required to be provided by manufacturers/brand
owners/importers under Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules 2011.
FSSAI intends to use the same ‘smart consumer’ mobile app to additionally capture
information related to FSSAI licence numbers, whether any products are under recall and URL
link to food product test certification. This information along with Dept. of Consumer Affairs
requirements would need to be provided and linked for each of the food productsby the Food
Business Operator with its corresponding GTIN(EAN/UPC code). It would get displayed on
the mobile phone when the GTIN barcode on a consumer item is scanned using the ‘smart
consumer’ mobile app.
“Smart Consumer App” powered by GS1 India, empowering a billion consumer to connect
digitally with brands/ manufacturers. Through a simple scan of barcode, consumer can get
complete product details such as product name, manufacturer details, month & year of
manufacturer, MRP, Net Content & consumer care details on the mobile phone along with the
option to directly register their complaints.
g)
CPGRAM Portal
Central Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAM) is a Government of
India portal aimed at providing the citizens with a platform for redress of their
grievances. The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances is the nodal
agency to formulate policy guidelines for citizen-centric governance in the country.
Redress of citizen’s grievances, being one of the most important initiative of the
department, DAR&PG formulates public grievance redress mechanisms &effectively
coordinate with different Ministries & Departments of the Government for effective and
timely redress/settlement of citizens’ grievances.
To ensure that consumers get safe food, FSSAI has adopted CPGRAMS (Central Public
Grievance Redress and Monitoring System) for handling citizen complaints/ grievances.
Citizen can use this system to raise grievances against FBOs. CPGRAMS is a standardized
web based solution and an integrated application to register and to redress the
grievances received online, by post and by hand. CPGRAMS is functional at the Nodal
level, where grievances lodged by citizens are received by the Nodal officer and then
forwarded electronically to the concerned officer for redress and appropriate action. The
redress is monitored at the Nodal level, both for timelines and quality.
7. Consumer Grievance Redressal Mechanism
a) Grievance Handling Cell
Grievance handling cell at FSSAI comprises of the following -
S. No.
Name
1
Sh. Bimal Kumar Dubey
2
Mr Prabhat Mishra
3
Ms HiyaPandey
4
Ms MeenakshiVerma
5
Ms ShwetaChoudhary
6.
Ms.Ruchika Sharma
Department
Director, Regulatory
Compliance Division,
FSSAI
Asst. Director,
Regulatory
Compliance Division,
FSSAI
Technical Officer,
Regulatory
Compliance Division,
FSSAI
Consultant, FSMS
Division, FSSAI
Consultant, IT
Division, FSSAI
Social Media Lead, IT
Division, FSSAI
Contact Details
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
b) Redressal Mechanism
The Grievance redressal mechanism of an organization is the gauge to measure its
efficiency and effectiveness as it provides important feedback on the working of the
organization. The main purpose of a Grievance Policy is to place an appropriate
mechanism whereby the Customer who believe(s) that he/ she has been wronged by any
act of the Company is afforded a fair opportunity to redress his/ her Grievance.
Providing prompt and efficient service is essential not only to attract new customers, but
also to retain existing customers. Every organisation must evolve a system for redressal
of grievance arising out of its work. Grievance redressal system should form an integral
part of the machinery of any organisation. No organisation can claim to be accountable,
responsive and user friendly unless it has established an efficient and effective grievance
redressal system.
It bridges the communication gap between the service provider and the citizen or
consumer, providing citizens a platform through which they can get their grievances
redressed in a timely and transparent manner. A suitable mechanism must exist for
receiving and redressing customer grievances. The grievances should be dealt with
promptly and courteously. In order to make the redressal mechanism more meaningful
and effective, a structured system has been put in place. Such system would ensure that
the redressal sought is just, fair and within the given framework of rules and regulations.
Complaints represent one of the most important information sources for any food safety
management system. They provide a food business with the opportunity to identify
emerging or existing problems and take actions early to prevent a crisis.
Classification of Grievance/s
All consumer interactions will be broadly classified as Query, Request, Complaint or
Feedback. All interactions will be further classified based on the nature of the interaction.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Query - Interactions where the person is seeking information is classified as a
‘Query’.
Request - Request for some information is classified as ‘Request’.
Complaint–Statement when consumer is unsatisfactory or something is
unacceptable is classified as a ‘Complaint’.
Feedback - Communication wherein person gives suggestion/s on improving
products and services is termed as ‘Feedback’.
Procedure to redress consumer grievances by FSSAI Consumers may lodge the complaints/greivance through various channels such as
facebook, twitter, whatsapp, SMS, FSSAI App, letters, walkin, FSSAI website, Mail, toll
free no. All the complaints received through various channels are feeded in online portal
ie“Food Safety Connect” by FSSAI. Consumer can also directly lodge their complaint in
this online portal. The complaints through GAMA Portal, CPGRAM Portal & Smart
Consumer App are not feeded in the online portal.
The online portal i.e. “Food Safety Connect” is then scrutinized by Regulatory Compliance
Division (RCD) for the authenticity and completion of the complaint. If grievance is found
incomplete or doesn’t come under the purview of FSSAI, the same is informed to the
consumer, giving suitable reason. Upon successful feeding of the complaint in the portal,
a unique complaint no. is generated and shared with the consumer. Consumer can track
the status of these complaints using this unique ID.
Based on the details of the complaints, the RCD then forward the complaint to the
Designated Officer of the state. RCD may also directly forward the complaint to the nodal
officer as appointed and informed by FBO to the FSSAI. The complaints through GAMA
Portal, CPGRAM Portal & Smart Consumer App are directly forwarded to state DOs
through DO Letter.
The DOs then forward the concern to the Food Safety Officer, who will then inspect the
product/premise, collect evidence, send sample for testing and/orcontact nodal officer
of the FBO for redressal of the grievance. FSO/Nodal Officer can contact the consumer in
case some clarification or other information is needed. FBO’s upon receiving the
complaint, are required to do root cause analysis (RCA) of the complaint, correction and
take corrective and preventive actions (CAPA). Upon completing the procedure, Nodal
officer is required to submit a CAPA report to the FSO.
The FSO will then review &submit the report to the DO, who will then inspect the report.
The DO may forward the complaint to the Food Safety Commissioner or FSSAI for their
intervention, if he seeks some more clarification. If DO is satisfied, he may send the
report to the FSSAI.
The FSSAI will then review the report for completion and if found satisfactory, may
forward the same to the consumer and the complaint is then considered as redressed.
Procedure to redress consumer grievances by Nodal Officer of FBO –
Definition 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Non-conformity – Non fulfilment of a specified requirement.
Root Cause Analysis (RCA)–A systematic process analysing potential causes of
failure to identify the true cause(s) of a particular undesirable event.
Correction – Action to correct (or contain) a non conformity or other undesirable
situation.
Corrective Action – Action to eliminate the cause of a detected non conformity or
other undesirable situation (prevent recurrence).
Preventive Action - Action to eliminate the cause of a potential non conformity or
other undesirable situation (prevent occurrence).
1. Define complaints policy & procedure The first step in putting in place an effective grievance handling system is to clearly define
your complaints policy and procedure. This should be documented and it should be
consistent with legal and commercial requirements and sufficient to ensure consumer
protection. The policy should describe the management’s comment to the customer and
application of resources to support the complaints handling processes. The procedure
should define in detail the steps to be followed in handling complaints and include
complaint capturing, investigation, analysis, recording and reporting.
2. Complaint investigation & Corrective Action –
Grievance received
Undertake Root Cause Analysis and determine Root Cause.
Implement Correction.
Determine Corrective Action
Initiate CAR (Corrective Action Report)
Respondent(s) Provides Corrective Responses, Root Cause Verification and
Implement Due Dates
Corrective Action Implementation begins Respondent(s) review similar systems
for Preventive Action Opportunities
Respondent(s) sign-off when implementation is complete
Responding to the complainant
Monitoring & trending
CAR Closed
Investigation & Root Cause Analysis –
Following the proper capturing of the complaint information you should then commence
a work flow designed to investigate the complaint and identify the root cause of the issue
to ensure that resultant corrective actions are focused on preventing a recurrence. Root
cause analysis attempts to distil the issue down to its actual cause. There are various tools
and techniques that can be employed to conduct effective root cause analysis.
All complaints must be investigated in detail by competent personnel. The investigation
must determine whether the complaint is product specific or an issue which may affect
more than one product: Foreign Bodies, Alleged Illness, Taste, Quality, Correct Quantity,
etc. Full records must be kept and the outcome of the investigation promptly reported to
relevant personnel and departments. All instances of foreign body contamination, alleged
illness and trends need to be investigated. Isolated incidences where a customer doesn’t
like the taste or there is a qualityissue may not require a full investigation; however, they
do need to be monitored.
There are 5 basic steps to complete an RCA –
1. Define the problem –
Try & use SMART principle i.e. Specific, Measurable, Action Oriented, Realistic & Time
Constrained. Unless the problem is defined accurately, the RCA whole proce may be
prone to failure.
2. Understand the problem –
Check the information, obtaining real data regarding the problem, gaining a clear
understanding of the issue. This is when the various tools & techniques such as cause and
effect can be used.
3. Immediate Action –
Implement temporary counter measures at the place of the problem. The further away
from the problem source the solution is determined, the less likely that the solution will
be effective.
4. Corrective Action –
Determine & prioritise the most probable underlying causes of the problem, as the
temporary counter-measure may not resolve the root cause. Taking corrective action to
at least mitigate or preferably eliminate the causes.
5. Confirm the solution
After the measures have been determined and implemented the success of the adopted
approach needs to be established. Having confirmed the success of the suggested solution
then rules or control methods need to be established that will avoid the problem ever
happening again. This is probably the most important phase in the RCA, but the one most
often missed.
Various methods of Root Cause Analysis –
1. The “5-Whys” Analysis” —
The ‘5 Whys’ is the simplest method for structured root cause analysis. It is a
question asking method used to explore the cause/effect relationships underlying the
problem. The investigator keeps asking the question ‘Why?’ until meaningful
conclusions are reached.
It is generally suggested that a minimum of five questions need to be asked, although
sometimes additional questions are required or useful, as it is important to ensure
that the questions continue to be asked until the real cause is identified rather than a
partial conclusion. As previously mentioned it is usually necessary to obtain
information or objective evidence at each stage of the process, it is also sometimes
necessary to re-phrase a question or make it more specific to obtain meaningful data,
for example, instead of simply asking ‘why?’, ask ‘why was the operator not trained?’
or ‘why did the training process fail?’ or ‘why was the training process not effective
on this occasion?’
2. Fish & Bone Diagram/Ishikawa Diagram or Cause & effect diagram –
A second commonly used method of root cause analysis, is the use of fishbone
diagrams (sometimes referred to a Ishikawa models or Herringbone diagrams).
They are most useful when the ‘5 whys’ is too basic, for example, where a complex
issue needs to be considered in bite size pieces or where there is a lot of data that
needs to be trended. In the diagram, the various causes are grouped into
categories (such as equipment, materials or processes) and the arrows in the
image indicate how the causes cascade or flow toward the non-conformity.
The categories are not pre-defined but common ones include:
Equipment – this should include consideration of all equipment that could have a
role in the non-conformity, for example, production line, facilities, computers or
tools
Processes or Methods – how work is performed, policies, procedures, rules or
work instructions
Measurements – any data collection or measurement, either from a process or
subsequent to the non-conformity, for example metal detection records, check
weights or final product analysis
Materials – any information relating to raw materials or final products, for
example raw material specification or goods receipt checks for a specific batch of
ingredient.
Environment – The location, time, temperature, culture, standards of cleanliness
or available time, for an activity.
People – Any role involved in the implicated process
This type of root cause analysis is a causal process, it seeks to understand the
possible causes by asking ‘what actually happened?’, ‘When?’, ‘Where?’ ‘Why?’,
‘How?’ and ‘So what?’ in other words a possible cause is identified and the
consequences and significance is investigated for each of the group categories.
3. Pareto Analysis Pareto diagram is an easy to use technique that helps you to choose the most
effective changes to be made. It uses a Pareto’s principle 1.e. the idea that by
doing 20% of the work, you can generate the 80% of the advantage of doing the
entire job. Pareto analysis is a formal technique for finding the changes, that will
give the biggest benefits. It is useful where many possible courses of action are
competing for the attention
Corrective Action& Preventive Action –
It is a deviation management program that focuses on the systematic investigation of
discrepancies, adverse events, or failures. The purpose of the corrective and preventive
subsystem is to collect and analyse information, identify and investigate problem, take
appropriate corrective and preventive actions to prevent their (re)-occurrence.
1. It provides a structured platform to conduct an systematic investigation of the
deviation.
2. The investigation provides the means to develop a permanent corrective action.
3. It provides a framework for documentation that the corrective actions are indeed
effective.
Corrective actions should always depend on the seriousness of the issue. For serious
issues the actions taken should be timely and sufficient to prevent or reduce the impact of
the issue on the consumer. In some cases this will require a product recall. Actions should
also be focused on preventing a recurrence of the complaint and this can be facilitated by
an analysis of the root cause. Actions should be defined clearly with responsibility
assigned to a competent person with the authority to affect the required work or change.
Deadlines should be set and agreed. Records of the action should be maintained including
the completion date. All actions should be reviewed for effectiveness and closed out
formally.
3.
Responding to the complainant –
The complaints handling procedure should address how the complainant is responded to
depending on the nature and seriousness of the issue. It is good practice to always inform
the complainant of the outcome of investigations and corrective actions and where there
is a protracted timeline in the workflow they should be notified of this and given regular
updates on any progress
4. Complaint monitoring and trending –
As part of your complaints handling procedure, complaint trends should be monitored.
This can include complaint numbers which can be tracked against units sold and
complaint type. It is good practice to build into your system a requirement that an
increase in complaints must prompt an investigation. You can set targets and have a plan
in place to reduce complaint levels in general and for worst offending
categories/products. Information from trend analysis of complaints should be
communicated to the site management and production teams where appropriate.
Complaint trend information can also be graphically displayed on suitable notice boards
at site access points to ensure staff are always aware and up to date on complaints being
received. Examples of complaints may also be displayed to increase awareness, e.g.
foreign bodies. Mechanisms should be in place for briefing and discussing preventative
action with production teams including works and employee meetings held on a
scheduled basis. The following are examples of how complaint data may be trended and
presented.
c) Time Period
S. No.
1
2
3
4
5
Procedure
Manual feeding of complaints in the online
portal and creating Unique ID.
First scrutiny of the complaint by RCD &
forwarding the same to the DO/reverting to
consumer with suitable reason in case
grievance is not suitable.
Time taken by DO to submit report to FSSAI
Time taken by Nodal Officer to submit
corrective action report to DO/FSO
Total time taken by FSSAI to redress the
grievance
Time Period
Within 24 hours
Within 24 hours
Max 15 days
Max 15 days
Max 30 days
d) Benefits of “Food Safety Connect”
The Food Safety Connect will benefit the three key stakeholders’ i.e.
1. Consumers
Easy, simple and user friendly channels to raise concerns anytime, anywhere as per
convenience.
Consumers can track their concern to know the status of their compliant and see the
resolution provided with regard to it.
Empower consumers on their rights and responsibilities.
Awareness about errant FBOs using their License/Certificate Number and recognise the
good practitioners in Food Businesses.
2. Food Businesses
Transparent and credible exchange of information with The State Regulators and
FSSAI
Opportunity to self-evaluate on Compliance
Understand Consumer Expectations better
Identify Vulnerabilities across the chain for prompt improvement
Contribute in the development of the ecosystem on food safety and standards
3. FSSAI and State/UT Officials
Provides a “view on Food Safety Compass” in the State/Country
Enables a tool for planning and Enforcement activities
Enhanced self- compliance from the Food businesses
Shares data on wilful violations by FBOs and ways to improve
Identify & Forecast Points of Risk for improving GMP and HACCP
9. Consumer Oriented FSSAI Initiatives
As a part of mandate to ensure safe food to the citizens, FSSAI has introduced a bouquet
of initiatives for citizen guidance and behavioural change. Through its initiatives FSSAI is
creating awareness among the citizens and also educating them about safe & nutritious
food requirements. FSSAI has taken a 360 degree approach to food safety and healthy
nutrition to prevent food borne infections and diseases and for complete nutrition for
citizens everywhere at all times. Major initiatives working toward consumer education &
awareness are a)
DART – Detect Adulteration through Rapid Test
DART is a book which allows consumer to perform common quick tests for detection of
adulterants at household. Food is essential for sustenance of life. Adulteration of food
deceives the consumer and can cause risk to their health. The purpose of this manual is to
list out common methodologies available for detection of food adulterants generally
found in India.
b)
Safe & Nutritious Food – Home, School, When Eating Out, Workplace
Safe & Nutritious food – A way of life is an initiative to ensure that safe and nutritious
food is being cooked, served & consumed when you eat at home, schools, workplace &
when you eat out (restaurants, street food, places of worship & at railways).
Through this initiative, both food handlers & consumers are targeted to create awareness
and educate them about food safety, hygiene & nutrition, to bring a behavioural change
among them towards safe food.
a. SNF@Home – In this initiative, targeted audience is anyone who cook food at
home, domestic maids/servants, cook etc. A book has been developed to educate,
titled “Pink Book” which mention basic food safety & hygiene tips when you
handle food at home. Training of personnel to create awareness involved in
cooking at home is a part of the initiative.
b. SNF@School - In this initiative, targeted audience is school students who eat food
at school, either brought from home or being served at the canteen. A book is
being developed to educate the students about basic food safety, hygiene &
nutrition when you eat food at school. Training of studentsto create awareness is a
part of the initiative.
c. SNF@Workplace–In this initiative, targeted audience is employees who eat food
at office either brought from home or being served at the canteen. A book is being
developed to educate the employees about basic food safety, hygiene & nutrition
when you eat food at office. Training of employees to create awareness is a part of
the initiative.
d. SNF@WhenEatingOut-In this initiative, targeted audience is anyone who eats out
and the food handlers who prepare food. This include food that is being served at
restaurant or other catering establishments, places of worship, street food & at
railways. Training manuals are being developed to train the food handlers about
basic food safety, hygiene & nutrition when they prepare food. Training of food
handlers to create awareness is a part of the initiative.
c)
Food Safety Display Boards
As a part of the initiative SNF@WhenEatingOut, Food Safety Display Boards have been
created for consumer education and awareness. To change the overall consumer
perceptibility of consumers about FSSAI, Food Safety Display Boards (FSDBs) will be
introduced at various food businesses which deals directly with the consumers such as,
retail stores, milk booths, vegetable & fruit retail, meat shops, restaurants, street food
vendors. The various features of FSDB are:
 FSSAI license No.
 Important Food Safety and Hygiene Practices
 Consumer Feedback Details
These FSDB will replace the current requirement in the FSS regulations which necessitate
food businesses to display FSSAI Registration / license, which is not really visible to the
customer. FSDBs will not only make FSSAI registration/license number visible but will
also inform the customer and the food handler about the important food safety and
hygiene practices required to keep food safe.
d)
Water Portal
This portal, assures that the information pertaining to the manufacturing/ processing of
packaged drinking water/ mineral water should be more transparent to the consumers.
Amplified as a 'confidence building exercise' for the packaged drinking water, this
project aims to strive that consumers have the right to expect that the packaged drinking
water/ beverage they purchase should be safe and of high quality Consumers shall be
able to verify the physical, chemical & microbiological safety of packaged drinking water/
mineral water through the system developed for the purpose. Through this portal,
consumer by entering the FSSAI license no/BIS No.batch no. of the product, can get the
complete quality test report of the packaged drinking water they are consuming.
Annexure 1
Feedback form for FBOs
PART A - GENERAL INFORMATION
1.
Name and full address of the organization
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2.
Name of the Head of the organization along with contact details.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
3.
Annual Turnover of the company (Rupees crores)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4.
Main Activities of the company
Manufacturing
Marketing/Retail
Processing
Transportation
Packaging
Supplier
Import
Storage
Wholesale
Distribution
Catering
Canteen
Hospitality
Restaurant
Other (Please Specify)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
5.
Details of company location (Headquarters & major branch Offices)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
6.
Major Food Product categories
Milk & milk products
Fats and oils
Food catering
Fruits and vegetables
Confectionery
Cereals and pulses
Bakery Products
Meat, Fish, Eggs and their products
Salt and spices
Beverages
Nutraceutical products
Food Additives
Other (Please Specify)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Part B – COMPLAINT HANDLING MECHANISM
1. Is your company ISO 22000 certified?
a. Yes
b. No
2. Does your company have a consumer complaint handling mechanism?
a. Yes
b. No
3. What is the mode of receiving consumer complaints?
a. Social Media
b. Letter
c. Email
d. Toll free number
e. Others (Please specify)...............................................................................................
4. What is the average number of complaints received per month?
a. Less than 10
b. 10-20
c. More than 20 (Please specify number) ................................................................
5. What is the average time taken to resolve a consumer complaint?
a. Less than 24hrs
b. 24 – 72hrs
c. More than 72hrs (Please Specify) ...........................................................................
6. What is the ratio of resolved to unresolved consumer complaints? .....................
7. Briefly describe the consumer grievance complaint handling mechanism followed
in your company.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Note - All responses should pertain to Food safety & hygiene related consumer complaints.
Kindly provide details of a designated senior manager as a Single Point Of Contact with
FSSAI for consumer complaint handling.
a. Name
b. Designation
c. Email id
d. Contact number
e. Location
Signatures with Date
Annexure 2
Important weblinks
S. No.
Particulars
Weblinks
1.
2.
FSSAI
FSSAI Act, Rules &
Regulations
www.fssai.gov.in
http://www.fssai.gov.in/home/fss-legislation/foodsafety-and-standards-act.html
3.
FSSAI Rules
http://www.fssai.gov.in/home/fss-legislation/foodsafety-and-standards-rule.html
4.
FSSAI Regulations
http://www.fssai.gov.in/home/fss-legislation/fssregulations.html
5.
Consumer
Protection Act, 1986
FSSAI Facebook
page
FSSAI Twitter
FSSAI Youtube
Food Safety Connect
Android App
Food Safety Connect
– Online portal
http://ncdrc.nic.in/bare_acts/Consumer%20Protecti
on%20Act-1986.html
https://www.facebook.com/fssai
11.
CPGRAM Portal
http://pgportal.gov.in/cpgoffice/
12.
Smart Consumer
App
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.
codebrew.smartconsumer&hl=en
13.
GAMA Portal
http://gama.gov.in/Default.aspx
14.
Local Circles
http://www.localcircles.com/a/home
15.
FSSAI Initiatives –
DART, SNF, FSDBs,
Water Portal
www.fssai.gov.in
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
https://twitter.com/fssaiindia
https://www.youtube.com/user/FoodsafetyinIndia
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.f
ssai.fssai&hl=en
https://foodlicensing.fssai.gov.in/cmsweb/