The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), launched a Comprehensive Online Training Programme on Food Safety Risk Assessment, along with a dedicated digital training portal, marking a significant milestone in strengthening India’s science-based food regulatory framework. Formally inaugurated by Shri Rajit Punhani, Chief Executive Officer, FSSAI, it is the first-of-its-kind pilot training programme jointly developed by FSSAI and WHO, bringing together global expertise to design a structured curriculum ranging from basic to advanced levels of food safety risk assessment.
The training framework is aligned with international risk analysis principles while being tailored to India’s
regulatory requirements, ensuring both global relevance and national applicability.
Risk assessment is the scientific backbone of food safety regulation under the Food Safety and Standards Act,
- With food systems becoming increasingly complex due to emerging contaminants, antimicrobial resistance, technological innovations, and changing dietary patterns, building institutional capacity in risk assessment has become essential for protecting public health and ensuring credibility in regulatory decisionmaking.
A core component of the training is Dietary Exposure Assessment, developed with WHO’s technical support
and delivered by JECFA, JEMRA, and JMPR experts. This module links hazard data with India-specific food
consumption patterns to generate country-relevant scientific evidence. Additional modules cover Microbiological Risk Assessment, Antimicrobial Resistance, and Toxicology, delivered by distinguished Indian experts from WHO committees, FSSAI Scientific Panels, and national institutions. The programme combines conceptual learning with case studies, scenario-based exercises, and data interpretation.
Initially, the training will be offered to young and mid-level officers at FSSAI Headquarters directly engaged in
scientific assessment and standards development. In later phases, it will be extended to regional offices, state
food authorities, and technical institutions, ensuring uniform capacity development nationwide. FSSAI is also
continuously organising similar capacity-building programmes for other countries under the Codex Trust Fund,
thereby contributing to global food safety strengthening.
The newly launched digital training portal will serve as a long-term institutional platform for structured learning, hosting training modules, expert sessions, and future programmes. Addressing the inaugural session, CEO Rajit Punhani emphasized that risk assessment is central to modern food regulation and that investment in scientific human resources is critical for strengthening consumer confidence and regulatory credibility. He noted that the programme will be institutionalized as a regular regulatory practice.
WHO officials reaffirmed their commitment to supporting India in strengthening food safety risk assessment
capacity and highlighted that India is the first country where such a comprehensive capacity-building programme has been initiated by WHO in collaboration with a national food authority. They also underlined the importance of global collaboration in addressing shared challenges.
The launch of this programme marks a milestone in India’s journey toward a resilient, transparent, and sciencedriven food safety ecosystem. By nurturing a skilled cadre of risk assessors and embedding continuous learning within regulatory practice, FSSAI aims to institutionalize risk assessment capacity building and strengthen the food safety ecosystem not only in India but also at regional and global levels.
The event witnessed the participation of senior officials from the World Health Organization (WHO), international experts, members of scientific committees, and food safety regulators, underscoring the global relevance and collaborative nature of the initiative.
