Section 16(5) in The Food Safety And Standards Act, 2006
(5)The Food Authority shall also-(a)provide scientific advice and technical support to the Central Government and the State Governments in matters of framing the policy and rules in areas which have a direct or indirect bearing on food safety and nutrition;(b)search, collect, collate, analyse and summarise relevant scientific and technical data particularly relating to-(i)food consumption and the exposure of individuals to risks related to the consumption of food;(ii)incidence and prevalence of biological risk;(iii)contaminants in food;(iv)residues of various contaminants;(v)identification of emerging risks; and(vi)introduction of rapid alert system;(c)promote, co-ordinate and issue guidelines for the development of risk assessment methodologies and monitor and conduct and forward messages on the health and nutritional risks of food to the Central Government, State Governments and Commissioners of Food Safety;(d)provide scientific and technical advice and assistance to the Central Government and the State Governments in implementation of crisis management procedures with regard to food safety and to draw up a general plan for crisis management and work in close co-operation with the crisis unit set up by the Central Government in this regard;(e)establish a system of network of organisations with the aim to facilitate a scientific co-operation framework by the co-ordination of activities, the exchange of information, the development and implementation of joint projects, the exchange of expertise and best practices in the fields within the Food Authority's responsibility;(f)provide scientific and technical assistance to the Central Government and the State Governments for improving co-operation with international organisations;(g)take all such steps to ensure that the public, consumers, interested parties and all levels of panchayats receive rapid, reliable, objective and comprehensive information through appropriate methods and means;(h)provide, whether within or outside their area, training programmes in food safety and standards for persons who are or intend to become involved in food businesses, whether as food business operators or employees or otherwise;(i)undertake any other task assigned to it by the Central Government to carry out the objects of this Act;(j)contribute to the development of international technical standards for food, sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards;(k)contribute, where relevant and appropriate, to the development of agreement on recognition of the equivalence of specific food related measures;(l)promote co-ordination of work on food standards undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organisations;(m)promote consistency between international technical standards and domestic food standards while ensuring that the level of protection adopted in the country is not reduced; and(n)promote general awareness as to food safety and food standards.
