The International Training Centre for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition (ITCFSAN), a state-of-the-art training facility located in Mumbai on the premises of Export Inspection Agency-Mumbai marked the celebration of its second anniversary on 28th September 2021. The event was graced by the august presence of Ms. Rita Teaotia, IAS, Chairperson, FSSAI, Shri Arun Singhal, IAS, CEO, FSSAI, Dr. Harinder Shingh Oberoi, Advisor QA, FSSAI, Shri Parimal Singh, IAS, Commissioner, FDA Maharashtra, and Ms. Pritee Chaudhary, IRS, Regional Director, FSSAI WR amongst other esteemed dignitaries and stakeholders.

ITCFSAN is a unique facility in India, built on a global public-private alliance between food regulatory bodies of India Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and Export Inspection Council (EIC). ITCFSAN has trained over fifty thousand individuals in the area of food safety and nutrition from the plethora of professionals working in various food ecosystems through more than three hundred and fifty training programs encompassing conglomerate segments in food safety and applied nutrition.

In view of celebrating this successful journey, ITCFSAN launched its new website at the hands of Madam Rita Teaotia, Chairperson, FSSAI to make the centre easily accessible to all of its stakeholders. The event marked two years of progressive success for ITCFSAN and the centre commendably recognized and appreciated the illustrative contribution of all its stakeholders in building a network of skilled professionals in the food industry. “We need to lift the caliber of food safety and enforcement and the testing throughout the country, this (ITCFSAN) is our key resource to build that capacity in our world” were the words of Madam Rita Teaotia as she addressed the gathering.

An idea that was conceptualized in 2017, took shape in the September of 2019 when this facility was inaugurated. Since then there has been a constant effort put in to construct pertinent training programs that provide the professionals in various cliques of the food industry one solution to keep themselves updated with the existing and upcoming revisions in food safety and applied nutrition. The dignitaries urged the management to pave a path forward and chart a roadmap to re-initialize the laboratory-based hands-on training that the centre intended to conduct since the start.

ITCFSAN as its name implies was found to reach international participants and the words of all the dignitaries enthused the centre to raise its focus on global collaborations. Shri. Arun Singhal, IAS, CEO, FSSAI, commended the immersive roadmap laid down by the efficient functionaries and worded a strong motivation for the centre to achieve an international repute and work towards the right path of self-sufficiency.

The International Training Centre has now launched more specific long-term training programs to build a strong system of regulators. Appreciations poured in from all the stakeholders applauding the gallant success in training students, regulators and professionals in the food ecosystem during the lockdown. ITCFSAN has played a major role in training over 15000 food business operators from all over the country and has marked its name as a comprehensive training facility in the industry as well.