Food Act of Sri Lanka: A Systematic Review on Awareness and Practice

Abstract

The Food Act of 1980 is the main legislation governing food safety in Sri Lanka. Along with its regulations, the act provides a strong basis to ensure safety of food consumed. However, to achieve its objectives, the act needs to be properly implemented. For that, the food industry needs to adhere to food laws while law enforcing officers need to initiate legal proceedings for law violations. A good knowledge on food laws is needed among food industries, law enforcing officers and consumers contributes towards successive implementation of food laws.

The present review examines the available research literature on knowledge on food regulations and practice of food industries, law enforcing officers (Public Health Inspectors) and consumers in Sri Lanka which helps to identify weaknesses in current law enforcement.

Most of research on the Sri Lankan Food Act of 1980 has focused on food labels. Very few labels have been found to conform with existing laws and some include outrageous health claims. Knowledge and practice of food regulations by food industry, law enforcing officers and consumers in Sri Lanka are not satisfactory which has led to a failure in achieving the intended objectives of the legislature.