Jun 27, 2012

TNCCI meet on FSSA lauds Act, takes note of implementation bottlenecks

The Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TNCCI) along with Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chennai, organised a Workshop on Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and Rules and Regulations 2011, recently in Madurai.

Chamber president N Jegatheesan said that the chamber welcomed the new Act by the Central government which was intended to provide safe and quality food in hygienic conditions to the people. The chamber had submitted several memorandums to the government for removal of many irritants and procedural bottlenecks in the new legislation, which were under the consideration of the government, he pointed out.

Dr Lalithaa R Gowda, head, CFTRI, Mysore, in her address, elaborated on the various provisions and standards prescribed in the new Act and on the consequences of selling unsafe food items. She also gave a detailed account on the various tests and analyses undertaken by CFTRI.

A Sakthivel, former chairman, MPEDA, informed that abundant marine wealth was available in our country with its 8,000 km coastline. “However, with inadequate infrastructure we are unable to make use of it in full. Only 10 per cent of our marine products are exported and 90 per cent are used internally,” he said.

Dr A Savitri, manager, corporate, scientific and regulatory affairs, Britannia Industries Ltd, Bangalore, in her address, insisted that manufacturers and dealers of food products should adhere to the provisions of the new Food Act considering the well-being of the consumers. She said that those within Rs 12 lakh turnover should get themselves registered and others should obtain licences under the Act.

R Srinivasan, secretary, Tamil Nadu Hotel Association, said that so far about 58,000 licences have been issued under the new Act in Tamil Nadu and the association had submitted an elaborate 470- page memorandum to the government on various changes and amendments to be made in the Act which was under the consideration of the government.

Anshul Mishra, district collector, Madurai; Somi Hazari, executive committee member; and S Ragavan, secretary, Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry; also addressed the meet.

No comments:

Post a Comment