The Punjab Government has extended the deadline for registration under the Food Safety and Standards Act of India (FSSAI) bringing a much-needed relief to the health authorities as well as the businessmen concerned.
District Health Officer Dr R S Randhawa, the designated officer in-charge, said there are around 60,000 people who are covered under the Act. "Those dealing in any kind of food item are required to be registered under the Act, be it a vegetable vendor, tea stall owner or hotelier," he said.
Earlier, the deadline for the registration was August 3, which has now been extended by six months to February 3. The move meant to give enough time to people to get registered.
"The extension in the deadline actually acted as a dampener. Earlier, people were in a rush to get themselves registered but now the number of applications has trickled down. So far, only 1,500 applications have come up for registration," said sources in the health department.
Health authorities fear that people may start turning up in hordes again in January next year, the way it happened in the end of July this year. The department has held series of meetings with various unions of traders, dairy owners, dhaba owners, hotel owners, restaurant owners and others informing them the benefits of the Act.
Earlier, there was the Food Safety Act, which was very stringent as people had to deal with long legal battles when their food samples faced laboratory tests.
However, the new legislation has different provisions of penalisation.
In view of a food product being declared not injurious to human health or not life threatening, or has been mislabelled or misbranded, the case would be forwarded to the court of additional deputy commissioner ADC (Development), who has been designated as the adjudicator under the new Act.
“At the adjudicator's court, the matter would be resolved in less than a year which would result in saving businessmen from long legal hassles," the health officials said.
Fact file
Earlier, the deadline for the registration was August 3, which has now been extended by six months to February 3. The move meant to give enough time to people to get registered.
"The extension in the deadline actually acted as a dampener. Earlier, people were in a rush to get themselves registered but now the number of applications has trickled down. So far, only 1,500 applications have come up for registration," said sources in the health department.
Health authorities fear that people may start turning up in hordes again in January next year, the way it happened in the end of July this year. The department has held series of meetings with various unions of traders, dairy owners, dhaba owners, hotel owners, restaurant owners and others informing them the benefits of the Act.
Earlier, there was the Food Safety Act, which was very stringent as people had to deal with long legal battles when their food samples faced laboratory tests.
However, the new legislation has different provisions of penalisation.
In view of a food product being declared not injurious to human health or not life threatening, or has been mislabelled or misbranded, the case would be forwarded to the court of additional deputy commissioner ADC (Development), who has been designated as the adjudicator under the new Act.
“At the adjudicator's court, the matter would be resolved in less than a year which would result in saving businessmen from long legal hassles," the health officials said.
Fact file
- The FSSAI aims at ensuring that people are given clean and hygienic food to eat. The Act has provisions of creating healthy habits amongst those who deal in food. For instance a juice vendor would be directed to keep a covered bin for the waste; serve juices in glasses cleaned with detergent and water; and to cover his set up with net or mesh to prevent flies from contaminating the edibles.
- Under the Act, a small time trader will have to pay Rs 1,000 as registration fees while those with a turnover of more than Rs 12 lakh per annum will have to obtain licences.
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