By Ashwin Bhadri, Food Safety Expert, Equinox Labs
The year 2011 would be marked in gold in the history of India, as the government finally decides to give due importance to the cause of general health and hygiene by way of ensuring food safety. The Food Safety & Standards Act (FSSA), 2006 will be implemented as a law with effect from August 5, 2011. A one-year compliance period was given, which ends on August 4, 2012.
COMPANIES' WORRY
What does a BPO (business process outsourcing) in Malad West and a corporate business park in Andheri East have in common? A cafeteria for its employees. This facility provided to the employees can become a business risk pretty soon.
In most of the cases, the food served at these places are catered by private companies or food business operators (FBO). Ensuring food safety and hygiene becomes all the more difficult under this outsourced business model. Because of the highly discounted pricing structure of the caterers, they have to operate on very thin profit margins. Thus, they try to cut corners and costs to increase their profitability. It is often noticed that under the great urge of cutting costs, the catering business owners cut down activities that are extremely essential for food safety, viz. regular pest control, regular health check of the food handlers, regular hand washing and hand sanitising mechanism, etc. Though these are simple and inexpensive measures of hygiene, they are often ignored and neglected by FBOs.
Though it is not understood by many, the costs of such wrong practices are actually borne by the employees eating in the canteens and also their employers. As a result of negligence by FBOs, food poisoning still remains a common phenomenon in the canteens/cafeterias. The customers of these canteens, often the employees of the companies, fall ill because of the contaminated food being served by all the food vendors.
So where is the risk? FSSA allows the consumer to take the responsible party to the court. Not the normal courts, but appellate tribunals and special courts, which would ensure that the case comes to trial in less than 30 days. Any company found to have contracted a food vendor, without the FSSAI licence / registration would be prosecuted by FSSAI / FDA ( Food and Drug Administration). The responsible managers handling F&B / catering /canteen / cafeteria will also be held responsible. In the case of any unfortunate incident like food poisoning, outbreak of foodborne diseases, if proper documentation is not maintained, the authorities have the right to prosecute the person responsible with monetary penalties ranging between Rs 1,00,000 up to Rs 10,00,000 and/or imprisonment from six months up to lifetime, depending upon the severity of the case and the documentation maintained as safeguard.
Companies can safeguard themselves by doing the following: First, ensure registration/licensing of the food vendor's central kitchen: All the food vendors that have been contracted by a corporate house needs to be registered/licensed with the FSSAI / FDA. The corporate company needs to keep a copy of its vendor's central kitchen license.
Second, registration/licensing of the corporate canteen/cafeteria: If any food items is being cooked / stored / served in the corporate canteen, the vendor needs to take a registration / license for that location. The corporate company needs to keep a copy of this license with it.
Third, adoption of a Food Safety Management System Plan by the vendor: Under the new law it is mandatory for every FBO to prepare a food safety management system plan. This plan ensures quality monitoring of the food produced across the entire food manufacturing process. The corporate company should review this plan, and audit it regularly.
Fourth, potable water being used for cooking: All the food manufacturing bodies and food serving canteens need to get the water from a source which is tested for "potability." This would ensure that the water being used for cooking is drinkable and is safe for human consumption.
The year 2011 would be marked in gold in the history of India, as the government finally decides to give due importance to the cause of general health and hygiene by way of ensuring food safety. The Food Safety & Standards Act (FSSA), 2006 will be implemented as a law with effect from August 5, 2011. A one-year compliance period was given, which ends on August 4, 2012.
COMPANIES' WORRY
What does a BPO (business process outsourcing) in Malad West and a corporate business park in Andheri East have in common? A cafeteria for its employees. This facility provided to the employees can become a business risk pretty soon.
In most of the cases, the food served at these places are catered by private companies or food business operators (FBO). Ensuring food safety and hygiene becomes all the more difficult under this outsourced business model. Because of the highly discounted pricing structure of the caterers, they have to operate on very thin profit margins. Thus, they try to cut corners and costs to increase their profitability. It is often noticed that under the great urge of cutting costs, the catering business owners cut down activities that are extremely essential for food safety, viz. regular pest control, regular health check of the food handlers, regular hand washing and hand sanitising mechanism, etc. Though these are simple and inexpensive measures of hygiene, they are often ignored and neglected by FBOs.
Though it is not understood by many, the costs of such wrong practices are actually borne by the employees eating in the canteens and also their employers. As a result of negligence by FBOs, food poisoning still remains a common phenomenon in the canteens/cafeterias. The customers of these canteens, often the employees of the companies, fall ill because of the contaminated food being served by all the food vendors.
So where is the risk? FSSA allows the consumer to take the responsible party to the court. Not the normal courts, but appellate tribunals and special courts, which would ensure that the case comes to trial in less than 30 days. Any company found to have contracted a food vendor, without the FSSAI licence / registration would be prosecuted by FSSAI / FDA ( Food and Drug Administration). The responsible managers handling F&B / catering /canteen / cafeteria will also be held responsible. In the case of any unfortunate incident like food poisoning, outbreak of foodborne diseases, if proper documentation is not maintained, the authorities have the right to prosecute the person responsible with monetary penalties ranging between Rs 1,00,000 up to Rs 10,00,000 and/or imprisonment from six months up to lifetime, depending upon the severity of the case and the documentation maintained as safeguard.
Companies can safeguard themselves by doing the following: First, ensure registration/licensing of the food vendor's central kitchen: All the food vendors that have been contracted by a corporate house needs to be registered/licensed with the FSSAI / FDA. The corporate company needs to keep a copy of its vendor's central kitchen license.
Second, registration/licensing of the corporate canteen/cafeteria: If any food items is being cooked / stored / served in the corporate canteen, the vendor needs to take a registration / license for that location. The corporate company needs to keep a copy of this license with it.
Third, adoption of a Food Safety Management System Plan by the vendor: Under the new law it is mandatory for every FBO to prepare a food safety management system plan. This plan ensures quality monitoring of the food produced across the entire food manufacturing process. The corporate company should review this plan, and audit it regularly.
Fourth, potable water being used for cooking: All the food manufacturing bodies and food serving canteens need to get the water from a source which is tested for "potability." This would ensure that the water being used for cooking is drinkable and is safe for human consumption.
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