The
licensing and registration of food business operators (FBOs), FSSAI’s
mega campaign to bring all the FBOs and food processing companies under
the umbrella of the Food Safety & Standards (Licensing &
Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, is once again in
rough weather.
The programme, which was given a six-month extension to its previous deadline of August 4, 2012, could not utilise it properly as many states did not start the registration and licensing process as was expected of them. The regulations under FSSR for licensing and registration were first notified on August 5, 2011.
In some states, the state of affairs is shocking. For example, officials in-charge of licensing and registration in some states admitted to that the process was yet to start. Meanwhile, the online process, the software for which was developed with much fanfare, was also started on a trial basis in some states but even this could not gain the required momentum.
No wonder, a top official from FSSAI, on the condition of anonymity, informed FnB News, “Relaxation will be given to those states who have not yet started the process of registering and licensing the FBOs under the new regulations.”
As for Maharashtra, K B Sankhe, joint commissioner (food), FDA, Maharashtra, explained, “In Maharashtra, around 2,60,000 FBOs have already registered and licensed. Many FBOs are coming ahead to get themselves registered and licensed before the deadline of February 4, 2013. We are also organising awareness camps at many places in Maharashtra to make all the small and big food business operators aware about the importance of registration and licensing. Even though we initiated with online registration and licensing, the process through online is very slow.”
B Vijayan, food safety commissioner, Goa, stated, “More than 60 per cent of FBOs have been registered and licensed in Goa. The online process has not been successful here and the ratio is 70:30. Lack of awareness about online registration and licensing has forced many FBOs to apply manually.”
Talking about the progress in Gujarat, H G Koshia, food safety commissioner, FDCA, Gujarat, said, “We have registered and licensed more than 70,000 food business operators. Most of the registration and licensing was done manually and not online. The reason for this was lack of English and computer knowledge.
However, he added, “We are continuously organising awareness camps to make all FBOs aware about the importance of getting registered and licensed.”
Raji Srivastava, food safety commissioner, Punjab commented, “We have been conducting various awareness camps to make all the FBOs aware about the importance of getting themselves registered and licensed. The awareness camps organised by us are helping us to get more people to come ahead and get themselves licensed and registered. Till October 10, 2012, 4,576 and 24,599 FBOs have been issued licences and registration respectively.”
Meanwhile, Ashish Kumar, designated officer (headquarter), Bihar, said, “More than 14,000 FBOs from Bihar already have their licences and registration in place. We are waiting for more FBOs to come ahead and get them registered and licensed before the deadlines. They should not rush at last moment. We have also asked various organisations of FBOs to arrange awareness camps themselves and get more people for registration and licence. The online process is yet to start in our state.”
S Rajan, statistical officer, Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), Tamil Nadu, said, “Till date we have licensed and registered 1,51,310 FBOs. The number of FBOs who have been licensed are 17,316 and those who have registered themselves are 1,33,994. We are sure that before the deadlines we will be able to complete the process of licensing and registering of all the FBOs in the state. The process is offline because online work is under process.
Regulation 3.2.1 registration of petty food business
Every petty food manufacturer shall register themselves with the registering authority by submitting an application for registration in Form A under Schedule 2 of these regulations along with a fee as provided in Schedule 3.
The FBOs shall follow the basic hygiene and safety requirements provided in Schedule 4 (Part I) of these regulations and provide a self-attested declaration of adherence to these requirements with the application in the format provided in Annexure-1 under Schedule 2.
The registering authority shall consider the application and may either grant registration or reject it with reasons to be recorded in writing or issue notice for inspection, within 7 days of receipt of an application for registration. In the event of an inspection being ordered, the registration shall be granted by the registering authority after being satisfied with the safety, hygiene and sanitary conditions of the premises within a period of 30 days.
If registration is not granted, or denied, or inspection not ordered within 7 days as provided in above Sub-regulation (3) or no decision is communicated within 30 days as provided in above Sub-regulation (4), the food business operator may start his business, provided that it will be incumbent on the FBOs to comply with any improvement suggested by the registering authority at any later time provided that registration shall not be refused without giving the applicant an opportunity of being heard and for reasons to be recorded in writing. The registering authority shall issue a registration certificate and a photo identity card, which shall be displayed at prominent place at all times within the premises or vehicle or cart or any other place where the person carries on sale/manufacture of food in case of petty food business. The registering authority or any officer or agency specifically authorized for this purpose shall carry out food safety inspection of the registered establishments at least once in a year.
Regulation 3.2.2 license for food business
Subject to regulation 3.2.1 no person shall commence any food business unless he possesses a valid license under these regulations. Provided that any person or food business operator carrying on food business on the date of notification of these regulations, under a license, registration or permission, as the case may be, under the acts or orders mentioned in the second schedule of the act shall enable the licensing authority to collect complete information of all food establishments, get their existing license converted into the license/registration under these regulations by making an application to the licensing/registering authority within one year of notification of these regulations. No license fee will have to be paid for the remaining period of the validity of the earlier license or registration granted under any of the said acts or orders non-compliance with this provision by a food business operator will attract penalty under section 55 of the act. Provided further that any food business operator holding registration/license under any other act/order as specified under schedule 2 of the FSS Act, 2006, with no specific validity or expiry date, and other wise entitled to obtain a license under these regulations, shall have to apply and obtain a registration/license under these regulations within one year from the date of notification by paying the applicable fees.
The programme, which was given a six-month extension to its previous deadline of August 4, 2012, could not utilise it properly as many states did not start the registration and licensing process as was expected of them. The regulations under FSSR for licensing and registration were first notified on August 5, 2011.
In some states, the state of affairs is shocking. For example, officials in-charge of licensing and registration in some states admitted to that the process was yet to start. Meanwhile, the online process, the software for which was developed with much fanfare, was also started on a trial basis in some states but even this could not gain the required momentum.
No wonder, a top official from FSSAI, on the condition of anonymity, informed FnB News, “Relaxation will be given to those states who have not yet started the process of registering and licensing the FBOs under the new regulations.”
As for Maharashtra, K B Sankhe, joint commissioner (food), FDA, Maharashtra, explained, “In Maharashtra, around 2,60,000 FBOs have already registered and licensed. Many FBOs are coming ahead to get themselves registered and licensed before the deadline of February 4, 2013. We are also organising awareness camps at many places in Maharashtra to make all the small and big food business operators aware about the importance of registration and licensing. Even though we initiated with online registration and licensing, the process through online is very slow.”
B Vijayan, food safety commissioner, Goa, stated, “More than 60 per cent of FBOs have been registered and licensed in Goa. The online process has not been successful here and the ratio is 70:30. Lack of awareness about online registration and licensing has forced many FBOs to apply manually.”
Talking about the progress in Gujarat, H G Koshia, food safety commissioner, FDCA, Gujarat, said, “We have registered and licensed more than 70,000 food business operators. Most of the registration and licensing was done manually and not online. The reason for this was lack of English and computer knowledge.
However, he added, “We are continuously organising awareness camps to make all FBOs aware about the importance of getting registered and licensed.”
Raji Srivastava, food safety commissioner, Punjab commented, “We have been conducting various awareness camps to make all the FBOs aware about the importance of getting themselves registered and licensed. The awareness camps organised by us are helping us to get more people to come ahead and get themselves licensed and registered. Till October 10, 2012, 4,576 and 24,599 FBOs have been issued licences and registration respectively.”
Meanwhile, Ashish Kumar, designated officer (headquarter), Bihar, said, “More than 14,000 FBOs from Bihar already have their licences and registration in place. We are waiting for more FBOs to come ahead and get them registered and licensed before the deadlines. They should not rush at last moment. We have also asked various organisations of FBOs to arrange awareness camps themselves and get more people for registration and licence. The online process is yet to start in our state.”
S Rajan, statistical officer, Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), Tamil Nadu, said, “Till date we have licensed and registered 1,51,310 FBOs. The number of FBOs who have been licensed are 17,316 and those who have registered themselves are 1,33,994. We are sure that before the deadlines we will be able to complete the process of licensing and registering of all the FBOs in the state. The process is offline because online work is under process.
Regulation 3.2.1 registration of petty food business
Every petty food manufacturer shall register themselves with the registering authority by submitting an application for registration in Form A under Schedule 2 of these regulations along with a fee as provided in Schedule 3.
The FBOs shall follow the basic hygiene and safety requirements provided in Schedule 4 (Part I) of these regulations and provide a self-attested declaration of adherence to these requirements with the application in the format provided in Annexure-1 under Schedule 2.
The registering authority shall consider the application and may either grant registration or reject it with reasons to be recorded in writing or issue notice for inspection, within 7 days of receipt of an application for registration. In the event of an inspection being ordered, the registration shall be granted by the registering authority after being satisfied with the safety, hygiene and sanitary conditions of the premises within a period of 30 days.
If registration is not granted, or denied, or inspection not ordered within 7 days as provided in above Sub-regulation (3) or no decision is communicated within 30 days as provided in above Sub-regulation (4), the food business operator may start his business, provided that it will be incumbent on the FBOs to comply with any improvement suggested by the registering authority at any later time provided that registration shall not be refused without giving the applicant an opportunity of being heard and for reasons to be recorded in writing. The registering authority shall issue a registration certificate and a photo identity card, which shall be displayed at prominent place at all times within the premises or vehicle or cart or any other place where the person carries on sale/manufacture of food in case of petty food business. The registering authority or any officer or agency specifically authorized for this purpose shall carry out food safety inspection of the registered establishments at least once in a year.
Regulation 3.2.2 license for food business
Subject to regulation 3.2.1 no person shall commence any food business unless he possesses a valid license under these regulations. Provided that any person or food business operator carrying on food business on the date of notification of these regulations, under a license, registration or permission, as the case may be, under the acts or orders mentioned in the second schedule of the act shall enable the licensing authority to collect complete information of all food establishments, get their existing license converted into the license/registration under these regulations by making an application to the licensing/registering authority within one year of notification of these regulations. No license fee will have to be paid for the remaining period of the validity of the earlier license or registration granted under any of the said acts or orders non-compliance with this provision by a food business operator will attract penalty under section 55 of the act. Provided further that any food business operator holding registration/license under any other act/order as specified under schedule 2 of the FSS Act, 2006, with no specific validity or expiry date, and other wise entitled to obtain a license under these regulations, shall have to apply and obtain a registration/license under these regulations within one year from the date of notification by paying the applicable fees.
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