We all eat from different food and beverage joints. It can be from well-reputed restaurants or cafes or at times local street vendors. It doesn’t matter who we are, we all have been worried about the hygiene and after effects of the food we consume. Most of us usually need some sort of digestion related medicine when we load up on street food. Even after dining at the most fancy restaurants, many do get food poisoning or other stomach issues.
Although when we are hungry, we eat any kind of food that we see, but the question of how healthy and clean the food is always nags us no matter what.
But what to do, there is no provision to fix this constant worry, right?
But no more, from now on the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will rate these places for us. It has been announced that the FSSAI is working on new norms on hygiene and cleanliness criteria for food joints all over the country. Minimum standards will determine the rating of even the smallest of dhabas in your colonies.
Every single branch of chains of restaurants will be rated separately instead of rating the entire chain as one. This is to keep a count on the eating joints in every state. Even the street vendors will not be let off easy; they will be required to follow regulations and norms as well.
A month back, the FSSAI also announced that all the food outlets are to register with the state authorities. The plan is to first cover the shops at the metro stations and then the entire city and town. The deadline for registration is February, 2014. Those who fail to meet the deadline will be penalized.
The norms will be laid down not only for the hygiene of food served, but also the storage of the supplies and the delivery or transport facilities of the outlets.
The officials had certain goals in mind when they made this decision. (As told to TOI)
“Our criteria will be to come up with standards to grade food outlets. They could be graded as stars or as levels. The focus will be to see that they maintain food hygiene and safety so that consumers can make a wiser choice.
Naturally, the end cost to the consumer will go up as these outlets will need more investments into maintaining cleanliness. But the amount passed on will be very small. The main challenge is to train people in the sector to take these steps.
In places outside India, they have a holistic process of ensuring food safety. That will be our ultimate aim. We will have to come up with norms which will ensure a win-win situation for both the consumers and the eateries.”
The sources say that although these steps may be easy for popular and large food outlets, it may be a troublesome task for the ones with comparatively lesser resources. Street vendors and small shop owners may not have enough facilities to meet the standards laid down. This may lead to a hike in the prices of the food. This will be a small price to pay for a guarantee of healthy food.
Not only will these eateries be rated, they will be asked to display the certificate at all times. This will help the consumers in knowing what places they should avoid and save their health. Volunteers will be asked to train managers and vendors to meet the standards.
The FSSAI has a website that provides all the information one may need regarding food and the safety measures taken. And this is their main function (as mentioned on http://www.fssai.gov.in)
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has been established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 as a statutory body for laying down science based standards for articles of food and regulating manufacturing, processing, distribution, sale and import of food so as to ensure safe and wholesome food for human consumption.
With the season changing, communicable, water-borne, vector-based, and other diseases will be a common occurrence. Food and beverages are one of the main carriers of such diseases if not properly maintained. Insects, adulteration, carelessness, and other problems may also occur in the food you eat outdoors.
In such conditions, we need such health certificates and hygiene alerts that may stop us from making wrong decisions. Our bodies have to suffer due to someone else’s negligence. FSSAI has taken a step to change this icky tradition.
Now our main worry should be how soon these new regulations will be implemented and save us from the gastronomical catastrophes.
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