Roadside eateries in the city expose citizens to various diseases by hardly abiding by any food safety norm.
The more worrying part is the health department’s food safety wing has miserably failed to bring such eateries under the purview of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. Moreover, absence of food analysts in the state laboratory delays testing of samples.
While visiting a small eatery near Shaheed Smarak Road, this correspondent found that its workers wash dishes with plain water with no soap or detergent powder around. The scene at another small eatery on SP Verma Road was frightening. The workers there reuse water to wash the dishes in dirty areas. Owners of both eateries said they were not registered with the health department’s food safety wing.
The state’s apathetic attitude towards implementation of the food safety act was glaring when a senior health officer admitted that barely 10 per cent of eateries with an annual turnover of less than Rs 12 lakh had registered themselves with the its safety wing.
Ashish Kumar, the designated officer of the food safety wing, said: “Though we have been able to ensure that big eateries with an annual turnover of more than Rs 12 lakh get licences from us, we somehow have not been able to implement the provision of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, that mandates all food business units with less than Rs 12 lakh annual turnover to get themselves registered with the authority. Till now, only a meagre 10 per cent of small eateries in the state have registered themselves with us.”
IMA state president Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said: “Eating unhygienic or adulterated food can lead to diseases such as diarrhoea, gastrointestinal problems, which can affect a person’s liver, kidney, eye and other vital organs. It is pathetic that the food safety act is not implemented in the state. Lack of proper mechanism lets people in food business work in unhygienic conditions.”
Diwakar Tejaswi, a physician, said: “Seventy per cent of diseases in Bihar is caused by unhygienic food and water. Typhoid, Hepatitis E and jaundice are mostly caused by eating unhygienic food.”
On registration of vendors, the officer added: “Not a single vendor has got himself/herself registered with us. It is not possible for us to register the vendors because we do not have data on their exact numbers. First, Patna Municipal Corporation has to identify the vendors, only then can we register them.”
The officer admitted that there was a norm under the act that mandates food vendors to register themselves with the food safety wing.
Asked how much food samples were collected in the past year, the officer could not specify but said: “Every month, we have set a target of collecting at least 10 samples, which we meet. The absence of food analysts in our Agamkuan laboratory forces us to send the samples for testing to Mineral Area Development Authority (Mada) laboratory in Dhanbad. Mada sends us the test reports in 20-25 days.”
However, when this correspondent sought to know about the findings of packaged drinking water samples, which the department officials had collected in the first week of June, the officer said the reports were yet to come.
Sources said the food safety act mandates the testing report be sent to the authority concerned within 14 days of the receipt of the samples so that prompt action can be taken. But the Dhanbad laboratory takes 20-25 days to send the test report.
ACT, CRIME & PUNISHMENT
What a food kiosk owner can do: Section 31 of the act states: No person shall commence or carry on any food business except under a licence. However, it shall not apply to a petty manufacturer who himself manufactures or sells any article of food or a petty retailer, hawker, itinerant vendor or a temporary stall holder or small-scale or cottage or such other industries relating to food business or tiny food business operator. But they shall register themselves with the authority concerned
What s/he faces for supplying sub-standard food: Under Section 50: Any person who sells to the purchaser’s prejudice any food which is not in compliance with the provisions of this act shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding Rs 5 lakh
For small food joint owners, the penalty shall not exceed Rs 25000 Under Section 56:
Any person who, whether by himself or by any other person on his behalf, manufactures or processes any article of food for human consumption under unhygienic or unsanitary conditions, shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to Rs 1 lakh
The more worrying part is the health department’s food safety wing has miserably failed to bring such eateries under the purview of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. Moreover, absence of food analysts in the state laboratory delays testing of samples.
While visiting a small eatery near Shaheed Smarak Road, this correspondent found that its workers wash dishes with plain water with no soap or detergent powder around. The scene at another small eatery on SP Verma Road was frightening. The workers there reuse water to wash the dishes in dirty areas. Owners of both eateries said they were not registered with the health department’s food safety wing.
The state’s apathetic attitude towards implementation of the food safety act was glaring when a senior health officer admitted that barely 10 per cent of eateries with an annual turnover of less than Rs 12 lakh had registered themselves with the its safety wing.
Ashish Kumar, the designated officer of the food safety wing, said: “Though we have been able to ensure that big eateries with an annual turnover of more than Rs 12 lakh get licences from us, we somehow have not been able to implement the provision of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, that mandates all food business units with less than Rs 12 lakh annual turnover to get themselves registered with the authority. Till now, only a meagre 10 per cent of small eateries in the state have registered themselves with us.”
IMA state president Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said: “Eating unhygienic or adulterated food can lead to diseases such as diarrhoea, gastrointestinal problems, which can affect a person’s liver, kidney, eye and other vital organs. It is pathetic that the food safety act is not implemented in the state. Lack of proper mechanism lets people in food business work in unhygienic conditions.”
Diwakar Tejaswi, a physician, said: “Seventy per cent of diseases in Bihar is caused by unhygienic food and water. Typhoid, Hepatitis E and jaundice are mostly caused by eating unhygienic food.”
On registration of vendors, the officer added: “Not a single vendor has got himself/herself registered with us. It is not possible for us to register the vendors because we do not have data on their exact numbers. First, Patna Municipal Corporation has to identify the vendors, only then can we register them.”
The officer admitted that there was a norm under the act that mandates food vendors to register themselves with the food safety wing.
Asked how much food samples were collected in the past year, the officer could not specify but said: “Every month, we have set a target of collecting at least 10 samples, which we meet. The absence of food analysts in our Agamkuan laboratory forces us to send the samples for testing to Mineral Area Development Authority (Mada) laboratory in Dhanbad. Mada sends us the test reports in 20-25 days.”
However, when this correspondent sought to know about the findings of packaged drinking water samples, which the department officials had collected in the first week of June, the officer said the reports were yet to come.
Sources said the food safety act mandates the testing report be sent to the authority concerned within 14 days of the receipt of the samples so that prompt action can be taken. But the Dhanbad laboratory takes 20-25 days to send the test report.
ACT, CRIME & PUNISHMENT
What a food kiosk owner can do: Section 31 of the act states: No person shall commence or carry on any food business except under a licence. However, it shall not apply to a petty manufacturer who himself manufactures or sells any article of food or a petty retailer, hawker, itinerant vendor or a temporary stall holder or small-scale or cottage or such other industries relating to food business or tiny food business operator. But they shall register themselves with the authority concerned
What s/he faces for supplying sub-standard food: Under Section 50: Any person who sells to the purchaser’s prejudice any food which is not in compliance with the provisions of this act shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding Rs 5 lakh
For small food joint owners, the penalty shall not exceed Rs 25000 Under Section 56:
Any person who, whether by himself or by any other person on his behalf, manufactures or processes any article of food for human consumption under unhygienic or unsanitary conditions, shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to Rs 1 lakh
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