MEERUT: Ever since the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 was implemented in August 2011, making it mandatory for medical stores to also receive a licence from the food safety department, the licencing procedure has become exceedingly cumbersome, storekeepers say.
Medical stores keepers and officials in the food safety department accept that only 50% of the licences applied for have been issued.
"The online procedure is troublesome for medical store owners. They have to get their license renewed in five years, depending on the time period for which the medical stores' license was issued. The online renewal process adds to the woes of medical store owners," said JP Singh, Chief Food Safety Officer (CFSO).
Earlier, medical stores had to get a license only from the drug inspector. After the Food Safety and Standards Act was implemented in 2011, retailers had to also get a license from the food safety department.
The step came to ensure that food items, including milk powder, honey and chyanvanprash that were sold at medical stores met food safety norms.
Puneet Sharma, a medical store owner in the city, said, "Not only is the online procedure difficult for a person like me, who shies away from technology, it also ends up taking more time than the manual issuing of licences."
Sharma said he had applied for the license in March 2014. Seven months have passed, but he has still not received the licence, he said. "I visited the department but was told the online procedure takes time," Sharma said.
When TOI sought details from the CFSO of the numbers of licences applied for and issued, he said, "It is difficult to collate data because it is on different online portals. We don't have the hard copy of the list of online licenses issued." He added that the government had given time until February 2015 to issue food licences to medical stores.
Medical stores keepers and officials in the food safety department accept that only 50% of the licences applied for have been issued.
"The online procedure is troublesome for medical store owners. They have to get their license renewed in five years, depending on the time period for which the medical stores' license was issued. The online renewal process adds to the woes of medical store owners," said JP Singh, Chief Food Safety Officer (CFSO).
Earlier, medical stores had to get a license only from the drug inspector. After the Food Safety and Standards Act was implemented in 2011, retailers had to also get a license from the food safety department.
The step came to ensure that food items, including milk powder, honey and chyanvanprash that were sold at medical stores met food safety norms.
Puneet Sharma, a medical store owner in the city, said, "Not only is the online procedure difficult for a person like me, who shies away from technology, it also ends up taking more time than the manual issuing of licences."
Sharma said he had applied for the license in March 2014. Seven months have passed, but he has still not received the licence, he said. "I visited the department but was told the online procedure takes time," Sharma said.
When TOI sought details from the CFSO of the numbers of licences applied for and issued, he said, "It is difficult to collate data because it is on different online portals. We don't have the hard copy of the list of online licenses issued." He added that the government had given time until February 2015 to issue food licences to medical stores.
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