To comply or not? – Food Safety & Standards Act

The much needed draconian, almost impossible to believe, Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 is upon us. The harbinger of the arrival of multi brand retail which will put an end to hot bajjis and vadas from roadside tea shops and you cannot cook for your weddings and festivals without a license! Amazing is the way we have licensed ourselves to cook, eat, drink and celebrate. After a brief hesitation, we went ahead and filed the applications for our three Green Shops and Jenarsh, our honey packing unit. Except Coonoor, the other three places have been inspected by Food Safety Officers who have left a few queries. Important one is, we should not use the word “organic” as we have to get the products tested! One lifetime spent on organic, the certification business and Participatory Guarantee Systems! Our core value of promoting organic is under threat now, as we cannot do business without a FSS license. We are working along, crossing the hurdles as they come and looking for ways to comply with the regulations. Wish us good luck.