Working towards healthy eateries - THE HINDU

Food contamination to be traced back to material suppliers

The government has plans to bring raw material suppliers to hotels into the ambit of the food safety regulations, Minister for Health V.S. Sivakumar has said.

Delivering the inaugural address at a seminar on ‘‘Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) 2006’’ here on Saturday, he said a proposal to reward informants disclosing the source of food contamination was also being considered.

Mr. Sivakumar stressed the need to trace food contamination to the source, rather than book hotels where it was served to the customer. “Our objective is to ensure that only safe, healthy food is served in all hotels,” he said.

The FSSA, he said, had shifted the focus to food safety. “There is a need for local bodies to adopt scientific measures for supply of safe meat from abattoirs.”

The Minister said the government’s approach was to get the hotels to rectify their shortcomings rather than prosecute them. He called upon hoteliers’ associations to support the implementation of the FSSA. “The government will iron out the difficulties being faced by hotels. The Chief Minister himself has convened a meeting to sort out the confusion over certain provisions of the Act,” Mr. Sivakumar said.

Grading system

Commissioner of Food Safety Biju Prabhakar said a grading system would be introduced for hotels in association with organisations representing food business operators (FBOs). The grading, he said, was part of a quality assurance mechanism.

He said the proposed rating system would cover wayside eateries, star hotels, and Janata hotels. Establishments would be graded into four categories, A to D, based on their compliance with food safety standards.

The inspection and rating would be done by an accreditation agency in food safety acceptable to the Commissioner of Food Safety as well as the stakeholder FBOs. The rating would come down if standards were found to be diluted at any stage. Manufacturers, food growers, wholesalers, transporters, and sellers would also be brought into the system, he said.

Mr. Prabhakar said the commissionerate had identified the hotspots of food safety in Kerala. “We are issuing improvement notices to the establishments with shortcomings.”

He said moves were on to computerise laboratories for testing food samples. “Manual registration of FBOs has been initiated and online registration will be introduced soon. Mobile laboratories will be pressed into service.”

Mr. Prabhakar said many raw materials used by hotels were often found to be adulterated and carcinogenic. “There is a need to keep a tab on the suppliers so that the source of contamination can be identified.”

He said investigations carried out by the commissioner had revealed appalling conditions at poultry farms supplying hotels.

Representatives of the South Kerala Hoteliers’ Forum, Kerala Bar Hotels Association, Bakers Association, Kerala, and Association of Approved and Classified Hotels, Kerala, were present.

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Proposal to reward informants: Minister

Grading system planned for hotels

Adulteration: Government plans to reward whistleblowers

The government is planning a ‘whistleblower system’, by introducing rewards to informers on adulterated food and ingredients, said Health Minister V S Sivakumar here on Saturday, inaugurating a seminar on Food Safety and Standards Act,2006.
“It has become clear that right from salt to meat, fish and vegetables, adulteration has become common. It is not the retail traders who are indulging in malpractices but wholesalers and those who are bringing commodities from outside the state. But there are limitations for the Food Safety Commissioner and other officials to trace it. It is against this backdrop that a mechanism to engage the civil society also for better results is being probed,” the Minister said.
He also said that the State Government would initiate concrete steps to establish scientific abattoirs in the state, in view of the fact that many a case of food poisoning occurs due to processing of meat under unhygienic conditions.
“By joining hands with the state veterinary varsity,the government will take the lead to make modern abattoirs a reality in the main Corporations and municipalities of the state,” he said. Sivakumar also put forward an idea of linking tribals and the vast, isolated stretches of land for poultry and livestock development, and thereby ensuring the requirements of the state-owned Meat Products of India. “Since there are many constraints in promoting such activities in urban areas, scientific studies to tap interior pockets are needed,” he felt.

Food Safety Commissionerate firm on bringing in grading system in hotels

The recent inspections and arm-twisting by the Food Safety Commissionerate against erring hoteliers and food outlets in the state, against the backdrop of a few instances of food poisoning, was just to demonstrate the powers of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and to regularise standards for those involved in the food business operations, Food Safety Commissioner Biju Prabhakar told a seminar on ‘Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006’ here on Saturday.
 “We are not hostile to the sector as is being made out. None need not be afraid of it. As an Act which is bound to be implemented at any cost, setting standards would ward off many difficulties in future for those running various ventures, such as stringent punishment and compensation. Looking at the emerging scenario from the people’s point of view is very important,” he said, delivering the keynote address.
“Achieving European standards in the food sector may not be possible. But definitely there should be some standards, for which a grading system from A to D will be brought in up to wayside ‘thattukadas’ with a unique logo issued for an adequate period, subject to periodical monitoring and evaluation. What we have in front of us is a three-year road map,” he said. “If the Commissionerate officials have gone wrong, including me, the matter can be taken up with higher authorities or the court.
“The Act is a well thought of law and there are no draconian problems at all. But an attitude of a section of hoteliers bordering lawlessness as if this is Kerala and everything is possible here, even after the conduct of 3,000 awareness sessions across the state, cannot be allowed. Also, none should  have an approach to reap profits in one day,”  Biju Prabhakar  said.
 The Commissioner said that after demonstrating the powers of the Act and make hoteliers aware of the fact that things have to change for the better, the Commissionerate has identified hotspots such as sources of  adulteration including the rampant use of carcinogenic materials. It has been found that the role of additives which goes into the making of food is quite alarming, he disclosed.  “It is not unhygienic conditions which is the real villain. Much more danger comes from invisible hazards,” he pointed out.
The Commissionerate  is analysing the steps taken by Dubai in the past couple of years to streamline the food business operations in that country, Biju Prabhakar added. The seminar was jointly organised by the Association of Approved & Classified Hotels of Kerala, South Kerala Hoteliers’ Forum, Kerala Bar Hotels Association and Bakers Association, Kerala.