Bhubaneswar, Jan 30: The State Government has put enforcement
of food safety standards under single authority of Food Safety
Commissioner and is mulling to set up a Food Safety Appellate Tribunal
in the State. The legal and executive issues relating to the matter came
up for discussion at a high level meeting here Tuesday.
Previously, the food standards were being enforced by several authorities. Now, the Commissioner will be assisted by Food Safety and other designated officers. The Government also proposes to have accredited and referral laboratories soon to intensify implementation of food safety standards in the State. It has also been proposed to declare the Additional District Magistrates as Adjudicating Officers.
Presently, Director of Public Health has been designated as Food Safety Commissioner. The existing Food Inspectors have been designated as Food Safety Officers. Twelve new posts have been created. It was decided in the meeting that there will be 38 Food Safety Officers in the State. While 30 of them will be posted at each district, the rest eight officers will be posted in urban local bodies (ULBs).
Meanwhile, Food Safety & Standards Authority of India has also started functioning as a regulatory body under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. The implementation of the Standards will be governed as per the Food Safety and Standard (FSS) Act-2006, which envisages developing an effective enforcement machinery to ensure safety in sale and consumption of food.
The new Act has integrated eight different Acts and Government Orders (GOs) like Prevention of Food Adulation Act-1954, Fruit Products Order-1958, Meat Food Products Order-1973, Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order-1947, Edible Oil Packaging (Regulation) Order-1988, Solvent Extracted Oil and Edible Flour (Control) Order-1967, Milk and Milk Products Order-1992 and other GOs relating to food under Essential Commodities Act-1955.
According to B K Panda, Food Safety Commissioner-cum-Director of Public Health, the business units, which have licence under Food Adulteration Act, will have to now renew their licence under FSS Act at the district level. The Additional District Medical Officers (Public Health) of the respective districts have been designated for the purpose.
All food dealing business units with an annual turnover of more than Rs 12 lakh will have to avail licence while shops with turnover less than that will have to be registered. No shop can carry on food business without valid licence or registration. The concerned department has been told to facilitate the process of the registration by making provisions at Common Service Centres.
It was also decided in the meeting that the State-Level Steering Committee will be constituted under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary and the District Committees will be constituted under the respective Collectors. At the district level, the District Medical Officer will function as the Member-Conveyer.
It was also decided that five Cluster Food Testing Laboratories will be set up in the State. Each cluster will cover 4 to 5 districts. Mobile food testing laboratory will be set up to cover remote areas, large public congregations and disease outbreak areas. The clusters will be developed in urban areas like Berhampur, Cuttack, Puri, Balasore, Rourkela.
While Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs) will be involved in implementation of the Act with technical support from Primary Health Centres, the collected licence and registration fees will be used for awareness generation and grievance redressal activities.
Multimedia campaigns will be under taken to generate awareness among common masses and stakeholders about the new food law, institutions created for implementation, provisions relating to licensing and registration.
Accredited activists at field level will be trained and engaged in inspecting the food dealing shops on incentive basis. The department has been asked also to develop a pro-active self-compliance machinery, which will check the standards through application of science and technology.
Previously, the food standards were being enforced by several authorities. Now, the Commissioner will be assisted by Food Safety and other designated officers. The Government also proposes to have accredited and referral laboratories soon to intensify implementation of food safety standards in the State. It has also been proposed to declare the Additional District Magistrates as Adjudicating Officers.
Presently, Director of Public Health has been designated as Food Safety Commissioner. The existing Food Inspectors have been designated as Food Safety Officers. Twelve new posts have been created. It was decided in the meeting that there will be 38 Food Safety Officers in the State. While 30 of them will be posted at each district, the rest eight officers will be posted in urban local bodies (ULBs).
Meanwhile, Food Safety & Standards Authority of India has also started functioning as a regulatory body under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. The implementation of the Standards will be governed as per the Food Safety and Standard (FSS) Act-2006, which envisages developing an effective enforcement machinery to ensure safety in sale and consumption of food.
The new Act has integrated eight different Acts and Government Orders (GOs) like Prevention of Food Adulation Act-1954, Fruit Products Order-1958, Meat Food Products Order-1973, Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order-1947, Edible Oil Packaging (Regulation) Order-1988, Solvent Extracted Oil and Edible Flour (Control) Order-1967, Milk and Milk Products Order-1992 and other GOs relating to food under Essential Commodities Act-1955.
According to B K Panda, Food Safety Commissioner-cum-Director of Public Health, the business units, which have licence under Food Adulteration Act, will have to now renew their licence under FSS Act at the district level. The Additional District Medical Officers (Public Health) of the respective districts have been designated for the purpose.
All food dealing business units with an annual turnover of more than Rs 12 lakh will have to avail licence while shops with turnover less than that will have to be registered. No shop can carry on food business without valid licence or registration. The concerned department has been told to facilitate the process of the registration by making provisions at Common Service Centres.
It was also decided in the meeting that the State-Level Steering Committee will be constituted under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary and the District Committees will be constituted under the respective Collectors. At the district level, the District Medical Officer will function as the Member-Conveyer.
It was also decided that five Cluster Food Testing Laboratories will be set up in the State. Each cluster will cover 4 to 5 districts. Mobile food testing laboratory will be set up to cover remote areas, large public congregations and disease outbreak areas. The clusters will be developed in urban areas like Berhampur, Cuttack, Puri, Balasore, Rourkela.
While Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs) will be involved in implementation of the Act with technical support from Primary Health Centres, the collected licence and registration fees will be used for awareness generation and grievance redressal activities.
Multimedia campaigns will be under taken to generate awareness among common masses and stakeholders about the new food law, institutions created for implementation, provisions relating to licensing and registration.
Accredited activists at field level will be trained and engaged in inspecting the food dealing shops on incentive basis. The department has been asked also to develop a pro-active self-compliance machinery, which will check the standards through application of science and technology.
No comments:
Post a Comment