FDA to ensure your kid eats healthy food

Food authority officers to inspect all self-help groups supplying mid-day meals to children for food-handling procedures; may even take samples for tests if necessary

After 23 children died of food poisoning subsequent to eating their mid-day meal in Bihar, the Pune division of Food and Drug Administration is taking all possible steps to ensure that such an incident doesn’t happen here.

The FDA plans to inspect all Self-Help Groups (SHG) for food-handling procedures, and may even take sample of food for tests.

“We have a list of the SHGs that are licensed or are registered according to the Food Safety and Standard Act 2006 (FSSA). We plan to appoint a Food Safety Officer (FSO) for each area, who will check each and every SHG site where the food is prepared. Besides, he’ll inspect the food-handling procedure and may even take samples if required,” informed Sashikant Kekare, joint commissioner, FDA (Food).

There are 121 SHGs that are registered with the FDA. Besides, the authorities have slapped notices to SHGs that haven’t registered yet.

The Pune division of the FDA even held a meeting of SHGs, which was attended by 16 groups. Shivaji Desai, assistant commissioner, FDA (Food), said, “We had called meeting of the various SHGs that supply mid-day meal to various city schools to inform about the drive.”