Solan, February 13
The deadline for seeking a licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2011, has been extended by one year till February 4, 2014.
There had been several representations from food business operators and nutraceutical industry representatives seeking extension of the deadline.
However, investors, including dairy units, vegetable oil processors, slaughter houses, meat processors, food processing units, including export-oriented units producing various items like honey, glucose, chocolates, sweets, etc, and food catering service providers, had to seek a fresh licence after the notification of this Act from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Earlier, this licence was granted by the Medical Officer, Health, of districts at a nominal fee, but now a fee of Rs 25,000 per product is being charged.
With the Delhi-based office of the authority catering to five northern states, including Himachal, Delhi, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir, there is an immense rush of applications.
Industry executives had to make several trips to the Delhi office to first seek a licence and then product approvals. Terming it as a time-consuming exercise, an industry executive said they would request the authority to open an office at Chandigarh. Since the drug licencing office too had its sub-office at Chandigarh, they would press for the demand.
Since 12 Acts had to be implemented under the new Act, it had become a tedious procedure for state health officials to implement the Act as no staff or additional infrastructure had been provided to adhere to its guidelines, which included online reporting.
With a lone food inspector looking after two districts of Solan and Sirmaur and there being only Composite Testing Laboratory at Kandaghat catering to the state, the implementation of the Act was a tall order. More so as each food inspector had to take at least 10 samples from each district in a month, and the lab also received scores of samples of drugs from all over the state.
With little upgrade in infrastructure vis-à-vis requirements of this Act, its implementation had remained a mere paper formality.
The deadline for seeking a licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2011, has been extended by one year till February 4, 2014.
There had been several representations from food business operators and nutraceutical industry representatives seeking extension of the deadline.
However, investors, including dairy units, vegetable oil processors, slaughter houses, meat processors, food processing units, including export-oriented units producing various items like honey, glucose, chocolates, sweets, etc, and food catering service providers, had to seek a fresh licence after the notification of this Act from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Earlier, this licence was granted by the Medical Officer, Health, of districts at a nominal fee, but now a fee of Rs 25,000 per product is being charged.
With the Delhi-based office of the authority catering to five northern states, including Himachal, Delhi, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir, there is an immense rush of applications.
Industry executives had to make several trips to the Delhi office to first seek a licence and then product approvals. Terming it as a time-consuming exercise, an industry executive said they would request the authority to open an office at Chandigarh. Since the drug licencing office too had its sub-office at Chandigarh, they would press for the demand.
Since 12 Acts had to be implemented under the new Act, it had become a tedious procedure for state health officials to implement the Act as no staff or additional infrastructure had been provided to adhere to its guidelines, which included online reporting.
With a lone food inspector looking after two districts of Solan and Sirmaur and there being only Composite Testing Laboratory at Kandaghat catering to the state, the implementation of the Act was a tall order. More so as each food inspector had to take at least 10 samples from each district in a month, and the lab also received scores of samples of drugs from all over the state.
With little upgrade in infrastructure vis-à-vis requirements of this Act, its implementation had remained a mere paper formality.
