Many hotels, eateries yet to register with food safety department

COIMBATORE: With a handful of days left for food business operators to apply for registration or license from Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), it seems at least 50 per cent of food businesses in the district will miss the February 4 deadline. Out of the total 22,000 identified food business operators in Coimbatore, only 2841 licenses were issued till January 31, 2014 while another 7,000 have registered with the department.

"We have been actively trying to get all food business ranging from roadside hawkers to eateries, hotels and food manufacturers to either get registered or licensed as per the nature of their business before the deadline," said R Kathiravan, designated officer, Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department (food safety wing).

The officials have 31 food safety officers in the district involved in keeping a check on the quality of food products that are being manufactured and sold. As per the present norms of the central FSSAI body, all food business operators with an annual turnover of less than Rs 12 lakh will have to get themselves registered with the local unit of the department whereas those exceeding this annual turnover limit will have to apply for license and get it issued to be eligible to operate and do business in the country. The procedure for getting registered is to apply with the department with valid ID and a set of 18 documents along with a processing fee of Rs 100 and licenses are issued on an annual basis and the renewal charge is Rs 200 per year.

"We have a set of strict guidelines and hygiene practises that are to be followed for getting the final approval for the license and registration. As of now the food safety wing could conduct raids and take action against those establishments without valid registration or license after February 4. We are waiting for further instructions in this regard," said Kathiravan.

As far as Coimbatore is concerned , the officials claimed they have issued licenses to over 383 hotels as on December 31 and were in the process of getting all major food establishments and eateries registered with them. Out of the 60 registered mineral water packaging units in the district, 45 of them have obtained license from the food safety wing and the remaining were in various stages of getting it done. They also added that they were having a tough time convincing small scale traders like regular provision and grocery store owners to register with the department.

"I have not taken any registration from the food safety department. Usually some officials from corporation come and ask us to show some license and we have to keep them happy. We have not applied for any separate license from the food safety department," said a provision shop owner near Redfields in the city.