Food and Drugs Administration recovers Rs 1.16 crore as penalty

PUNE: The Food and Drugs Administration officials have recovered over Rs 1.16 crore from food manufacturers, packers and labellers in Pune division as fine for not filing their annual returns for the fiscal 2013-14 within the stipulated time.

However, food business operators claimed that the government made little efforts to inform them about filing the annual returns and expressed dissatisfaction over the whole procedure.

For the first time, food business operators were asked to submit annual returns of their transactions made between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013, since the new Food Safety and Standards Act came into force in August 2011.

The FDA had earlier directed licenced food business operators with an annual turnover of Rs 12 lakh and above to submit their returns by May 31, 2013, failing which a fine of Rs 100 a day would be levied.

"Of the total fine collected this year, Pune district has contributed Rs 88.27 lakh, which is the highest in the division. Some food manufacturers individually paid fines up to Rs 25,000," said Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner (food), FDA Pune.

The administration division of the FDA in Pune comprises Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Solapur. "There are a total of 3,797 food manufactures in Pune division. Of them, 1,899 are from Pune, 679 from Sangli, 487 from Satara, 423 from Kolhapur and 309 from Solapur," said Dilip Sangat, assistant commissioner (food), FDA Pune

As per the Food Safety and Standards Act and Regulations 2011 (licensing and registration), the business operators have to submit the returns in the particular format (form D-1). Owners of the dairy businesses have been asked to submit the returns in a half-yearly format as given in form D-2.

"Awareness about filing the annual returns is very low among the food business operators. Besides, the state government has also not made substantial efforts to sensitize on the issue," said Raykumar Nahar, one of the board of directors of the Poona Merchant Chambers.

Nahar also pointed out that the FDA officials had no discretionary powers to waive off fine in genuine cases. "The officials are bound by the law. Besides, objectives of collecting D1 and D2 forms are not very clear. All food products are perishable goods and invariably have expiry dates. Some food products expire within 15 days or a month. There is no need for the department to collect information of such products," Nahar said.

There are over 9,000 licensed food business operators in the city with an annual turnover of Rs 12 lakh and above. They include food manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, recyclers, processors, transporters, restaurants, hotels and catering business operators.

In some reprieve to traders, restaurants and distributors, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) later decided to exclude them from filing annual returns.

About food business

Any public or private undertaking, profit or non-profit, carrying out any of the activities related to any stage of manufacturing, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, distribution, import and sale of food or food ingredients

Food business operator

A person who runs or owns the business and is responsible for ensuring the compliance of the Food Safety and Standards Act and the other rules and regulations