Govt Plans to Strictly Enforce Food Safety Act: Khader

To prevent food adulteration and ensure supply of quality food, the government on Friday decided to strictly enforce the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations Act 2006.

Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader told reporters that the government is taking all measures to enforce the Act, including appointment of food safety commissioners and inspectors across the state.

He said a large-scale awareness campaign would be launched to highlight the features of the Act.

With this decision, it would become mandatory for individuals and organisations in the food business to register with the food safety authorities, he said.

“Henceforth all those involved in the production of food items, storage, distribution, sale and import will be brought under the Act to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption,” he said.

Stating that the department is setting up an enforcement machinery, he said 300 posts of food inspectors have been sanctioned and district and state-level authorities are being set up to issue licences and monitor operations.

He admitted that the state government is still ill-equipped to enforce the legislation, but expressed confidence that all the necessary apparatus would be in place by August.

Mandatory Health Cards

Outlining the salient features of the Act, he said all those involved in the preparation of food items will have to get health cards and display it.

Employers would be held responsible if their cooks and chefs are found without health cards, he said. So far, around 1,01,687 establishments have been registered, and another two lakh would register by August. Facilities have been made for online registration, he said.

He said there are five food-testing laboratories in the state, including two in Bangalore, and one each in Gulbarga, Mysore and Mangalore. The Centre has also certified six laboratories in the private sector in the state. Referring to a petition by hotel associations expressing reservation over some provisions of the Act and seeking clarifications on the setting up of mini-test laboratories by food vendors, Commissioner for Health Services Jayaram said these issues would not come in the way of enforcing the Act.