The Kerala government is implementing the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system with a mission to promote food products made in the southern state and improve its food safety standards.
With developing towns and urbanising villages, food safety faces a number of difficulties in Kerala. Food poisoning, the sale of unsafe food and heavy contamination were reported in many parts of the state.
HACCP will be implemented by a committee comprising 19 members, who would be selected from different departments of the government and work along with National Centre for HACCP Certification.
It would be represented by the state food safety commission, and the departments of industries and commerce, agriculture, animal husbandry and dairy development. The system would enable the government and food processing firms to avoid any quality issues in the process of food production.
An official from the industries and commerce department said, “The system would not only ensure finished product inspection, but also design measurements to reduce the risks in the process of food production, thus raising the state food processing sector’s standard to a global level.”
“As a production monitoring system, HACCP is expected to rewrite the structure of food production and standards in the states. As a tourist-friendly state, Kerala has lot of potential to promote its food and new food products,” he added.
“The government is optimised to exploit this opportunity, and would encourage the food processing industry in the state,” the official stated. S Sudarsanan, Kerala’s chief food safety officer, said, “HACCP deals with various factors that influence the quality of food materials produced.”
“The system would act as a preventive body and help food processing industries to increase their standards to a global level. With coordination and participation from the different departments of the government, food products made in the state would get a heavy push in the market,” he added.
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