FDA aims for ‘food literacy’ by May 1, campaign starts this month-end

Over 10,000 school-going children in Mumbai will be part of a unique ‘food literacy’ campaign by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which will be kickstarted by the end of this month. The FDA plans to visit schools, hotels, lanes that are full of street food vendors, and residential societies as part of this project, with the target of making Maharashtra ‘food literate’ by May 1 next year.

The state-arm of FDA, along with several self-help groups (SHGs), schools that serve mid-day meals, anganwadis and non-government organisations (NGOs), plans to conduct workshops and sensitisation programmes to educate masses about importance of consuming unadulterated food items and to train street vendors and hotels on the importance of adopting hygiene while preparing meals.

The programme, meant at stricter implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, will operate in the six divisions handled by FDA in the state, including Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Nagpur and Aurangabad.

According to joint commissioner of food for Mumbai district, Suresh Annapure, the process of making jingles, posters, presentations and advertisement is currently underway following which the campaign will be officially launched.

FDA commissioner Dr Purshottam Bhapkar said, “The idea is to generate self-discipline in handling, buying, making and transportation of ‘food’ without requiring regular inspection of FDA inspectors. The worst is the condition of street vendors who don’t wash plates before using them and often sacrifice on food quality to reduce costs.”

In urban pockets like Mumbai, a greater need of sensitisation is required as the trend of street food is very popular, said Kamlesh Sankhe, joint commissioner of food for state, FDA. “The vendors will be shown street plays and advertisements to increase their awareness onfood safety,” Sankhe added.

The target groups like school children, housewives, transport agencies, vendors, milk distributors, fish and meat suppliers, hotels and corporates will be approached separately.

“Public and private schools will be approached first and they will be taught about sanitary habits and hygiene. This will also include a simple act of washing hands,” said Sankhe.

The transport agencies will be sensitised about secured methods of transporting food products, including methods of packaging processed and raw food items.

“The food inspectors have observed ignorance when it comes to importance of using high quality and nutritious food products. This campaign will be aggressive in its approach and we hope to sensitise people about maintaining good health,” said Annapure.