KOCHI: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, in a communication to the food safety commissioners stated that local bodies are not the licencing authorities for slaughterhouses. All meat shops and slaughterhouses must have FSSAI licence, the communication from ministry of health and family welfare said.
According to the statement issued, the central advisory committee of the food safety society will meet on December 29 to review and discuss the enforcement issues and plans. The state food commissioners have been asked to come prepared with their action plan so that they together delineate a future roadmap.
In the guidelines to be proposed, the FSSAI wants to implement a penalty of up to Rs 5 lakh a day for defaulters and violators. The transport of animals for slaughter has to be as per FSSAI regulations (licencing and registration) 2011. No meat shop is allowed to slaughter animals, even chicken. No animal other than sheep, goat, bovines, pigs, poultry, fish are allowed to be slaughtered for food.
It has suggested that requisite infrastructure be put in place for the slaughterhouses as it is absent in most of the existing ones. State-supported slaughterhouses should be given adequate budgetary allocations. The private operators should also be called upon to make a provision in a time-bound manner. Stating that road-side slaughter units where live birds are kept and slaughtered do not have the basic infrastructure for stunning/handling, the authority said it is detrimental to health of consumers and also against animal welfare.
The FSSAI has also proposed installing CCTV at all strategic positions in the slaughterhouses, which would be an effective deterrent as far as hygiene and 'stunning' norms are concerned.
The communication follows the earlier letter sent on August 6 asking for enforcement of the regulations under legal provisions.
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