Campaign to transform Kerala into a safe food destination

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a move to transform Kerala into a safe food destination, the Confederation of Indian industry (CII) will initiate a campaign in association with the food safety department. Prior to the campaign, CII organized an interactive session with the commissioner of food safety T V Anupama here on Monday to seek the views of the department.

"Such a campaign will be a success in Kerala, where the demand for safe and standardized food products is more from the consumers.

Both the safety and standard parameters should be taken care by the industry itself. Instead of working towards safe food drive, we could go for healthy food campaign. Not more than 40% of the food adulteration cases are intentional but may be due to carelessness which can be easily avoided adhering to food standards," said T V Anupama.

By explaining sections 26, 27 and 28 of the Food Safety Act which deals with the responsibility of a food business operator, their liability and remedial measures that can be taken, the food safety commissioner extended the support of the department for the campaign.

As part of the initiative, CII will design a logo which will be displayed in food products to ensure its quality. The plan is to develop this logo as a trademark similar to ISI mark so that consumers can easily identify safe sood brands.

CII, in coordination with regulatory authorities and food experts, will launch awareness campaign about the regulatory norms of the industry.

Shivdas B Menon, former chairman of CII, Kerala, spoke about the need to set aside some funds for quality maintenance, while Vinod Manjila, convenor of the CII, Kerala food processing panel, urged the need to address this issue of food safety, which accounts for a large part of the foreign earnings of the state.