With just 35 lakh FBOs registered and licensed in last five years in spite of the rigorous exercise run by the enforcement wing of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and another deadline (Aug 4, 2016) not so far ahead, as a last resort, the FSSAI has decided to use the vast Aadhar centres across the country to help FBOs complete the process. FSSAI has estimated that there are around two crore FBOs in the country and to make an outreach to them, the decision has been taken to use the Aadhar centres.
In further to this development, a decision has been taken by FSSAI, according to which a special purpose vehicle has been approved to use a common service centre to facilitate the FBOs to get themselves registered by paying an additional fee of Rs 30 as service charge.
Most need registration
According to a senior official with the FSSAI, since a vast majority of FBOs needed only registration, therefore it was decided to use Aadhar centres as a common facility for the purpose. A pilot project has already been started in J&K. “Besides we have also decided to use the centres where pan card is made,” informed the official.
Meanwhile, the apex food regulator has already taken the final call on extension given to FBOs for obtaining licence and securing registration under the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Business) Regulations, 2011. It has been clearly mentioned in the notice uploaded by FSSAI that this would be the final opportunity for FBOs to get themselves registered or licensed or else face action.
One of the reasons cited for putting an end to extensions was that most FSSAI officials have been of the opinion that repeated extensions resulted in complacency amongst FBOs and they did not take efforts to complete the process on time.
Awareness programme
When asked about the extension, Pawan Kumar Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI, stated, “FSSAI will further extensively launch an awareness programme in order to secure the licences and registration of the FBOs.”
Meanwhile, Sagar Kurade, president, AIFPA, observed that AIFPA would be encouraging the FBOs in getting registration and licences as per FSS Act. “However I feel there needed a greater awareness campaign to get all remaining FBOs under the ambit of licensing and registration regime.”
He added that if there was a categorisation of FBOs on the basis of their profile like manufacturer, retailer, restaurateur or a roadside eatery, this would help in setting the guiding principles as regards to minimum set of documents required to operate.
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