Come under purview of Food Safety Act, traders told

TRICHY: Insisting on mandatory registration and licence for business under food safetyand standards authority of India (FSSAI), the district administration has reminded traders to come under the purview of the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006.

Collector K Rajamani on Wednesday asserted that all traders involved in food business should compulsorily obtain either registration or licence from the food safety department in the district as soon as possible.

Despite coming into force in 2011 across the country, the Food Safety and Standards Act is seen as a burden by people in the food business in Tamil Nadu. Though the state government enforced the Act in 2012, the process got speeded up after the formation of the food safety department headed by a designated officer (DO) for all districts to get all the traders registered and licensed under the Act in 2015-16.

Going by the data of the food safety and drug administration department in Trichy, a total of 17,600 food business establishments including road side eateries should be covered under the Act across the district. However, the department saw lukewarm response from the traders with only 5,000 of them turning up for registrations and a meagre 1,000 businessmen applying for licence as of now.

Those with an annual turnover of below Rs 12 lakh should get their business registered while those with a turnover of above Rs 12 lakh must get the licence under the Act.

They can apply online at www.fssai.gov.in for both registration and licence by paying Rs 100 and Rs 3,000 in the district treasury following which they should submit the relevant documents to the DO, food safety and drug administration department near Jamal Mohammed College in Trichy. The registration and the licence will be given in 60 days, said the collector.

It may be recalled that the traders association have been expressing their opposition to come under the purview of the Food Safety Act citing several disadvantages to their business.

"Food Safety and Standards Act is said to ensure quality of food given to the people. They have laid down several guidelines to run the food business. However, none of the clauses of the Act will work out in a country like India. Particularly in Tamil Nadu, traders will have to pay penalty or undergo imprisonment for minor violations. Hence, we are vehemently opposing the Act here," general secretary of Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangangalin Peramaippur, Ve Govindarajulu said.