Coimbatore: Bakeries mushrooming on city’s bylanes are keeping food safety officials on their toes.
Ahead of the plastic ban and the looming deadline for getting licence and registration under the FSSAI act, the officials are racing against time to bring all bakeries under the law’s ambit.
Tracking them and educating the owners on food safety and safe disposal practices continue to be a challenge, designated officer of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) A Vijayalalithambigai said.
While the district has thousands of bakeries, from multi-chain outlets to standalone shops, hardly a few thousand have been licences or registered with the food safety department. “Large bakery chains like Aroma, K R and KRS Bakeries have got proper licences and follow all the rules and norms of the FSSAI Act,” Vijayalalithambigai said. “However, it is the corner shops and those in interior areas that we are trying to get to follow the norms.”
Many small-scale bakeries end up outsourcing products. “We have stuck to important rules on the use of margarine in specific products, on colours in products like icing, having separate sinks for washing vessels and raw materials and keeping storage and production areas free of insects and rodents. Food produced on different dates should be displayed separately. First in-first out policy should be followed. Food should not be served in plastic trays or in newspapers. They should serve good quality drinking water,” the official said.
“Many small bakeries still display products in the open. This makes them susceptible to flies. Many products are not refrigerated properly. Labelling products according to our norms is also something we have to teach them,” she added.
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