Jan 11, 2018
Coming soon: Hygiene ratings for restaurants in India
NEW DELHI: You might have always known the taste and varieties of the food your favourite restaurant offers but soon you will also know the hygiene and cleanliness standard it maintains.
India's top food safety regulator has launched a food hygiene rating for restaurants across the country, taking a cue from countries like United Kingdom and Australia.
Under the initiative by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, restaurants, cafes, canteen and other food joints will be awarded one to five smileys or emojis -with five smilyes indicating “very good” hygiene standards and one smiley denoting “poor” standards.
These ratings will be prominently displayed in the restaurant premises and will also be listed on FSSAI website allowing the consumers to check the rating before visiting a particular food joint.
Under the project, restaurants which follow mandatory requirements like having FSSAI license or registration, train all food handlers and appoint a certified Food Safety Supervisors, have
food safety display boards prominently displayed and get food samples tested periodically, can opt for the ratings.
“They will then be asked to self-assess themselves on a srore of 0 to 100 and that will then be re-assessed by our food safety officers following which the final scores will be awarded,” a senior FSSAI official told The New Indian Express.
Restaurants receiving scores above 81 will get five smileys denoting “very good” hygiene standards while those below twenty will get just one smiley implying “poor” hygiene standards. In addition, restaurants with four and five smileys will also be given a tag of “Responsible Place to Eat”.
A pilot project has already kicked off in Delhi and the rating process is underway for some major restaurant chains, the official added.
“The scheme aims to allow consumers to make informed choices about the places where they eat out, and through these choices, encourage businesses to improve their hygiene standards and thus reduce the incidence of food-borne illnesses,” he added.
Some of the well-known hygiene rating schemes being followed globally include “Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS)” in the United Kingdom and “Scores on Doors” a star rating scheme in Australia.
Sources in the FSSAI added that once acquired, ratings will not expire and will be based on the last inspection but the frequency of routine inspections might vary from every six months to one year. “The frequency of rating might also depend on findings from previous hygiene inspections—a joint defined as needing improvement, for example, will be inspected more frequently,” said an FSSAI.
“Also we get any complaint from members of public, we can carry random inspections to reassess the ratings of a food business operator.”
Dietetics: Food safety norms not followed in state
PATNA: Bihar Dietetic Association (BDA) on Wednesday said people of the state were forced to consume substandard food as there was no regular inspection against adulteration in Bihar.
The association members alleged that the Combined Food and Drug Laboratory at Agamkuan in Patna to check food adulteration has been non-functional for the past many months. "Nobody checks if the norms for food safety are being followed by vendors or the companies that provide processed food in the state," said association's secretary Sudhakar Mishra. The samples from Bihar, he claimed, are sent to Kolkata for test.
Mishra requested the state government to get regular inspections conducted by the health department's food safety wing to ensure that the companies with the licence to manufacture processed food were selling items as per standards fixed for them.
Talking to newsmen at a workshop conducted at Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH), he said, "People in India focus only on quantity and not on quality of the food they consume."
The association, he said, wants to ensure that the food being consumed is checked for adulteration.
Sources in the food safety wing said there were only 14 food safety officers for 38 districts in the state. The official also said although the laboratory faced problems in the past as well, it had been functional for the past six months with regular inspections being carried out for adulteration. "The allegations are not true," an official said.
Food safety inspector Mukesh Kashyap, when asked about routine inspections, said as per the norms followed by the food safety wing, every food safety officer collects 10 samples from different areas every month for routine inspection. "Inspections are also carried out extensively during festive seasons," said Kashyap.
FDA warns Mumbai McDonald’s outlet over food hygiene
HardCastle Restaurants, which runs the McDonald's franchise in Southern and Western states said they are looking into the matter seriously.
According to the Food Safety Standards Act, hotels and restaurants should see to it that the kitchen conditions, as well as the cleanliness and hygiene of the chefs should be of good standard. (Photo: PTI)
Mumbai: The state Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned popular quick service restaurant McDonald's as one of its outlets in the central region of the city has allegedly breached food safety standards.
The FDA had reportedly conducted a "surprise check" on the McDonald's outlet in High Street Phoenix at Lower Parel for alleged violation of the Food Safety Standards Act, by cooking in unhygienic conditions, and for not displaying its licence copy prominently.
They subsequently sent a warning notice to the restaurant chain, saying if the conditions were not improved over the next 15 days stern action will be taken.
HardCastle Restaurants, which runs the McDonald's franchise in the Southern and Western states said they are looking into the matter seriously.
"As a part of a routine investigation we have received some queries from the FDA. We have already submitted our response to the points raised," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the Food Safety Standards Act, hotels and restaurants should see to it that the kitchen conditions, as well as the cleanliness and hygiene of the chefs should be of good standard.
Could a meal at Mcdonald’s cost us our health?
Will a meal at Mcdonald's cost us our hygiene?
MUMBAI: The state Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned the popular quick meal restaurant McDonald’s as one of its outlets in the central region of the city has allegedly breached food safety standards.
The FDA reportedly conducted a “surprise check” on the McDonald’s outlet in High Street Phoenix at Lower Parel for alleged violation of the Food Safety Standards Act, by cooking in unhygienic conditions, and for not displaying its licence copy prominently.
They subsequently sent a warning notice to the restaurant chain, saying if the conditions were not improved over the next 15 days stern action will be taken.
HardCastle Restaurants, which runs the McDonald’s franchise in the Southern and Western states said they are looking into the matter seriously.
“As a part of a routine investigation we have received some queries from the FDA. We have already submitted our response to the points raised,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the Food Safety Standards Act, hotels and restaurants should see to it that the kitchen conditions, as well as the cleanliness and hygiene of the chefs should be of good standard.
Food carts go freewheeling
3 food inspectors for 1 crore Hyderabadis
Hyderabad: Even as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) of the Central government has decided to regulate roadside eateries like the ‘thela bandis’, Hyderabad neither has proper staff nor the equipment to test samples of the products sold on bandis.
The FSSAI wants even mirchi and dosa bandis should obtain clearance from the health department but this is easier said than done since the government does not have any staff to either issue clearance certificate or enforce compliance of the mandatory.
It is hard to believe but there are only three food inspectors for Hyderabad’s population of one crore and there is only one state-level food laboratory where too few staff chase too many samples of food items that are sent to it not only from Telangana but also from AP.
As testing samples is taking a long time, the roadside eateries from where the samples are obtained should remain shut, robbing the livelihood of the vulnerable sections who set up such outlets. After analysis, if a sample is found to be harmless, it would not come as a great news for the eatery wallah since by then he would have lost valuable business.
A two-day meeting of the Health Ministers of the country is underway in New Delhi organised by FSSAI. During the first day, it was decided to regulate the roadside eateries, which serve mirchi bhajji, pungulu, dosas, idlis and other food items.
It has been decided to regulate the roadside eateries by making them to register with FSSAI. The objective is to ensure quality in all types of food businesses and also to promote a healthy society. The organisation proposed to make the application, supervision, complaints and other issues online. As per the proposal, there should be one health inspector for every 1,000 food units.
However, at the ground level, the situation is far from encouraging. There is no proper supervision by the authorities. The officials have no idea as to how many such eateries exist in Hyderabad. In Greater Hyderabad alone, where the population is about one crore, there are only three food inspectors and the number of inspectors needed is at least 30, which is one per a circle. The official said that on an average they get 25 to 30 complaints in a month of stale food being sold by restaurants.
“When we raid the food joints, we find the place unhygienic and we impose penalties, book cases and send samples for tests,” said the official. The official said that there is one recognised lab (State Food Laboratory) and it is burdened with samples from other states too. Once a 300-member institution now has only 30-odd staff testing hundreds of food samples every month.
For a report, which can be submitted within 14 days, it is taking over two months. The delay in bifurcation of the laboratory between Telangana and AP is also burdening the laboratory. Since the State Food Laboratory is in the Tenth Schedule and remains common for both the Telugu states.
According sources, during the last nine months the lab received over 4,400 samples from both the states. The FSSAI has proposed to give funds to the state government for setting up of food safety and standards authority in the state and wanted it to be autonomous. The organisation would help in having mobile testing units with necessary equipment to check adulterations. It also envisages to bring awareness among the businessmen on the importance of maintaining quality and hygienic food.
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