Food Safety dept. to hold camp for FSSAI clearance

Distribution of food at religious places to come under scanner

The Food Safety Department will hold its first registration camp in Kozhikode district for representatives of religious places, at Muthalakkulam on Tuesday. The initiative is aimed to bring food distribution in places of worships under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) rules.

The one-day camp will consider applications for FSSAI licence for supplying food to devotees during religious celebrations.

Registration

The department also plans to ascertain the number of places of worships where food is distributed. Registration procedures will be done through the online Food Licensing and Registration System (FLRS). In case of technical glitches during data entry, the information gathered will be handed over to the Akshaya team after verification for further processing. Also, the participants can approach Akshaya centres directly to apply for registration.

“We have no plan to conduct any forceful field enforcement drive to check food distribution in places of worship taking the sentiments of believers into account. This is an attempt to help them complete all formalities and secure licence,” said Food Safety Assistant Commissioner P.K. Aleyamma. She pointed out that registration had been recently made mandatory under the Blissful Hygienic Offering to God (BHOG) project.

For the record, the Food Safety Department made licence mandatory for food distribution in religious places in the wake of a recent incident in which several persons who consumed food at a temple in Karnataka died of food poisoning. Soon after the incident, the authorities had called for intensifying vigil in the sector where no mechanism is in place to check food distribution.

Violators will now have to face stronger legal actions and even imprisonment with the strict implementation of the rule.

They may have to remit fine up to ₹5 lakh, besides undergoing imprisoned for up to six months. The regulations will be equally applicable for all types of food distribution taken up by residents forums, associations, and event management teams.

Though the rule on distribution of food at places of worship has been in place for years, very few centres of worship have cooperated with the protocol. As distribution of food to devotees is only an annual affair for most places of worship, no one has shown interest in securing FSSAI registration for the purpose.