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Tell how many Food Safety Officer posts are needed for State, asks HC

Go by the population of the State in your assessment, govt. told

Noting that the government was constitutionally bound to look after the health and well-being of people, the Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the State government to file an affidavit on the number of Food Safety Officers required to be recruited for the entire State.

A division bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A. Abhishek Reddy passed this direction, while hearing a PIL plea on usage of carbide for artificial ripening of fruits. A news report on how carbide was being used for artificially ripening fruits in a Telugu daily and how health of people was being adversely affected by this had been taken up as PIL by the HC in 2015.

After hearing contentions of counsel, the bench instructed the Principal Secretary of Medical and Health to ascertain how many Food Safety Officers were required to keep tabs on different types of food contamination and initiate legal action against the offenders. While assessing the required number of posts, the government should not go by how many such posts were created in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka, the bench said in its interim direction.

But the government should take into account the population of the State and assess the number of Food Safety Officer posts required to look after the health of people, the bench said in its order. It also instructed the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) to fill 36 posts of Food Safety Inspector/Food Safety Officer lying vacant out of the 61 posts created by the government. Posts of six Gazetted Food Inspector and one post of Assistant Food Controller, along with the above posts, should be filled within two months, said the order.

The bench ordered the government to file an affidavit on the measures it had taken to curtail production of carbide and how it was controlling availability of carbide in the market. It sought to know how many persons the government had prosecuted for misuse of carbide till the end of November 2019.

The plea was posted for January 6, 2020.

Punjab bars online food aggregators from delivery from outlets sans hygiene rating

CHANDIGARH: The online food delivery aggregator companies operating in Punjab will not be able to deliver food from outlets without hygiene rating. 

The decision has been taken by food and drug administration (FDA), Punjab after these firms showed reluctance in getting the food business operators (FBOs) registered with them rated for hygiene, despite repeated directions from the authorities.

There are about one lakh food outlets in the state, of which about 5,000 are registered with different online food delivery aggregator companies. Of total, these companies have managed to get only about 200 food outlets rated. Unhappy with the response, the FDA has decided to take action against the erring aggregators under Section 30 of the Food and Safety Act which empowers FDA commissioner to prohibit manufacture, storage, distribution or sale of any article of food for non-compliance.

All the major the online food delivery aggregator companies - Zomato, Swiggy, Uber Eats and Food Panda - were first asked in May this year to get audit and hygiene rating of FBOs registered with them from 23 companies empanelled with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) by August 31. After getting no response, they were given time till October 31. As per directions, only those FBOs who get three or higher hygiene rating would be allowed to supply food.

The cost involved in getting the outlets rated is one of the key reasons for non-compliance. The FSSAI empanelled companies charge fee between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000 for assessment of a single restaurant. The final ratings are given only after compliance of shortcomings pointed out during assessment, which also include cost.

KS Pannu, FDA commissioner, held a meeting on December 24 with the representatives of these companies and officials of the department to decide the next course of action. "The decision has been taken after the online food companies showed little interest. It is our duty to help consumers make informed choice about outlets from where they place food order online. We will not allow any firm to deliver food without getting the outlets rates," said Pannu. He added that a formal order will be issued shortly.

As per the norms laid down by FSSAI, each FBO will get score based on self-assessment questionnaire for compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures. Physical inspection and validation will be done by Food and Drug Administration, Punjab. As per level of compliance, hygiene rating will be given in the range of 0 to 5.