Jan 5, 2020
Safe food streets to come up in Bhubaneswar
With increasing populations in the cities, food safety has been brought to focus by the State Government. Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy on Saturday in a high-level meeting reviewed the food safety measures in different cities.
Tripathy directed the Housing and Urban Development and Food Safety Commissionerate to take a special drive for creating intensive awareness among the street food vendors and the people. He also directed to educate the food vendors about food safety techniques and make people aware not to take unsafe food.
The CS also stressed on enforcing food safety measures through authorised outsourced agencies.
It was decided that the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) would identify the most populous stretches for creation of ‘safe food streets’ in the corporation area on a pilot basis. A proposal for appointment of designated Food Safety Officers in five municipal corporations was also approved at the meeting.
Tripathy directed to put in place an online system for creating a database of the oversight and enforcement activities.
Stating the updates, Food Safety Commissioner Yamini Sadangi appraised that there had been a steady increase in the number of registered food business operators (FBOs) in the State over last three years. The total number of registered FBOs has increased from 5,026 in 2016-17 to 25,822 in 2017-18 and 36,622 in the year 2018-19.
It was revealed that an online registration system for FBOs has been operational since December 2016. The payment of fees and dues as per FSS Act, 2006 has also been made online.
In the year 2018-19, a total number of 327 ‘legal samples’ were picked and tested out of which 92 samples were found either adulterated or misbranded against which 14 criminal and 33 civil cases have been instituted. Besides, a total number of 1599 ‘surveillance samples’ have also been collected principally from the places of public festivals and celebrations out of which 477 samples found adulterated have been fined.
With the Eat Right India movement, we seek to secure a healthy future
Transforming our food system poses one of the greatest leadership challenges and opportunities of our time
Food systems around the world are delivering unhealthy diets, raising the risk of death and disease, malnutrition, and rising obesity. Building a world where safe and nutritious food is available for everyone and everywhere requires transformation of the food systems
We are what we eat, and we eat what we get. But we do not get what we need. We get what our food system provides.
Food systems around the world are delivering unhealthy diets, raising the risk of death and disease, malnutrition, and rising obesity. Building a world where safe and nutritious food is available for everyone and everywhere requires transformation of the food systems.
Food systems lie at the interface of agriculture and rural economy, industry and commerce, public health and environment. Transforming them requires cooperation, partnerships and alliances, with public-private collaborations cutting across traditional silos. This poses one of the greatest leadership challenges and opportunities of our generation.
Food systems are critical to many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recognising this, the UN will host a Food Systems Summit in 2021 as part of the Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs.
At the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI ), we are leading a movement called Eat Right India, to provide safe and wholesome food to people everywhere. This requires a mix of regulatory, capacity building, collaborative and empowerment tools. By combining supportive actions to its primary regulatory mandate, we are taking a “food systems approach” to address these issues in a holistic manner. FSSAI was applauded for it by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat radio address in December last year.
The Eat Right India movement is a collective effort based on three pillars: Safety (if it’s not safe, it’s not food); Health (food should not only serve the palate but the body and mind); and Sustainability (food has to be good both for people and the planet).
There are five concrete actions under each pillar. Under safety, the focus is on ensuring personal and surrounding hygiene, maintaining hygienic and sanitary practices through the food supply chain, combating adulteration, reducing toxins and contaminants in food, and controlling food hazards in processing and manufacturing processes.
Under the healthy diet pillar, we promote dietary diversity and balanced diets, eating less and timely, eliminating toxic industrial trans fats from food, reducing consumption of salt, sugar and saturated fats and promoting large-scale fortification of staples to address micronutrient deficiencies.
The sustainable diet actions promote local and seasonal foods, preventing food loss and food waste, conserving water in food value chains, reducing use of chemicals in food production and preservation, and the use of safer and sustainable packaging.
These actions aim to achieve three things: inspire public trust in food available to people in the market or through government programmes, through improved safety and quality of food; second, to build a strong culture of self-compliance in all food businesses across the supply chain, with better ease of doing business; and finally, to promote safe, healthy and sustainable diets through both demand and supply side interventions, to protect the health of the people and the planet.
There is action on the ground as well. This includes certification of clean street food hubs, fruit and vegetable markets, hygiene rating of halwai shops, meat shops, safety of food served in religious places, and so on. Eat Right India’s home, school and campus initiatives are settings-based approaches to providing the right food environments so that people get what they need.
Mass campaigns with celebrity influencers like Virat Kohli, Raj Kumar Rao, Juhi Chawla and Sakshi Tanwar are triggering behavioural changes for informed food choices. A rich repository of content and messaging (print, digital audio and video) has been created and disseminated. A nation-wide scaling up of the Eat Right India movement is now planned.
The Eat Right India targets people across ages, gender, regions, and socioeconomic groups. It brings together food-related mandates of the agriculture, health, industry and environment ministries, with a “whole of government” approach. As a platform for collective action of stakeholders — consumers, food businesses, community organisations, experts and professionals, and the government — it is in fact a “whole of society” approach. It connects with other flagship programs — Ayushman Bharat, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Poshan Abhiyaan, Fit India movement — to institutionalise preventive health care as a way of life.
The Eat Right India movement has forged partnerships with food and nutrition professionals: dieticians, nutritionists, medical doctors, chefs, food scientists, technologists and analysts. They support outreach in collaboration with state food authorities.
FSSAI is gradually transitioning from enforcer to enabler and reformer. This integrative approach is unique for a developing economy like India, with its challenges in size, complexity, food diversity and the large unorganised sector. Eat Right India will be a good template for collective attention in the UN’s 2021 Food System Summit.
Govt to brand Capital streets for food safety
Bhubaneswar: In view of the rising demand for street food in cities like Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, the state government has decided to identify some stretches to brand them as ‘safe food streets’.
Expressing concern over unhealthy junk food items being served to people by some street vendors in cities, the government has taken the step to enable people to obtain safe food. The programme will be implemented on a pilot basis in Bhubaneswar and later extended to other corporation towns— Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkela.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy at Lok Seva Bhawan here, Saturday.
Reviewing the food safety measures in different cities, Tripathy directed the Housing & Urban Development department and Food Safety Commissioner to take a special drive for creating intensive awareness among the street food vendors and the people. He also directed to educate the food vendors about food safety techniques and make people aware not to take unsafe food.
Further, the Chief Secretary asked the officials concern to examine the possibility of enforcing food safety measures through authorised outsourced agencies with delegation of necessary powers.
It was decided that Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) would identify the most populous stretches for creation of ‘safe food streets’ in the corporation area on pilot basis.
Designated food safety officers (FSOs) will be appointed in five corporation towns of the state for the purpose. The Chief Secretary advised the officials to put in place an online system for creating a database of the oversight and enforcement activities.
Elaborating the updates, Food Safety Commissioner Yamini Sarangi said that there has been a steady increase in number of registered food business operators (FBOs) in the state over the last three years. The total number of registered FBOs has increased from 5,026 in 2016-17 to 25,822 in 2017-18 and 36,622 in 2018-19.
Available data show that online registration system for FBOs was launched in December 2016. The payment of fees and dues as per Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 has also been made online.
The State Food Testing Laboratory has been recognised by Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSI) and mobile food testing laboratory has been provided in the state since November 2017 to check the quality of food served in different areas of the state.
This apart, the government has launched Blissful Hygienic Offering to God (BHOG) programme at three places—Kali Temple at Baramunda, Sai Temple at Tankapani Road and Shani Temple at Vani Vihar in Bhubaneswar on a pilot basis to provide quality food to people.
Blissful Hygienic Offering to God ( BHOG) program has been launched in three places- Maa Kali Temple at Barmunda, Saibaba Temple at Tankapani Road and Shani DevTemple at Vanivihar-- in Bhubaneswar on Pilot basis.
BHOG is an initiative put forth by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
This move is to encourage Places of Worship (PoW) to adopt and maintain Food Safety and hygiene as well as convey food safety messages through such places to the people to follow as responsible citizens.
In Odisha BHOG has been implemented on Pilot Basis and it is one of the major flagship programs of the Food Safety Commissionerate.
Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy Saturday directed the Housing & Urban Development and Food Safety Commissionerate to launch a special drive for creating awareness among the street food vendors and the people on food safety.
Chairing a high level meeting to discuss food safety issues here, Mr.Tripathy directed the officials to educate the food vendors about food safety techniques and make people aware not to take unsafe food.
Reviewing the food safety measures in different cities, Mr.Tripathy issued directions to examine the possibility of enforcing food safety measures through authorized outsourced agencies with delegation of necessary powers.
It was decided in the meeting that BMC would identify the most populous stretches for creation of ‘safe food streets’ in the corporation area on pilot basis.
The proposal for ‘Designated Food Safety Officers’ in five Corporation areas was also approved in the meeting, said officials.
The Chief Secretary also directed to put in place an online system for creating a data base of the oversight and enforcement activities.
Food Safety Commissioner Yamini Sarangi said that there had been a steady increase in the number of registered food business operators (FBOs) in the State over last three years.
The total number of registered FBOs has increased from 5,026 in 2016-17 to 25,822 in 2017-18 and 36,622 in the year 2018-19.
According to officials, the online registration system for FBOs has been launched from December,2016 and the payment of fees and dues as per FSS Act 2006 has also been made online.
The State Food Testing Laboratory has been recognized by Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FASSI) and mobile food testing laboratory has been provided in the State from November, 2017.
In 2018-19 a total number of 327 ‘legal samples’ have been picked and tested out of which 92 samples have been found either adulterated or misbranded against which 14 criminal and 33 civil cases have been instituted, said officials.
Besides, 1599 ‘surveillance samples’ have also been collected principally from the places of public festivals and celebrations out of which 477 samples found adulterated have been fined.
The officials said that mobile food testing laboratory has tested 1832 samples and have conducted 140 awareness and 20 training programs.
Principal Secretary Health & Family Welfare Nikunja Bihari Dhal, Principal Secretary Housing& Urban Development G Mathivathnan, Director Municipal Administration Sangramjit Nayak along with senior officers from concerned departments participated in the deliberations.
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