Licences issued to food vendors - THE HINDU

Newly-formed food safety department hopes to complete process this month

The food you eat, the meat you purchase or the milk products you buy will all now be monitored by the Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department that will ensure that they are hygienic for consumption.

Ever since the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 came into force in August last year, the department has been issuing licenses to food-business operators. Around 450 licences have been issued to various food business organisations in the city from the 750 applications it has received so far. The city has around 12,000 food-business operators. Licenses issued to traders under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act of 1954 expired in March this year, and the businesses need to acquire fresh licenses under the new act.

“We are not rejecting any applications. We are issuing licences to all the applicants. Following this, we will give improvement notices to those who need to make necessary changes,” said Krishna Raj, designated officer of the department in Chennai. “We hope to issue all the licences by the end of April.”

The city at present has 25 food safety officers, who will regularly inspect the outlets and look into complaints. “The food safety officers exclusively ensure the hygiene of food alone,” says Mr. Krishna Raj.

With the new department in place since August last year, hotels say they find the system convenient. “We have applied for licences for all our outlets and hope to get them within 15 days,” says Masilla Esther, senior executive, corporate affairs, Domino's Pizza, Chennai.

“We plan to organise a health camp in specific locations for the employees of our outlets. This way, it will be convenient for them to get fitness certificates.”

While many food business organisations, particularly the packaging industry, have expressed concerns about the tough penalties imposed on violators of the Act, Mr. Krishna Raj says that an improvement notice will be first issued for the business house to work on its deficiencies. “The fine or punishment for the offender will be decided based on the extent of risk involved. For instance, if more people are affected or if the extent of danger is higher, the punishment will be graver,” he said. Roadside eateries and petty shops will also come under the Act. According to officials, the vendors will be educated on following certain norms to improve and maintain hygiene.

We will tell them that they should be aware of the source of the ingredients such as tea dust, which will help us trace out contamination in case of complaints,” he added.

Aggrieved consumers can complain to the designated officer at 94435 47147.

Salem Collector warns against food adulteration - The Hindu

K. Maharabushanam

Action would be taken against manufacturers and traders who fail to ensure safety in foods supplied to the consumers.

Action would also be taken against misleading claims in advertisements given by companies involved in food business. This was decided at a food safety review meeting held at district Collectorate here recently.

Chairing the meeting, Collector K. Maharabushanam said that all food sellers, manufacturers, rice mills, sago factories, food sellers, hoteliers, tea stall owners, road side eateries, bakeries, meat sellers, fruit vendors, milk sellers, persons who run canteen in schools and colleges should register themselves with food safety officers and continue their business. Violators will be prosecuted under The Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006. A fine ranging from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 10 lakh would be levied and imprisonment ranging from three months to seven years for violators.

The Collector said that hygiene and food safety should be ensured by everyone involved in food trade and officials should monitor and assess them regularly. There are 36 food safety officers in the district.

He also warned against misleading claims in advertisements.

Officials from health department participated in the meeting.

Food free from fear - THE HINDU

AP FREE LUNCH: The Act promises international standards for food quality..Photo: AP 

Food Safety Standards Authority asks States to set up an implementation mechanism to ensure distribution of safe and wholesome food

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has asked the States to put in place an adequate and effective structure to administer the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which came into effect from August 5 last year.

The Act essentially involves putting in place an effective enforcement machinery to ensure safety in foods that are consumed. It was drafted as a consolidated Act bringing under its jurisdiction various individual Acts including the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

In a letter to the States, K. Chandramouli, chairperson of the Authority has asked them to direct all concerned to initiate, set up and strengthen the implementing agencies so that “we could improve and put in place an adequate and effective structure to administer the Act.”

“You would agree that this is a very stupendous task and would need a very well coordinated effort involving local bodies like the municipalities, town areas and panchayats. A very strong information, education and communication (IEC) effort with local training and capacity building for government staff would also need to be put in place,” Mr Chandramouli said while adding that FSSAI would be supporting the States in terms of providing on-line software and material, training modules, training of trainers and resource persons. We have also sought budgetary support to strengthen the regulatory system in the 12th Plan, he said.

Under the Act, it is essential that enforcement structure includes the posting of the designated officers at the district level and at Food Safety Offices in the sub-district level who would enforce the Act. At the State level, the Food Safety Commissioner is the head of this machinery. Some States have already appointed a Food Safety Commissioner and also have in place the structure for the enforcement of the Act. The new Act is more holistic and science based and is less regulatory with graded penalties.

The Act has also defined a Central Advisory Committee with representation of all States to meet regularly to monitor, review and assess the implementation of this law. In the last meeting held in January, some of the issues which were common and relevant to all States were taken up and discussed, including training of manpower at the district and sub-district level in the areas of sampling, licensing and registration.

“There is a need to supplement the manpower and strengthening of the system. The licenses are to be issued to all Food Business Operators (FBO) through conversion of their earlier licenses issued under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and in cases where FBOs have come into being, issuance of new licenses. Similarly, a large number of small time FBOs would need to be registered,'' Mr Chandramouli has said in his letter.

The Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 is at par with international standards, ensuring improved quality of food for consumers and censure of misleading claims and advertisements by those in the food business.

FSSAI, established under the overarching legislation, lays down science based standards for food items and regulates their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

15 food cell officers to monitor quality

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:B.Maheswari, District Collector, addressing traders at an awareness meeting on food safety Act in Pudukottai on Saturday.

Collector convenes meeting with traders to explain provisions of ‘Food safety and standards Act 2006'

Fifteen food cell officers will monitor the quality of food and packed food products being sold in the district, said B.Maheswari, District Collector, on Saturday.

Addressing traders at a meeting to explain them the provisions of ‘Food safety and standards Act 2006,' she said that the new Act replaces eight food-related laws.

Retail traders

Under the Act which came into force on August 5 last year, she said every retail trader dealing with food and food products such as bakers, pavement vendors, mutton stalls should possess an identity card with photographs to be issued by the district administration shortly.

She clarified that the provisions of the Act aimed at ensuring quality in delivery and sought the cooperation of the traders in its implementation.

K.Nagarajan, District Revenue Officer and V.Arumugam, District Designated Officer for Food Safety, were present.

Separate department to handle food safety and drug administration

A separate department for Food Safety and Drug Administration for issuing licences and registering dealers in edible goods has been created under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as mandated under the Food Safety and Standards Act that came into force on August 5, 2011.

According to an administration release, the State government had made a preliminary allocation of Rs.50 crore in the budget for the new department. Under the Act, the State government has appointed a Food Commissioner at the State level, and designated food safety officers at district and block level. The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, consolidates all existing food laws and has repealed eight food-related laws. With the coming into force of Food Safety and Standards Act, the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954; The Fruit Products Order, 1955; The Meat Food Products Order, 1973; The Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947; The Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order, 1988; The Solvent Extracted Oil, De-oiled Meal, and Edible Flour (Control) Order,1967; The Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992; Essential Commodities Act, 1955 relating to food along with the Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939; stands repealed since August 5, 2011.

Under the earlier Act - petty shop owners, grocers, petty vendors, tea stalls, bakeries, butchers and those dealing in raw meat, eateries, dealers and retailers in milk and dairy products, road-side eateries and vendors, fish vendors, retailers, canteens in school, colleges, and movie halls, wedding halls, hostel mess, and private caterers among others were required to have their activities registered with the local bodies or other entities concerned. With the coming into force of the new Act, all registrations, licensing, and renewal shall be solely handled by the Department of Food Safety and Drug Administration.

“Keep the Food Safety and Standards Act in abeyance”

The government should keep the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act in abeyance for three years so as to give time to frame rules that would not harm the domestic industry. In its present form, the FSS Act would favour only multinational companies and strike the death knell for the indigenous industry, said S. P. Jeyapragasam, president of Tamil Nadu Foodgrains Merchants Association, on Friday.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Jeyapragasam said that the definition for ‘adulteration' was not clear in the FSS Act. In a country like India, it would be difficult to produce ingredients for food products with uniform quality.

The Act stipulated standards that were prevalent in 1954, he claimed and said that agricultural practices had changed over the decades through infusion of technology, fertilizers and pesticides. It took six months to grow paddy in 1954 but it was now possible to harvest the crop in 90 days.

Mr. Jeyapragasam said that the enforcing authorities in the State lacked clear knowledge of the Act and familiarisation programmes were being conducted for them now.

The food standards prescribed in FSS Act conformed to European and US standards but India was a vast country that produced cereals, pulses and grains of varying quality in different climatic conditions. The nutritional value and protein, sugar and moisture content were not the same and hence would not match the parameters of the Act.

He claimed that certain preservatives had to be used in the preparation of food items and this could not be termed as adulteration.

The Act prohibited the use of sodium bicarbonate and insisted on the use of sorbic acid in ‘appalam.'

But sodium bicarbonate was allowed to be used in instant mixes. Mr. Jeyapragasam felt that a clause calling food items that did not contain ingredients with the prescribed quality, but were not harmful to health, as ‘sub-standard' could be included in the Act.

The association president also pointed out that food analysis laboratories were located only in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Thanjavur and Palayamkottai and it would be difficult for all manufacturers to get all their ingredients tested in time with the available facility.

Mr. Jeyapragasam appealed to the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, to persuade the Centre to keep the implementation of the FSS Act in abeyance for three years till the Standards Review Cell studied the suggestions and objections from manufacturers and traders.

Associations take exception to certain provisions - THE HINDU

The Chennai Corporation will no longer issue food licences due to the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) replacing the erstwhile Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFAA). It has directed hotels, restaurants and retailers in the city to approach the office of the Commissioner of Food Safety for issue of food licences henceforth. The FSSA designates the Commissioner of Food Safety as the licensing authority.
Hotels, bakeries, tea-shops, sweet and savouries stalls, departmental stores, vegetable and fruit vendors, everybody selling food items would be coming under the purview of the new Act, say those in various trade associations.
Associations including the Chennai Hotels Owners Association and Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangakalin Peramaipu have raised objections to provisions relating to fine and penalty clauses, the amount of licence fee fixed under the Act and the standards of various products.
K.T. Srinivasa Raja, president, Chennai Hotels Owners Association, said the uniform licence fee would affect small hotels. “We don't know why the government is treating this as revenue instead of as nominal fee. We have already sent a letter to the Central government in this regard and hope we would hear something positive from them,” he said.
Mr. Raja explained that standards including lighting, drainage, consumer safety, food handling, upkeep of kitchens, ingredients used, source of raw materials, shelf life of food products were prescribed by the new Act. It prescribed penalty up to Rs.10 lakh and 6 months' imprisonment, which was being objected to by the trading community, he said.
“There are just too many things and it will take time for those in the industry to understand. We are holding discussions with association members in this regard,” he added. The city has around 10,000 small and big restaurants and eateries and around 3,000 bakeries.
K. Mohan, State general secretary, Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangankalin Peramaipu, said that in Chennai alone there were 1.25 lakh traders, wholesales, retailers and petty shops.
“The new Act has standards for items including the common coriander, chutney, sambar, idli. It also states that food items should not be sold unpackaged, which means road-side sundal sellers and idli shops would be affected.”
Those having an annual turnover of less than Rs.12 lakh are also to register with the Commissioner. Though standards have been fixed under the Act, there are very few laboratories in the State to check these, he added.

Patent granted to kit prepared by Haryana Univ for testing urea in milk

The newly established Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar, has been granted a patent by the Government of India for commercial production for the “Urea Detection in Milk” technology developed by its Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology, College of Veterinary Sciences for testing Urea in milk.

 The Milk Testing Kit had been available for common public use since last year. According to the technique, a drop of reagent is put on a filter paper and then a drop of milk is also put on the reagent. If milk contains urea, a yellow colour ring develops within 2-3 minutes on the walls of milk-pot. The kit is available at the Farmer Service Centre of the University and at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Karnal.

Patent granted to ‘Urea Detection in Milk’ technique in Haryana - THE HINDU

The Hindu - An official testing the quality of milk in Kochi to check the flow of low quality milk in the market during festive season. A file photo: Vipin Chandran. 

Patent for the technology of ‘Urea Detection in Milk’, developed by a scientist of Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar, has been granted by the Patent Office.

P K Kapoor, Head of Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology, College of Veterinary Sciences, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar informed that a patent has been granted by Government of India to the technology of ‘Urea Detection in Milk’. 

It has been developed by Dr. Gulshan Narang, Disease Investigation Officer of the department.

In this technique, a drop of reagent is put on filter paper and then a drop of milk is also put on the reagent, if milk contains urea, yellow colour ring develops within one minute around the milk.

This technique is very simple and does not require costly equipments, said Dr. Narang. 

This test can be performed by any lay person and even at the site of collection of milk. This kit is also available at “Kisan Sewa Kendra”, Hisar and “Krishi Vigyan Kendra”, Karnal, he said.

Dr. Narang said that the urea is very hazardous for health, and this technology has more significance during summer and festival season when demand of milk is high and some bad elements produce synthetic milk.

Ensure food safety by March 7, roadside eateries told

The Hindu Though tempting, roadside eateries can cause stomach ailments. Photo: K.Ananthan 

Officials sensitise owners, vendors to Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006

The Food and Drug Administration Department of Food Safety Directorate has fixed March 7 as the deadline for owners of roadside, small eateries and food vendors using pushcarts to fall in line with the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 to ensure hygiene and food safety.

Designated Officer for Food Safety R. Kadiravan, Food Safety Officers K. Chandran and R. Govindarajan on Thursday sensitised owners of small, roadside eateries and food stalls on pushcarts to the provisions in the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 compared to the repealed Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

The owners will have to apply for licence and registration before March 7 failing which they will be evicted from their places of business. If the vendor has applied for licence and there is a delay in its issuance then he/she is at liberty to carry on with the business and the Act insulates him/her from action. The Department will provide identity cards with photo and certificates to them. 

The food stall owners should provide protected potable drinking water preferably water packets or bottled water to customers and the workers should be wearing masks and gloves. Those preparing and serving food should wear aprons and there should be stainless steel replacing iron or wooden surfaces on which the food is being prepared. All the three sides of the cooking place in pushcarts should be covered with 2.5-ft glass panes. 

Food should not be merely served on plates and there should be a plantain leaf or a butter paper. Spoons provided should be of “use and throw” type to prevent repeated use without proper cleaning. The food containers should remain closed and there should be containers or drums to wash hands.

No eatery or pushcart should be closer to drainage. Eateries should have a board depicting the brands of edible items used. The officials point out that a beginning has been made and the machinery wants to make the food vendors obey the rules so that their business grows and also the health of the customers is not affected.

New Food Safety Licence irks Traders

The Hindu

It will only burden small business further, they say

With the Union Health Ministry making it mandatory for all traders and dealers of food items to obtain a new licence under the new Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), traders in Bangalore say it will burden them further.

The Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), passed by Parliament in 2006, replaced the erstwhile Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFAA) with effect from August 5, 2011. This means that all traders should obtain the new licence by August 4, 2012 failing which they will attract a six-month imprisonment along with a hefty penalty.

At an interaction with C.R. Srinivasa Gowda, Joint Director of State Public Health Institute on Wednesday, members of Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) expressed their displeasure over the new licence being made mandatory.

Long red tape

Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, who heads the FKCCI's APMC and Internal Trade Committee, said although traders were not against the Act they were concerned over the elaborate process of documentation required to be maintained to adhere to the new rules. “This will be major hindrance for small operators,” he said.

While some traders pointed out that the Health Department had not made any efforts to create awareness about the new food safety rules, others wanted the Government to first provide them with adequate infrastructure to run their business.

‘Who is monitoring?'

R.V. Gopi, president of Vegetable and Fruit Wholesale Merchants Association, who spoke on the unhygienic conditions in the city's markets, said: “If you see the surroundings of Kalasipalyam wholesale market, you will stop buying vegetables and fruits. Hotels buy their stocks from here and no one knows whether they clean the vegetables before cooking. How do your ensure food safety in such circumstances? Who will be responsible — the traders or the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) — for not maintaining cleanliness?”

Responding, Mr. Srinivasa Gowda said traders could complain to the BBMP about the poor maintenance of markets.

Big challenge

Admitting that the transition from the old Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954 to the new Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 was a big challenge for the State Health and Family Welfare Department's Food Safety Commissionerate, Mr. Gowda said efforts were being made for effective implementation of the Act.

FKCCI senior vice president K. Shiva Shanmugam and BBMP Chief Health Officer K.E. Manjula spoke.

Traders stage protest against Food Safety Act

The Hindu Members of Federation of Manufacturers and Traders of Food Products of Tamil Nadu staging a protest against the implementation of Food Safety and Standards Act 2011 in Madurai on Thursday.Photo:R. Ashok

Central Government urged to postpone implementation

Food producers, dealers, traders and merchants joined hands to stage demonstrations simultaneously at 32 places across Tamil Nadu on Thursday demanding that the Central Government must postpone the implementation of the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act 2006, which was notified and implemented from August 5, 2011.

In Madurai, members of trade and industry bodies such as Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association, The Tamil Nadu Foodgrains Merchants Association (TNFMA), Tamil Nadu Vanikar Sangangalin Perammaippu and Tamil Nadu Vanikar Sangangalin Peravai besides associations representing farmers and commodity dealers took part in the agitation.

To corporates

Terming it as beneficial only to corporates, the agitators said that the food standards under the new Act had been drafted without factoring in local ground conditions and were suited only for Western countries, where even a small farmer possessed over 100 acres.

Addressing the meeting, TNFMA Association president S.P. Jeyapragasam said that the FSA would sound the death knell for the small food operators who would be wiped out by its onerous provisions.

Even though a food business operator had obtained a licence to sell a particular product in one city, TNFMA vice president P. Subash Chandra Bose said, the operator would have to again apply for licence if he wanted to sell in another city.

Such provisions were only bringing back the hated “license raj” regime.

Further, he also said, the act mandated that a food product must maintain uniform standards across the country.

However, with climate, soil and farming practices varying across regions, such uniformity cannot be brought about, he added.

MADITSSIA president V.S. Manimaran said that while the Act specified that agro-products should be tested to ensure that they maintained the mandated standards, there were very few Government or accredited food laboratories in the country that were capable of analysing the samples.

He also noted that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, in her address to the Legislature, had expressed the view that the Act would hurt the small industries.

Hefty fines

Various speakers also pointed out that fines as per FSA were over 100 times when compared to the erstwhile Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

Besides demanding that the law give adequate time and opportunity to the people to set right their deficiencies, the protestors said that the maximum penalty must be brought substantially from the present Rs. 1 lakh.

Sensitising traders to Food Safety and Standards Act

Explaining the salient features of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, which has repealed the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act of 1954, the Food Safety Office, Coimbatore, sensitised the merchant community to the need for registration and obtaining licence.
Food safety and prevention of adulteration has been taken away from the local administration ministry and made a separate department under the Food Safety Authority of India. In the State, Food Safety Commissionerate and Designated Officers for Food Safety and Food Safety Officers come under the Department of Health and Family Welfare. The Act has come into being from August 5, 2011 and now the modalities have been finalised and enforcement has begun.
The Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 will automatically repeal any other State legislation on food safety in force.
In Coimbatore, Designated Officer R. Kadiravan along with Food Safety Officers K. Chandran, K. Sakthivel and R. Ramachandran addressed the members of the merchant community recently to explain the features of the Act.
The Act brings roadside eateries, food stalls and vendors under its purview and also enables manufacturers of food items to write to the Food Safety authorities and recall their food products in the event of defective products or adulteration in their food items. As against the seven different licences for products coming under the Fruit Product Order, Meat Food Production Order, Vegetable Oil Product Control Order, Edible oil Packaging and Regulation Order 1988, Solvent Extracted Oil Order, Edible Flour Food Products Order, Milk Products Order 1992 and any other orders relating to products covered under Essential Commodities Act 1955, there is only one unified licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
The new order also calls for just a registration fee of Rs.100 for small food business while for businesses with higher turnover, licence is required for which the fee is Rs.2,000. For registration and licence, there is a time bound mechanism. If there is failure to issue registration within 30 days or to issue licence within 60 days, the applicant is at liberty to continue his business.
The Act has also given provision for appointment of private agencies, which will take up the registration and licence application procedure for merchants.
The Food Safety authorities here have planned to begin the enrolment for registration and licence by holding special camps at market places. List of private food laboratories with certification from National Accreditation Board for Calibration and Laboratories (NABL) has been circulated and the Government laboratories are also on the job of getting the NABL certification. Under the previous Act, during inspection, three samples used to be lifted. To prevent complaints of excesses, the new Act paves the way for picking up four samples and the manufacturer or shop owner is at liberty to send one of the samples to a private laboratory of his choice. In the event of difference in lab reports, then the samples could be sent to the referral laboratory. There are enough provisions to ensure food safety and prevention of adulteration and also to protect the merchant community from official high-handedness, the officials point out.

Mobile labs to keep tabs on food and beverages industry

To tighten control over the food and beverages industry, mobile laboratories equipped for surveillance and inspection will soon be deployed, B.S. Ramaprasad, Commissioner, Health and Family Welfare Services, has said.

Among the biggest challenges in implementing the new Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2011 are the lack of food safety inspectors and the poor status of public laboratories, said Mr. Ramaprasad at a seminar on the FSS Act organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Commerce here on Thursday.

The FSS Act, which will replace the over-50 year-old Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954, seeks to integrate several food laws that govern vegetables, meat, milk and edible oil.

No NABL accreditation

“The State has 104 food safety inspectors when the requirement is 234. And while we have five public labs, they are not accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL). We need these labs upgraded,” he said. The State will soon get a new NABL-accredited lab, set up in association with the Karnataka Health System Development and Reform Project, and with funding from the World Bank.

‘Some resistance'

Mr. Ramaprasad added that he had encountered resistance from a section of hoteliers in the State for registering under the new Act as they feared penalties and imprisonment that the new Act prescribes for certain violations.

New contaminants

In her lecture on current trends in food analysis, Lalitha R. Gowda, head of the Food Safety and Analytical Quality Control Laboratory, Central Food Technology Research Institute, Mysore, said that new contaminants now laced our food. Antibiotics and veterinary drug residues were the new additions to the list of additives, pesticides and microbiological contamination.

Food products targeted for adulteration are generally of high commercial value, she said.

This included the addition of corn or cane sugar in honey, artificial vanillin to natural vanilla extract or dilution of wine with water.

Identifying adulteration

However, there are a host of new techniques to identify adulteration, Dr. Gowda said. For instance, high performance liquid chromatography can chemically profile fruit juice to detect adulteration, and isotope ratio mass spectrometry can find out if a fruit has been artificially ripened.

The industry must ensure consumers are empowered with complete information about the products they buy, whether about composition or nutrition, said Bejon Misra, former member of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.

Hotels form panel to study new food law

Hotel and Restaurants Association has decided to form a core committee to look into the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and the rules framed under it this year.Swarna Sundar, its vice-president, said the core committee would follow up on the matter.
The core committee had 15 members of the association, which had more than 1,000 members from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. They include hoteliers, ice cream, and soft drink manufacturers and those who run bakeries. Mangalore had 150 members and they were all hoteliers.
This decision was taken at a meeting of the association to discuss the Act here on Tuesday.
The association had urged the Government to give the industry the infrastructure to check adulteration of food, he said. “Even the water which we get is not clean. Although we clean the water with water purifiers, the source is not ok, so why blame us?,” he said.
A food safety consultant, Ananthaprasad, earlier addressing the members of the Dakshina Kannada Hotels and Restaurants Association, said they must get ready for the implementation of the Food Safety Act. He said that awareness and education about the Act was very important. He said that big and medium restaurants, hoteliers, small “darshinis”, and bakeries should make a task force and study the Act.
The meeting was held in the context of notices sent to food safety officers (earlier known as health inspectors) that they should check the licences of hotels and restaurants and charge penalties from those not maintaining safety standards as defined in the rules and regulations framed this year under Act, said Devi Prasad, Secretary, Mangalore Hotel and Restaurants' Association.
Mr. Ananthaprasad said since there was no infrastructure in hotels to test the quality, putting the onus on hotels and restaurants for safety of foods was not correct. The hoteliers were not consulted on whether or not they could implement the quality standards. The hotels and restaurants did not have the infrastructure or the money to implement what has been asked of them, he said.
He told the members that they must keep records such as the source of the material they used in the hotels and the name of their vendors. “Please specify quality parameters, control the supplies,” he said.

---

The core committee has 15 members of the Mangalore Hotel and Restaurants Association

It has urged the government to give necessary infrastructure, says an office-bearer

Hitches hamper functioning of food safety officers

Though tempting, roadside eateries can cause stomach ailments 

Transition period problems are being overcome: officials

Too many hitches seem to hamper the functioning of food safety officers (FSO).

Delay in issue of a GO bringing them under the Department of Public Health and Family Welfare has prevented the 500-odd food safety officers from receiving their first month's salary till date.

Repealing the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 was brought in creating the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Food safety officers come under the Food Safety Commissionerate.

The State, which implemented the new system, brought in 385 FSOs for rural areas, 148 for urban areas, besides 30-odd in reserve.

Sanitary inspectors in local bodies were designated as food safety officers.

The first hitch the FSOs now faced was that they have not received their first month's salary.

Enquiries revealed that tallying of pay particulars and creation of a separate code and head of account for the treasury to disburse the salary had led to the delay.

Sources also clarified that the disbursement of salaries for the FSOs would take place within the next three to four working days.

Going by the number of trades listed and merchants existing, Tamil Nadu is the only State to have gone in for creation of more than 500 FSO posts, so that the objective of food safety could be achieved preventing adulteration by frequent inspections. However, the FSOs initially faced a problem of not having any National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration of Laboratories (NABL) accredited laboratory. The FSOs need to lift food samples in the event of a suspicion of adulteration. The samples need to be sent to a laboratory.

Food Safety and Standards Act stipulates that testing of food samples done only by laboratories which have the certification by the NABL.

There are six laboratories in Tamil Nadu at Coimbatore, Madurai, Thanjavur, Pudukottai and two at Chennai. However, the Government notified that the samples could be tested at the existing laboratories and a GO has already been issued and one-year transition time is given enabling the utilisation of the existing laboratories.

These laboratories have already commenced the process for NABL certification.

Sources also pointed out that making sanitary inspectors as food safety officers and bringing them under Department of Food and Drug Control under the Public Health and Family Welfare was in contravention to the constitutional provision. Sources said that Article 243 (w) of the Constitution and XIIth schedule says that Food Safety under Public Health is the power and responsibility of the local self governments i.e., local bodies.

Officials disputing the contention said that almost all the States excepting in only one local body in Gujarat, the food safety has come under the purview of the Government relieving the local bodies of that responsibility.

The objective of taking away food safety from the local bodies to a separate department was to ensure undivided attention on the department.

If the FSOs continued with the local bodies, the chances of they being frequently drafted for other pressing works of the local body was more, thus defeating the objective of food safety.

New Food Safety Act a tough nut to crack

Discussions: Delegates at a workshop, ‘Food safety – the way forward', in Bangalore on Saturday.

 

The transition from the old Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 to the new Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which came into being from August 5 this year, has turned out to be a big challenge for the State Health and Family Welfare Department's Food Safety Commissionerate.

Without a proper database on the number of business enterprises in the food industry, including roadside petty eateries, and inadequate staff and infrastructure, the department has now taken up a pilot project on effective implementation of the Act in Jayanagar and Banaswadi wards.

State Food Safety Commissioner B.S. Ramaprasad, who is also the State Health Commissioner, told The Hindu on the sidelines of the workshop, ‘Food safety – the way forward', held in the city on Saturday, that the project was being carried out by the Centre for Sustainable Development (CSD) in association with the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Based on the project, a survey of all food outlets and eateries in the State would be carried out. Admitting shortage of qualified food safety officers, Mr. Ramprasad said: “We require 234 food safety officers, but we have only 104. We have five laboratories to test food samples, including the Public Health Institute in Bangalore. But there is a shortage of analysts to test the samples: we have only eight while we need at least 20.”

Website, call centre

CSD Chairperson A. Ravindra said his organisation was readying a website for the Karnataka State Food Safety and Standards Authority. “Aimed at enabling proper implementation of the Act, it will also function as a call centre for people to complain about any food safety issues.”

Designated food safety officers would reply to the complaints with action taken reports within a stipulated time. “A team of researchers from IIMB, led by professor Gopal Naik, has prepared a framework on how the Act should be implemented in the State,” he said. The 104 food safety officers attended the workshop which was organised by the State Food Safety Commissionerate along with Nestle Nutrition Institute.