THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For many, the lockdown was an opportunity to discover their entrepreneurial skills. Homemakers, students and those who lost their jobs in the initial phases of the pandemic set up home-based food businesses. According to the officials of the Commissionerate of Food Safety, they received 2,300 applications from the capital city itself for starting home-based food and fresh fish businesses.
However, associations of other food business operators have raised a complaint with the Commissionerate urging them to take action against those who started the ventures without obtaining the mandatory licence or registration. Following this, the Commissionerate was flooded with applications for registration.Assistant food safety commissioner, Thiruvananthapuram, Alex K stressed that registration is mandatory for those running home-based food businesses.
“Fines are collected based on their volume of business. While we encourage young entrepreneurs to venture into the food business, action will be taken if we receive complaints,” said Alex. Food safety authorities will provide Food Safety Training and Certification to home-based chefs. The certificate will ensure the chefs maintain the food safety standards mandated by FSSAI(Food Safety and Standards Authority of India).
According to city-based home chef Najiya Irshad, the authorities should focus on creating awareness among those venturing into the food business. “A majority are unaware that a licence or registration is mandatory. Often there are negative campaigns on social media which affect home-based chefs. We should be more organised and the authorities should keep track of malpractices in the food industry,” she said.