In healthy offerings to devotees, 700 temples to distribute certified prasad
NEW DELHI: As many as 700 Places of Worship (PoWs) in India, the maximum in Tamil Nadu, have been provided with the food safety license as part of the BHOG initiative by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for adopting and maintaining food safety and hygienic 'prasad' and food.
Among the PoWs that have been provided with the coveted certificates for providing safe and hygienic ‘prasad’ and food include the famed and iconic Mahakaleshwar Temple, Ujjain, Vaishno Devi temple, Jammu, Kedarnath temple, Uttarakhand, Rameshwaram temple, Tamil Nadu, Siddhivinayak temple, Mumbai, Akshardham Temple both in Delhi and Ahmedabad and Kashi Vishwanath temple, Varanasi.
Interestingly, out of the 700 PoWs, Tamil Nadu alone has 576 such places of worship that have been given these certificates.
Officials at the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), a statutory body under the Health Ministry, said they hope to add another 100 PoWs by the end of this year under the BHOG or Blissful Hygienic Offering to God initiative.
“In three months, we will add 100 more PoWs. We already have 50-60 in the queue for getting the certificates,” the official told TNIE.
It was observed that there are many small, small temples in Tamil Nadu which distribute ‘prasad’ to devotees, and they were the ones who opted for the voluntary programme. “It is impressive to see that even small temples in Tamil Nadu have adopted this voluntary programme,” the official added.
After Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (52) has the maximum number of PoWs who are part of the programme. It is followed by Gujarat (47), Himachal Pradesh (29), and Maharashtra (15). The other states are - Madhya Pradesh (11), Delhi (11), Karnataka (8), and Uttarakhand (4).
The BHOG initiative was launched in 2018 as part of the Eat Right India initiative, a large-scale effort to transform the country's food system to ensure safe, healthy and sustainable food for all Indians.
Under the programme, FSSAI issues certificates to places of worship handling food in packed form, loose meals etc.
“Through this initiative, we wanted to create awareness about hygiene in temples, gurdwaras and all the religious places, which is otherwise not possible. It will also give them a sense of pride that the blog or prasad they are giving to devotees is hygienic,” the official told TNIE.
While the onus is on the state, FSSAI helps build capacity and train food handlers and vendors and even priests on what safety measures they should adopt to ensure the ‘prasad’ or food they offer is hygienic and safe.
Besides training about following essential hygienic habits, they also teach them about washing hands, covering their head while preparing the food and keeping the area where they cook free of mosquitoes and insects.
Food handlers and vendors working in and around the complex also need to have medical records and should have licenses or registration to run the shops.
Some of the important steps that need to be followed by PoWs include food material being tested either through an internal laboratory or through an accredited lab; the oil being used is suitable for cooking purposes; a pest control program is available, and pest control activities are carried out by trained and experienced personnel, and food waste and other refuse including flowers are removed periodically from food handling areas to avoid accumulation.
Another condition is that PoWs have to display the certificate near where they are preparing the food or prasad.
“The onus is on the state for selection and implementation of the programme, but we have designed the concept, developed a checklist and came out with the curriculum which needs to be followed to train the staff. We also carry out third-party audits and verification through the Quality Council of India,” the official added.
The FSSAI certificates issued to PoWs are valid for two years, but surprise visits are conducted.
If it is found that PoWs have not followed the steps, the state will take immediate action to rectify the gap found. But if the certificate holder does not fix gaps, a letter is issued to suspend the certificate till they submit a compliance report.
The official said they feel the number is still less because many Indian states have iconic religious places. “We hope many more temples and religious places come forward to adopt this programme. It is just the beginning.”