NEW DELHI: Nearly 100 jails in India have been certified as ‘Eat Right Campus’ by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in its bid to promote safe and healthy eating habits within different campuses.
Among the jails are Tihar Prison (Delhi), Central Jail Gaya (Bihar), Modern Central Jail (Punjab), and Central Jail Rewa (Madhya Pradesh), along with several district and mandal jails.
The highest number of certified jails are from Uttar Pradesh, followed by Punjab, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
This initiative falls under FSSAI’s Eat Right India movement and aims to promote safe, healthy and sustainable food in different workplaces and institutions, including jails, according to a statement.
“By extending the Eat Right Campus certification to prisons and correctional facilities, FSSAI underscores its commitment to ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all, including inmates and prison staff,” it added.
The ‘Eat Right Campus’ certification process involves rigorous assessment and adherence to FSSAI's prescribed evaluation criteria.
“By meeting these standards, the certified jails have demonstrated their dedication to promoting the food safety and well-being of inmates. This initiative plays a crucial role in creating a sense of responsibility and accountability towards food safety and nutrition within the prison system,” it said.
As it mandates the provision of ensuring availability of safe and balanced food, its contribution to the overall well-being of the inmates is evident, it said, adding that by setting an example for other institutions, the certified jails inspire a broader cultural shift towards safer food environments nationwide.
The participant jail campuses undergo comprehensive audits to ensure compliance with four key parameters, which include basic hygiene criteria, steps to ensure the provision of healthy food and efforts towards building awareness about local and seasonal food.
Once enrolled in the programme, a campus first undergoes a self-assessment or a third-party audit by an FSSAI empanelled agency based on this checklist to identify gaps and areas of improvement.
The campus administration then takes steps to address these gaps.
A critical step of this process includes training of Food Safety Supervisors and food handlers in the campus through FSSAI's Food Safety Training and Certification (FoSTaC) Programme. FoSTaC is designed to impart training to food handlers on good hygiene and manufacturing practices.
Once these improvements are made, the campus undergoes a final audit by the same FSSAI-empaneled agency and is given a certification for Eat Right Campus.
Over 2,900 workplaces throughout the country have now been acknowledged as Eat Right Campuses.
“As this initiative keeps gathering momentum, FSSAI is dedicated to collaborating with institutions from various sectors to foster a culture of well-being and guarantee everyone access to healthy and hygienic food,” the statement added.