HYDERABAD: Over the last six months, the Food Safety Task Force has conducted surprise inspections at more than 300 food establishments, 500 hostels and 80 hospital canteens across Telangana. However, not a single establishments’ licence has been cancelled till now.
In an exclusive interaction with TNIE, Commissioner of Food Safety RV Karnan said the department has only issued show cause notices for which the Food Business Operators (FBOs) are given 15 days to comply.
“The sole intention is to create sensitisation regarding food among people, prevent food adulteration and regulate the provisions of the Food Safety & Standard Act, 2006, so that the customers can make informed choices,” he said.
“We do not want to shut down the enterprises as it affects businesses and people also need them for dining. We do not have the authority to close them as it is the job of the local municipality. It might have affected some businesses but in the long run, it will benefit both people and FBOs. At least people now are demanding the FBOs to show the kitchens and know where to complain if they find any irregularity with FBOs,” he added.
However, the department has imposed fines on over 150 establishments starting from Rs 50,000 up to Rs 3 lakh for violating the safety norms mandated by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
As many as 180 of over 300 inspections have been conducted in restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets and dairies in Hyderabad. Both government and private hostels and hospital canteens have been examined. At several outlets, rat and cockroach infestation has been found along with violation of other norms such as storage of expired and stale food items, and usage of synthetic colours among other violations.
Karnan said big FBOs, expected to comply with the norms, have been inspected extensively. “We did not inspect the street vendors because they are neither much established nor aware of the FSSAI regulations. Moreover, vendors are daily wage earners, so their livelihood would be affected,” he said. He applauded the hygiene maintained in serving street food by the vendors in Southeast Asian countries, especially South Korea.
The commissioner recently started a camp for unregistered street vendors to get the mandatory FSSAI certificate at an annual cost of Rs 100. While around 77,000 are already registered, over 3,000 registrations have been done through the present camp. “They are registering in large numbers,” he noted.
Recently, the department started getting food establishments rated and audited by third-party empanelled agencies on the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) recommendations. “FSSAI has authorised the third parties and the FBOs have to pay to get the ratings done,” Karnan said.
Meanwhile, the department’s biggest challenge remains working with limited resources, especially the workforce. It has a total of 46 Food Safety Officers (FSO), including 34 Food Safety Officers whose job is to enforce the FSSAI guidelines. The registered FBOs running across the state are said to be over one lakh.
Karnan further said, “Earlier, there was only one Task Force with three officers for the entire state. Now the government has announced the constitution of two more teams taking the total to three. This will help in more widespread action."
Comparing the situation between tier-one and two towns, he said, “The sense of basic hygiene among the FBOs in tier-two and tier-three towns has been observed to be lower than in Hyderabad.”
The commissioner pointed out the prevailing gloominess in the department and added that the morale of the staff has been restored. “Inspections were also taking place then as well but the awareness level in public over hygiene, misbranding and unsafe food for human consumption leading to illness are some of the areas where it was missing.”
“The teams led by the inspectors were checking eateries but due to the involvement of locals and others, the action was limited. That is where we are using social media to promote it. The staff seemed under confident and less motivated. That effectiveness has returned, with FSOs now having an assertive acknowledgement among the FBOs and public,” Karnan added.
Karnan further said, “Earlier, there was only one Task Force with three officers for the entire state. Now the government has announced the constitution of two more teams taking the total to three. This will help in more widespread action."