VIJAYAWADA: Food safety authorities will crack the whip against all those into food business if they fail to obtain licence and mention its number on their bills like with the GST number in order to ensure that consumers will get to have safe food in the state.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India issued an order recently making it mandatory for food business operators to declare the 14 digit FSSAI licence or registration number and mention it on cash receipts, invoices, cash memos and bills from October 1 all over the country. Section 63 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, mentions that if any person or food business operator carries out a business related to manufacture, sale, storage, distribution and import of any food item without licence, will be liable for imprisonment and a fine that could be around Rs 5 lakh.
Armed with the order, food safety officials are to raid all food business establishments to ensure that they comply with all guidelines of the Act or face the consequences. The onus to implement the order lies exclusively with the food safety department and food inspectors working in municipal corporations, municipalities, mandals and villages do not come under the ambit of the order.
A senior food safety official said “with the new order having come into force on October Oct. 1, we are spreading awareness among FBOs. We will enforce the order strictly after Dasara. We appeal to consumers to play a proactive role to expose those who flout food safety norms so that we can book cases and even prosecute them.”
Meanwhile, bifurcation blues continue to haunt Andhra Pradesh, as the food safety department remains undivided as per the ratio of 58:42. Out of the sanctioned strength of 52 food inspectors, 12 remain vacant in the state. Four posts of assistant food controllers out of 13 and two of 13 posts of gazette food inspectors are also vacant in AP.
Food safety sources state that the state is losing Rs 10 crore every year that is granted by FSSAI for strengthening labs. The Institute of Preventive Medicine has failed to set up even one single food lab. AP’s share in the undivided property of the food safety department located in TS, remains unsettled.
