With the new Food Safety Act emphasising on self-regulation, corporate canteen owners were given food safety lessons at a seminar on food safety standards and regulations organised by Equinox Laboratories, experts in food safety, at Powai on Friday.While the canteen owners agreed that the new law was the need of the hour to ensure that hygienic practices are followed in kitchens, they were worried that it would be tough to implement. The seminar proved to them that implementing food safety would cost them less than Rs 200 and all the measures can be implemented in one month.Experts like Dr VG Chapke talked about the Food Safety Act, licensing and registration, basic kitchen hygiene, hygiene shield, best global practices for ensuring food safety and training of facility managers.The corporate and canteen owners were worried that the new Food Safety Act and Standards Act 2011, which replaced the older FDA rules, will lead to high penalties. Food safety violaters will be penalised Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh. The violators too face imprisonment from six months to even life.The new law also gives more power to the consumer as it allows common citizens to pursue a case against food providers.“A food provider can face legal and financial crises and the food industry will have to take it seriously. Food providers are unaware about the provisions of the act about how to maintain hygiene in their kitchens. Through workshops such as these, we are shedding light on the gray areas,’’ said Ashwin Bhadri, head, Equinox Labs.One of the key areas highlighted in the act was that when applying for a license, the food providers will have to submit a Food Safety Management Plan.Documenting what has been done for food safety right from procurement of raw materials to storage of medical tests of the employees is an important part of the plan.
source: www.dnaindia.com
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