New food chief replaced, paucity of food inspectors

New food chief replaced, paucity of food inspectors

S Selva Kumar, who took over as food safety commissioner, Karnataka, has been quietly replaced by Ram Prasad, on Friday.Kumar will now take over as director, National Rural Health Mission. Interestingly, not much is known about Prasad's background. While further details have been awaited on the development and speculation was rife over the reason, Kumar was not available for comments.Meanwhile, sources claimed that the Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Service had not yet issued guidelines on the implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Act. This is preventing the body from taking any action against retail outlets in the state selling date-expired imported products. Recently, a leading shopping mall in the city was found to sell products, which were well past the expiry date.Prior to the Act, the food inspectors in Bangalore came under the purview of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city's municipal corporation.

According to Siddaiah, an IAS officer who heads the BBMP, creating the rules is the initial effort for the implementation of the FSSA 2006, 2011, which is now the basis for booking anyone tampering with food products. In the absence of the rules, the culprits go scot- free.The Union government introduced the FSSA Bill in 2006 and it was passed as an Act on August 5, 2011 and we would need to work out the procedures and implement it soon. It cannot be left idle for too long, stated an official of the BBMP.BBMP is yet to ascertain whether the rules and the regulations have been framed by the state department. Besides even if the rules are framed and the state begins to implement the Act, the lack of food inspectors will continue to hamper its efficient execution. Currently, there are 6 food inspectors on deputation from the health department as BBMP has only 27 inspectors for food safety.In a discussion between BBMP and the state government, it has been decided that the desired number of inspectors will be provided in three months. Going by the paucity for access to qualified inspectors, the state government has opted to source them through a recruitment drive via the Karnataka Public Service Commission.Sources from the industry, observing the FSSA implementation, pointed out that in all probability, the BBMP would have settled for reducing the intake to ensure speedy selection and appointment of enforcement officers.In 2009-10, the BBMP insisted on 40 inspectors from the state government to oversee its 100 wards. But the irony is that now it has requested for a mere 27 to cover the whole of the jurisdiction including the former community-municipal corporations.Senior officials from the University of Agricultural Sciences and the Central Food Research Technological Institute (CFTRI) stated that standard prerequisite would be 120 inspectors to allow efficient working system and help keep a watch on violators of food safety. 

Source: fnbnews