Trade body seeks CM's intervention in food safety Act implementation

The Oil and Oil Seeds Association while expressing its concern over the implementation of the new Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act and Rules and Regulation with its current provisions, enforced from August 5 throughout the country, has urged the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, to take up the issue with the Chief Ministers of other States and help implement the said Act after a minimum of four years, necessary to understand the Act.Stating that the Act contained impractical and stringent provisions and would need proper understanding and awareness before implementation, the Association urged for a through analysis and holding of awareness campaigns to disseminate knowledge about the Act and withdraw simultaneously the stringent provisions and penalties proposed there in.In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, the Association said that the provisions appeared to favour multinational companies in the business and affected even the ordinary road side operators in food business even in remote rural areas with its demand for a license and high penal provisions for those who fail to comply with them, the penalty going up to Rs10 lakh and imprisonment even.Honest people would not be able to carry on the business and the said provisions would only promote corruption.

The Act has not been published in vernacular languages and the ordinary people would not be able to understand them.It said that a committee should be formed at the State level to analyse the provisions of the Act threadbare and further pointed out that no representation has been given for the operators in food business from the State in the committee set up under the Act.

Source:Businessline