Government’s focus will be on Anganwadis, school
canteens and toddy shops to promote a healthy food regime, Commissioner
of Food Safety, Biju Prabhakar, has said. He was
speaking at a food safety seminar organised by the Federation of
Residents’ Association, Thiruvananthapuram (FRAT) at the Press Club on
Friday. Attacking the skewed structure of governance
itself, he said undue importance was still being proffered to the Survey
Department. He said it was essential to keep in mind that there lacked a civic culture in the State. Mr.
Prabhakar said the Food Safety and Standards Act was “scientific and
pragmatic”. Commenting on some of the recent shut-down cases, he said,
“Some of the cases were isolated incidents of negligence.” He
also stressed that a number of factors needed to be kept in mind,
including false complaints. According to him, over 90 per cent of the
complaints made were merely intended to incriminate a business that
posed a viable competition. He also responded to a complaint regarding
transportation of fish in freezers containing ammonium sulphate, and
promised action. Mr. Prabhakar also said certain
habits needed to be inculcated at the home level itself, such as not
constantly freezing and re-heating the same food and to veer away from
food colouring, known to contain carcinogenic compounds.
Source:http://www.thehindu.com