CURATED BY – GAURAV SINGHAL | CITYCHIEFNEWS

Saharanpur, A meeting of the District Level Committee of Food Safety and Drug Administration Department was convened in the Collectorate Auditorium under the chairmanship of District Magistrate Manish Bansal. He gave strict instructions to all the food officers that by improving their working style, it should be ensured that no shopkeeper or trader is unnecessarily harassed and strict action should be taken against adulterators. In view of the upcoming festivals, a campaign should be run to check sweets as well as other food items. Under this, mandatory checking should be done in trusted establishments among the general public. Samples of various items should be collected under food items. In the meeting, District Magistrate Manish Bansal directed that under the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 and related rules 2011, the availability and quality of safe food and beverages should be ensured to the general public. He said that cleanliness should be ensured by checking the kitchens of hotels. Along with the general public, small shopkeepers should also be made more and more aware of the adverse effects of adulterated food items on health. DM Manish Bansal said that effective enforcement action should be ensured on adulterated food items and beverages. The cases pending in the Hon'ble Court should be resolved by effective advocacy. The penalty amount should be recovered on time. Food license and registration is mandatory for doing food business, hence all food businessmen should be covered with license and registration. Food businessmen should be made aware about the Food Safety Act through camps and regular inspections. 1076 helpline number should be pasted on all registered shops so that any common man can register a complaint in case of any complaint in food items. District Magistrate Manish Bansal directed that food businessmen and manufacturers should be made aware about fortified food (milk, oil, rice, flour, salt) and compliance should be ensured. Re-used cooking oil should be checked on the spot through Dom Apparatus, a program prescribed by FSSAI. Under Ruco (Re-used cooking oil) program prescribed by FSSAI, the provision of giving the remaining portion of oil used thrice by the food businessman to the biodiesel company should be implemented. Samples of the food prepared under the Mid-Day-Meal Scheme should be taken from time to time. The department should conduct survey and sampling action from time to time of the food materials being distributed by ICDS under the Public Distribution System. On this occasion, Additional District Magistrate (Administration) Dr. Archana Dwivedi, Assistant Commissioner Food II Pawan Kumar and senior officers of the concerned departments were present.