‘Staff shortage smothers food safety act enforcement’
Govt is yet to formulate a fool proof system to enforce the provisions of the Act
By : shainu mohan
Update: 2014-10-13 04:24 GMT
Thiruvananthapuram: The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 was introduced by the Union Government in 2011. The Act, aiming to ensure safe and quality food to the people, is still in its infancy with most people remaining unaware of its provisions and safeguards. Although Kerala is much ahead in terms of implementing the Act in comparison with other states the awareness level amongst the large sections of the consumers needed to be improved. Even the government is yet to formulate a fool proof system to enforce the provisions of the Act. Excerpt from an interview with Commissioner of Food Safety Anupama T. V.
How consumer friendly is the rules and regulations linked with FSS Act?
The beneficiaries of food safety and standards act are the consumers and the food business operators. We have set up a mechanism which is easily accessible to common man. A toll free number is there and we are receiving lot many grievance calls relating to stale food and substandard eatables daily. We need to strengthen the department for more effective implementation of the act. Also, most of the people are still in the dark regarding the Act and still search for food inspectors like in old days to register their complaints. We have offices at all 140 constituencies and the consumers could easily drop in their complaints. It's definitely consumer friendly, since the Act was enforced there has been a seen change in the hotel industry.
It is said that information about the Act is mainly concentrated in urban areas and the vast majority of the rural habitat are unaware of the provisions of the Act. How the department is planning to tackle this situation?
Creating awareness among the public on the Act is one of the main components and we are giving top priority for that. A major challenge to enforce the Act is the severe shortage of the staff. The staff shortage is a stumbling block for enforcing the act in the state. Currently, our activities are limited in the urban circle because of this shortage. But we are planning to cover more rural constituencies soon. From this month onwards, I have given direction to our squads from each district to cover at least two rural constituencies. Also we have initiated steps to recruit more food safety officers through PSC (public service commission). May be within four to five months we would fill around 75 to 80 vacancies in the department. Right now we are managing with 79 personnel.
How consumer friendly is the toll free number?
We are receiving an average of 40 to 50 calls daily from consumers. But, due to minimal staff strength the department is unable to attend to the calls immediately. But, calls are prioritized based on the severity of the issue. If samples are needed to be collected our squad responds immediately even if its midnight. Once enough staff strength is there we would be able to provide round the clock services to consumers. Very soon we will make available our services 24*7. We are receiving complaints even in our email id.
The modifications if any needed in the Food Safety and Standards Act?
It's a new Act and came as a replacement to an existing system. Certain constraints are there as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is still bringing in revisions to the act. Acts are never fool proof and it has to be revised from time to time. The FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is very quick in bringing in changes to facilitate practical execution of the act. We encounter certain issues while implementing the act. When the issue of antibiotic in chicken came, we had issues as the act doesn't provide any clarity on the amount of allowed antibiotic residues. Currently, efforts are on to bring all food business operators under the Act. There are around one lakh food business operators in the state. However, a majority of them are in the unorganised sector. We are expecting around 40,000 food business operators to avail the license and registration under the food safety act.
Though the act envisages strict action against violators, the Commissionerate of Food Safety here is unable to penalise them. Why there has been less action even after having enough proofs?
NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) accredited lab is an obvious requirement for the proper execution of the act. Only samples that are scrutinized aty NABL accredited labs would be legally valid. Unfortunately, we don't have any in the state at present. Currently, we are depending on laboratories in other states. But efforts are in the final stages to upgrade the existing laboratories at Ernakulam, Trivandrum and Kozhikode with the minimum basic standards to avail the mandatory accreditation. Three consultants have come forward and we will start the works very soon.