Mysuru: Kitchens in places of worship are pretty much like the ones in other catering establishments except that they have different recipe, said Pawan Kumar Agarwal, CEO of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Speaking after inaugurating the four-day International Food Convention 2018 organised by the Association of Food Scientists and Technologists (India) in association with CFTRI-CSIR and DFRL-DRDO, he said, “The response for food safety of prasadam served in temple and in other places of worship places is good. Initially some temples had some reservations, for instance the Tirupathi Temple which has also come under the licensing regime of FSSI. They said that prasadam is being given to the devotees for centuries and they have a tradition to follow. Our opinion was all that is fine but there is no harm in having a double check. At the end of the day, it is consumed by the people. It is not a huge challenge in terms of technology. It is more of a cultural challenge. For the safety of the people, all the food that we eat comes with after a preview by FSSI. All that food requires proper safety management practices and hence we are also working with the temple administrations.”
824 posts including that of Central Food Safety Officers sanctioned
“There is a shortage of food safety officers but not in every state. Some states including Tamil Nadu are having more than the required number. Many states including Mandhya Pradesh and Delhi have the post sanctioned in the recent months. The 824 sanctioned posts include not only food safety officers but also central technical officers and other staff. Once these posts are filled, the country’s food safety will be properly manned”, he added.
Agarwal also lauded AFST (I) for their support in various aspects of food safety related works including for training food safety supervisors. “We have 2.8 million food businesses across the country. Hence to keep a tab on quality and safety, we need food safety supervisors. Keeping this in mind, we have tied up with various organisations including AFST (I), to build a culture of self compliance in food business and building the competence of the food handlers and supervisors who work in different food businesses. With the help of 150 training partners we have managed to train about 65000 food safety supervisors”, he said.
Aashitosh A Inamdar, Secretary of AFST (I) welcomed the dignitaries and briefed about IFCON 2018. Prabodh S Halde, President of AFST (I), Anil Dutt Semwal, Director of DFRL-DRDO, KSMS Raghavarao, Director of CFTRI-CSIR and Chindi Vasdevappa, Vice Chancellor, NIFTEM, Sonepat were also present.
The four-day IFCON will conclude on December 15. Various technical sessions, poster presentations and a food expo have been organised. The public can visit food expo on December 13 and 14 between 9.30 AM and 5 PM for which the entry is free.
