Have you been licensed? - Food safety angle -

H Dayanidhi Singh *

Being a new law passed only in 2006 and enforced in 2011, FSSA (Food Safety and Standards Act) is always in hot seat for one or other reason. FSSA repealed many earlier acts related to food and consolidated into one. FSSA is an evolving act with addition of many rules and regulations and safety standards. FSSA is the most important legislation that dictates the safety of food in India and thus the health and survival of citizens.

FSSA mandates that every business house that produce, sell, store or transport food should follow certain hygienic norms so that food in question is safe to ultimate consumers. If the business operators follow the hygiene norms (so called schedule IV), they are certified by a registration or licence. Since the ultimate safety of food is dictated by how it is made and in which environment, registration/ licence is the pillar of FSSA.

Section 1 of FSSA deals with 'Registration and Licensing of Food Business Operator'. Broadly there are three forms of licence. The first and the simplest is known as 'registration'. Those with annual turnover less than 12 lakh INR comes under the purview of 'registration'. Fee is only 100 INR per annum. Applicants need to submit a form (called Form A) along with certain documents such as health certificate of workers, identity documents, etc.

Another licence is called 'state licence'. If the installed capacity of the plant is below 2TPD (tonne per day) but the annual turnover more than 12 lakh INR the operator in question comes under the purview 'state licence'. Fee ranges from 2000 to 5000 INR depending upon the type and size of the business. Applicants need to submit a form (called Form B) along with certain documents. The act doesn't mention if there is any difference between registration and state licence with reference to the documents required so it should be assumed that both are same.

However, given the higher scale of operation, state licence ought to be more strict. Registration and state licence are given by DFSO (Designated Food Safety Officer) at district level. Inspection and dealing of file is done by FSO. Both are often sat in the office of the CMO when separate Food Safety office is not available.

Then comes 'central licence'. If the installed capacity of the plant is more than 2 TPD, 'central licence' is required. It is given by FSSAI at regional level and annual fee is Rs. 7500/-. The scope of compliance is bigger for 'central licence'. One glaring necessity for central licence is FSMS - Food Safety Management System which must be certified by an accredited agency. FSMS can be HACCP system, ISO 22000, etc. FSMS is accepted worldwide as one of the most important preventive measures for food safety. Central licence is already online which implies that submission of documents and payment are to be done on web.

Jurisdiction with which registration and state licence apply is very wide. So quite often it generates lots of grey area. It is also very difficult to distinguish if the business operator should come under registration or state licence since very few FBO keep book of account. There are also many documents which are seemingly not relevant to some FBO. For example, FSO demands certificate of degree holder in chemistry/ biochemistry/... from catering services (locally known as Eigyagi Chaksang). This may sound good but truly unrealistic. It will only invite fake certificates.

There is also a huge discrepancy on how licence are given to packaged drinking water manufacturers. Most water manufacturing plant easily crossed 2 TPD so automatically it should comes under the ambit of 'central licence'. However, our state authority turns a blind eye in this matter inspite of repeated reminder. It is also doubtful if the manufacturers apply for state licence knowingly even if they need central licence just to escape from legal entangle compromising safety.

Our food safety authority has so far been aloof to school mid day meal program. Thousands of school children are consuming meals at schools without any accountability on their food safety. Either school authority should approach food safety department before any untoward incident happens. Death of school children in Bihar must be a lesson. I saw our food safety department been active in private houses but unfortunately not able to take any actions on govt machineries.

Time has come now that every food stakeholders to comply with food safety rules for a healthy nation. Illness can happen to anyone no matter whether they are rich or poor.