Food safety Act tough to abide by: Hoteliers

While the union government has made it mandatory for every food business operator (FBO) to maintain a certain level of hygiene and cleanliness through the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2011, city restaurateurs associated with Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR) feel the Act’s clauses are impossible to follow, especially for the small businessmen.

The FSS Act makes it mandatory for every FBO having a turnover Rs12 lakh to obtain a licence and those below Rs12 lakh to get themselves registered. This implies that excepting big eateries all FBOs, from road-side chat sellers to vegetable vendors and from milkman to caterers, all need to be registered.

As per the FSSA, all FBOs (into manufacture, storage, transport and serving of food) must maintain a record of the inventory of raw food, stored food, water, food and air testing and pest control regimes. Also, they must record their source of vegetables and grocery, apart from checking if the seller is registered under the FSSA. Their food handlers too should have annual medical fitness checks.

For this, owners have to systematically document the steps undertaken to maintain Food Safety Management System (FSMS), to ensure that food quality and safety as well as to trace the weakest link in case of any possible food poisoning. As per the Act, the food business owners have also been made liable for penalty up to Rs10 lakh and jail term up to six years or more depending up on the case.

However, AHAR members term the exercise as “futile”. The rather impractical-to-follow rules are only harassing them, they say. Former AHAR president Narain Alva said, “It’s unreasoable to expect small  restaurateurs to maintain a documentation of safety measures as they operate with a couple of illiterate cooks and waiters. Moreover, where will we get an FDA registered vegetable seller or which vendor will sign the document, which is deemed mandatory for us?”

While demanding that the FDA provide a list of registered vegetable sellers from where they can buy their inventory, an agitated group of restaurateurs alleged that the government move was aimed at facilitating the growth of the MNCs. Kamlakar Shenoy, owner of Sadguru restaurant chain, said, “It seems the government wants us to close down our businesses to promote MNCs. Maintaining documents on a daily basis is next to impossible to do as our staff lacks such skills. The government must think about the practicality of the law it brings out and amend it accordingly.”

Citing one of the many practical issues, Shenoy complained, “Though hoteliers are often supplied contaminated water by the BMC, which should be held liable for any contamination of food, the civic body has been surprisingly kept out the ambit of this Act.”

Another hurdle to implementing the rules, according to Dev Shetty, a young hotelier, is that “not just their workers but also a majority of restaurateurs are uneducated and hardly understand rules, forget complying with them. In India, such Act is impossible to implement.”

AHAR also feel the FDA drive’s fallen woefully short of making its members aware of the Act and its importance.

Act is for citizens’ benefit: FDA chief
Stressing that “not a single clause of the Act is difficult to follow, even for small business operators”, state Food and Drugs Adminis-tration (FDA) commi-ssioner Mahesh Zagde said the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2011 has been brought about only to ensure healthy and hygienic food for citizens.

FDA is the authority which ensures the effective implementation of the Act.
“While they make money off unsuspecting citizens, why are restaurateurs not willing to provide them with the right kind of food (safe and hygienic)?” asked Zagade, adding that, “Unfortunately, Indian customers, unlike restaurateurs, don’t have an organisation, thus necessitating the food safety Act, which makes it mandatory for FBOs to dish out safe, healthy food to citizens.”

Regarding the hoteliers’ argument, that contaminated water supplied by the civic body contaminates food, Zagade said, “If the hoteliers do  not store water safely or if their water-receiving systems are at fault, they will be held accountable.” Of the AHAR members’ other grievances, Zagade invited them to “meet me any time with all their suggestions and problems”.