
FSSAI had launched a special drive for Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses vide letter dated 1 July 2019. States and Union Territories had been directed to take up this special drive to ensure food safety and compliance in their areas of jurisdiction, through widely publicising this special drive and initiating penal action against defaulting FBOs. FSSAI acknowledges that due to the efforts of the State Food Safety Departments there has been a noticeable increase in the FSSAI License and Registration during this phase of the special drive from I July 2019 to 30 September 2019.
FSSAI has now advised States/UTs to initiate enforcement drive with effect from 1 October 2019 and the primary focus of this drive should be directed at those FBOs who
- have obtained registration certificate though they are eligible for License
- are continuing food businesses with expired License/ without license
- are manufacturing/processing food products which are not endorsed by their licences.
With regard to avoiding penalty by taking new license: the FSSAI has advised that the drive must focus on recovery of penalty levied by way of order and not yet collected.
Further it is clarified that ‘Food Products Identity Verification System’ (FPIVS) with url: https://fssai.gov.in/fpas/home is a tool for Food Business Operators to check the standards of the products they manufacture. It is also a portal where FBOs can identify proprietary and novel food products. It is not mandatory for FBOs to register their products on FPIVS. The intent is to ensure that only standardised/ approved products are manufactured by FBOs.
It may be pointed out that the purpose of the present special enforcement drive is to achieve enforcement in respect of the above cases of non or wrong Registration/License. This drive does not preclude the Licensing Authorities from identifying and taking action on any other irregularity.
FSSAI has reiterated that during Phase II of the Enforcement/Prosecution from 1 October 2019 of the special drive,
- the State Authorities must conduct awareness drives for consumers and concerned organisations. The concerned people can check the validity of the FSSAI License/Registration through Know Your FSSAI License page (https://foodlicensing.fssai.gov.in/knowfssailicense).
- The feedback page allows consumers to report such food businesses to
- Licensing Authorities apart from feedback form. Consumers/organisations may also write directly to Commissioners Food Safety of concerned State/UT whose details are available at https://fssai.gov.in/cms/commissioners-of-food-safety.php. Consumers may also lodge complaint on the FSSAI’s Food Safety Connect App.
FSSAI had directed all Commissioners of Food Safety of all States/UTs to initiate actions as stated for Phase II of the Special Drive in their areas of jurisdiction. The Food Safety Officers must also submit an action taken report for the period 1 October, 2019 to 31 December 2019 latest by 10 January 2020in the prescribed format. The performance of the States/UTs in this drive will be reviewed in the regular CAC and review meetings. Conducting special drives/camps and timely submission of reports therefore will also be added to the scores of the State/UT under State Food Safety Index (SFSI) 2019-20.
FSSAI has also cautioned the food safety officers to avoid any sort of harassment to any FBOs while conducting this drive.
Source: FSSAI
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