The Food Safety and Standards (Licensing & Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations have been effective since they were introduced in August 2011. However to date there are still a huge number of Food Business Operators, in almost all cities and towns that have not yet registered under the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006. Section 31 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 clearly states that no food business activity shall be carried out without a valid license or registration.
In February 2014 FSSAI had also released a list of the number of applications processed for licensing and registration in all states and Union Territories on that date. In Delhi only 645 licenses were issued and no application for registration was processed as the process of registration had not yet started in Delhi at that time. Therefore the fact that all restaurants and hotels in Delhi will now have to register within a month with the Delhi government and obtain food safety licences has come as welcome news for Delhi consumers.
The Delhi Health Minister, Satyendar Jain, has also announced that their government will follow the “zero tolerance policy” against all those found to be involved in food adulteration. The government wants to speed up the licencing and so it has put into place a simplified online process. Applicants can apply online and the State Food Safety department will process their applications and send them their licences on e-mail.
Newly-appointed commissioner of Food Safety Mrinalini Darswal said the Directorate of Prevention of Food Adulteration echoed the health minister and said that they would strictly enforce provisions of the Food safety and Standards Act, 2006. As per Section 63 of FSS Act, 2006, a person/company carrying out food business activity without a license shall be liable to imprisonment which may extend up to six months and could also invite a penalty of up to Rs.5 lakhs. All restaurants and hotels in Delhi must get their license within a month, if they want to remain above the ambit of the law. Health Minister said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has directed all departments concerned to take strict action to deal with the problem of adulteration.
In January 2015 also the Food Business Operators in many parts of Delhi had been issued show cause notices individually by the Licensing Authority for carrying out food business activity without valid license/registration. State Licensing Authorities had given Food Business Operators 14 days’ time to reply with a valid reason as to why prosecution/penalty proceedings should not be initiated against them. Now again the restaurant and hotel owners have been explicitly told to apply for food safety licence or face consequences.
The government has also planned to undertake a campaign to educate food operators about provisions of up to six months imprisonment and a fine of rupees five lakh against the violators. The Health Minister added that the government has simplified the licensing process as they would like to encourage trade and business in the national capital. However, this does not mean that the interests of consumers will not be protected especially with the festive season just round the bend.
Even though the awareness about obtaining licences/ registration has spread across the country yet many smaller food businesses that are still operating without licenses. Though FSSAI has issued deadlines for obtaining licence/registration since 2012 the deadlines have continuously been extended due to the demands of the various stakeholders. The present FSSAI deadline for obtaining licence/ registration stands as February 4, 2016 across the country.
Leave a Reply