Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe clarified a new food safety directive
The commissioner said the legal framework governing food safety, including registration and licensing of Food Business Operators (FBOs), has been in place since 2011 and has been operational for years.
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) new year-round festival food-safety directive is aimed at preventing food adulteration and ensuring safe food at public gatherings, not regulating how festivals are celebrated, FDA commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said. “We are not regulating festivals; we are ensuring that food served at festivals – just as in weddings, bhandaras, Eid, Christmas, New Year’s Eve events and other gatherings – is safe and compliant with a law that has existed since 2011,” Mundhe told PTI. After months of intensified action against food adulteration, the FDA recently introduced a year-round “Festival Enforcement Calendar” to systematically monitor food safety during festivals, news agency PTI reported. “There appears to be some misunderstanding and apprehension regarding the standing order issued for food-safety arrangements during festivals and large public gatherings,” Mundhe said. It regulates food safety,” he said. Mundhe said festival-related food-safety directions were earlier often issued separately as individual festivals approached.
“The order does not regulate festivals.