Saturday, July 07, 2012 08:00 IST
Akshay Kalbag, Mumbai
The controversial implementation of the Food Safety & Standards Regulations 2011, has taken a fiery turn with FBOs (food business operators) in Mumbai, who have so far been out of the protests, going to town about the harassment that they are facing at the hands of food safety officers (FSOs).
The situation in Mumbai, a city where skyscrapers jostle for space with sprawling slums of Dharavi (also a hub for the snack industry), is interesting. On the one hand, FBOs operating from the thickly populated bylanes of the city, have to contend with rodents, dust and overflowing garbage bins over which they have no control, and on the other, they are made to shell out hefty fines "for unhygienic conditions and improper labelling."
This was revealed to F&B News by Karsanbhai, secretary, Mumbai Mewa Masala Merchants' Association, who pointed out that there was a petty khari biscuit manufacturer whose unit produced product that was sold loose and not as a packed branded product. However, FSOs who come visiting, fine him amounts ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000, on the pretext that he had exposed the product to moisture.
Then there was a dal retailer who was slapped with steep amounts that eventually totalled to Rs 5 lakh as penalties for failing to provide all the vital information on the pack's label, including its weight, its date of manufacture, and its price. Now in India most kirana shops sell dal in loose so "how can they ensure that it is labelled and has all these details," asked Karsanbhai.
That's not all. There are scores of such cases of FBOs being charged under various sections of the Regulations for no apparent fault of theirs.
It is this slapping of false charges and levying of hefty fines that has made the Mumbai Mewa Masala Merchants' Association recently file a petition challenging the implementation of 16 Sections of the Act (pertaining to the unhygienic conditions often seen in small-scale Indian food production units, etc.) in the Bombay High Court, and await the reply. Karsanbhai said, "We are hopeful of a revert in the next couple of days."
.....read more
Akshay Kalbag, Mumbai
The controversial implementation of the Food Safety & Standards Regulations 2011, has taken a fiery turn with FBOs (food business operators) in Mumbai, who have so far been out of the protests, going to town about the harassment that they are facing at the hands of food safety officers (FSOs).The situation in Mumbai, a city where skyscrapers jostle for space with sprawling slums of Dharavi (also a hub for the snack industry), is interesting. On the one hand, FBOs operating from the thickly populated bylanes of the city, have to contend with rodents, dust and overflowing garbage bins over which they have no control, and on the other, they are made to shell out hefty fines "for unhygienic conditions and improper labelling."
This was revealed to F&B News by Karsanbhai, secretary, Mumbai Mewa Masala Merchants' Association, who pointed out that there was a petty khari biscuit manufacturer whose unit produced product that was sold loose and not as a packed branded product. However, FSOs who come visiting, fine him amounts ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000, on the pretext that he had exposed the product to moisture.
Then there was a dal retailer who was slapped with steep amounts that eventually totalled to Rs 5 lakh as penalties for failing to provide all the vital information on the pack's label, including its weight, its date of manufacture, and its price. Now in India most kirana shops sell dal in loose so "how can they ensure that it is labelled and has all these details," asked Karsanbhai.
That's not all. There are scores of such cases of FBOs being charged under various sections of the Regulations for no apparent fault of theirs.
It is this slapping of false charges and levying of hefty fines that has made the Mumbai Mewa Masala Merchants' Association recently file a petition challenging the implementation of 16 Sections of the Act (pertaining to the unhygienic conditions often seen in small-scale Indian food production units, etc.) in the Bombay High Court, and await the reply. Karsanbhai said, "We are hopeful of a revert in the next couple of days."
.....read more
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