Latest news with #FoodSafetyandStandardsAuthority
Time of India
17-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
‘Food, water quality certificates now must in East S'bhum hotels'
1 2 Jamshedpur: Food safety officer Mohamed Manzar Hussain directed all hotels and restaurants operating in the district to display certified documents pertaining to quality of food and water and kitchen cleanliness, Hussain has asked the restaurant and hotel operators to mandatorily display food grade packaging ingredients certificate, water quality certificate and kitchen sanitation and food safety certificate at their respective organizations. The officer said that random inspection of the Food and Beverages (F&B) units will be made by the food safety team to check whether Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) guidelines are being followed or not. "Display of certificates at hotels and restaurants is mandatory, penal provisions of the FSSAI Act 2006 will be invoked against the operator if food safety guidelines are not followed," Hussain said. The food safety officials, earlier on Wednesday, found that an ingredient used for making dessert carried an expiry date at Kerala Samajam canteen. The officials have issued notice to the canteen operator and sought reply for determining further action. Further, the team seized samples of paneer, pasta, coconut oil, wheat, semolina besides cow and buffalo milk from different hotels. The seized stuff will be sent to the state food testing laboratory at Namkum, Ranchi to determine the safety, quality and composition of ingredients. "Action will be taken against the hotels as per FSSAI rules if the lab test report confirms inferiority in the quality of food ingredients," Hussain said. The food safety officer added that no contamination was found in the paneer at Kannelite hotel but the material has been seized for chemical testing at Namkum lab.
The Hindu
27-06-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Licence of food units with fake health cards to be suspended
The Health department has directed its officials as well as the Food Safety officials to conduct Statewide inspections to check the authenticity of the health cards that are issued to food handlers in hotels, catering units and other food business operations. The directive has been issued by the Health department following the suspicion that fake health certificates were issued in bulk from a laboratory to a catering unit in Pathanamthitta, according to a release on Thursday. The Health department has made it clear that the licences of food business operations will be suspended if the institution's food handlers do not have the health cards or are in possession of fake health cards. Warns doctors It has also warned doctors that they stand to lose their licence for medical practice if they are found to be issuing the health cards without the mandatory physical examination of the person concerned. The State had made it mandatory that all food handlers working in food business operations should have a health card, as stipulated under the Food Safety and Standards Authority(FSSA) Act. The government had also made Typhoid vaccine available through Karunya pharmacies at much lower rates for all food handlers going in for the health card. It is important that those handling food in restaurants and catering units undergo proper medical examination to get the health card. This is to ensure that those handling food do not have any bacterial or viral infections, which may be transmitted to others through food. The Health department insists on proper medical examination of food handlers before issuance of the health cards in order to ensure that these persons do not have any infectious diseases, or skin wounds or infections. Valid for a year A medical practitioner should examine the person physically and ensure that they do not have any apparent infections or skin diseases and that they have taken the mandated vaccines. Blood examination should be conducted to check for any infectious diseases. The medical certificate should have the signature and the seal of the doctor conducting the examination and the certificate will be valid for a year. As per the FSSA Act, these medical certificates of food handlers in the organisation should be kept in safe custody at their respective workplaces.
