At present, there is one food safety officer for every Assembly constituency and the attempt is to expand their numbers.
The State government is considering the creation of more posts of food safety officers to strengthen the department’s enforcement activities, Health Minister Veena George has said.
At present, there is one food safety officer for every Assembly constituency and the attempt is to expand their numbers. All 14 districts are now equipped with mobile food safety labs and the lab network will also be expanded this year as part of strengthening the enforcement activities, she says.
She was inaugurating a food safety awareness seminar and the launch of the ‘Eat Right’ application on the occasion of World Food Safety Day on Wednesday.
Non-communicable diseases still pose a major challenge to the State and it is to ensure health at the grassroots that 5,409 sub centres were upgraded as people’s health centres, she adds.
Food safety has to be everyone’s responsibility. The Food Safety department has been focussing on conducting frequent food safety checks, creating public awareness about the importance of food safety, and training food business operators/food handlers. About 25,000 persons working in the food industry have already received training on food safety.
The Food safety grievance portal launched in March has received 336 complaints, of which 230 have been enquired into so far.
Another much-appreciated initiative of the Food Safety dept was the hygiene rating given to eateries. Some 1,600 food joints have participated in this initiative and received a hygiene rating after inspections.
Ms. George says more eateries are expected to participate in this initiative.
