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“Testing of food products should be done biannually”
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Monday, 06 March, 2023, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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 The overall quality control of the drugs and food manufactured, distributed and sold in the State of Goa is exercised by the Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration under the Department of Public Health in the State Government.
The Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration mainly discharges the statutory functions involved in the implementation of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 & Rules thereunder and the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011.
Jyoti Sardesai, Director, FDA-Goa, shares details about new initiatives, food safety, Eat Right India, food testing labs, FoSCoS portal, FSSAI programmes, and lots more, in an email interaction with Kimberley Almeida. Excerpts:
What are the steps taken by the Food Authority in Goa to promote new businesses/start-ups and provide ease in obtaining FSSAI licence?
The Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration, Bambolim, conducts several registration/ licensing camps to educate the Food Business Operators on the statutory requirements of either a registration certificate or a licence to run a food establishment, depending on the eligibility.
They are made aware of the list of documents and other requirements for obtaining a registration certificate or licence.
Licence /registration melas are held in association with the local bodies, and wherever possible, on the spot registration or licences are issued to the Food Business Operators. The entire process of uploading the application and its scrutiny, and downloading of the Certificate/Licence is an online process through the FoSCoS portal.
Under Ease of doing business, the Directorate has simplified and reduced the requirements of documents.
The Directorate has set up a help desk at its main office at Bambolim as well as the sub-office at Margao to assist those who have a difficulty in online process.
The Food Safety Officers of this Directorate, carry out regular survey to ensure that the FBOs have obtained the required certification.
Those who are found operating without licence/registration are issued notice and given one opportunity to obtain the licence, within seven days. They are also educated about the requirements of documents and mandatory requirement of the licence.
For startups and those operating home kitchens, under Ease of Doing Business, procedures are simplified.
A Registration Certificate is issued within 7 days if not marked for inspection, and 30 days if marked for inspection. The timeline for issue of Food Licence not involving inspection of premises is 60 days as mandated in the Act; however, under the Goa (Right to Citizens to Time-Bound Delivery of Public Services), Department has notified the time period as 30 days. Licence with inspection is issued within 60 days. If not acted upon within the above stipulated time, then the portal auto generates the Registration Certificate/Licence.
The pre-inspection requirement is done away with for Licences, except for high-risk category businesses like manufacturers/ processers of milk and milk products, meat and meat products, fish and fish products, fortified rice kernels and slaughter houses.
FBOs must upload mandatory lab testing reports to FoSCoS. Elaborate.
To comply to condition number 12 of Licence [Annexure 3] of Schedule 2 of FSS (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, manufacturers should upload or link mandatory lab testing report on FoSCoS with effect from FY 2022-23. The testing of food products should be done biannually. Either 6 months lab testing report can be uploaded on FoSCoS or Food Business Operator can link such lab reports from InFoLNeT whenever samples are analysed by FSSAI Notified Labs.
FDA Goa has created awareness about this requirement through advertisements and by placing on official website.
What has State of Goa done to prohibit the manufacturing, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of single-use plastic?
The Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration on basis of the order banning usage of single-use of plastic, during the various routine inspection drives or complaint based inspections has carried out awareness and compliance checks on non-use of single-use plastic. Besides, FDA Goa has also conducted joint inspections with the respective local authorities to ensure the enforcement of the above said ban.
How does Goa FDA plan to curb the use of chemicals to artificially ripen bananas?
The Food Safety Officers of this Directorate conduct regular surprise checks and inspections as well as timely sampling of fruits, which is then forwarded to the lab for testing to check for the presence of prohibited chemicals which if used to artificially ripen the fruits. If any violation is noticed, then the stocks are destroyed, and also legal action is initiated.
FDA also carries out regularly awareness campaign among the stakeholders highlighting the ill effects of artificial ripening and promoting the use of ripening chambers. This is done along with the Department of Agriculture, who then explain to them the schemes which they can avail from Agriculture Department to set up ripening chambers.
These efforts have yielded success and many FBOs have set up ripening chambers.
How does Goa FDA monitor the quality of food being manufactured in the State as well as those marketed in the State?
The Food Safety Officers of this Directorate carry out regular inspections of food manufacturing units, as well as the restaurants, street food vendors, and other FBOs and ensure that the sanitary and hygienic conditions as stipulated under the regulations are complied with. They also verify whether the right quality ingredients are used in the product.
In case of non-compliances, improvement notice is issued and FBO is asked to report compliance. Still non-compliance is reported, then action as per the provisions of Act is taken.
Food Safety Officers also regularly draw regulatory samples of all food product categories suggested through the monthly tour programme. In addition to this, surveillance samples are also drawn. These samples are forwarded to the FDA Goa food laboratory for testing as per the standards set by the FSSAI. The Directorate has a full-fledged laboratory in place at Bambolim, which is equipped with fully functional latest state-of-the-art instruments like GC-MS-MS, LC-MS-MS, ICP-MS, which are used along with other instruments and equipment for the analysis of food.
Special surveillance drives are carried out during the festival season such as Holi, Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, and Christmas, to detect any adulteration in sweets, and more.
FDA Goa also participates in the structured surveys carried out by FSSAI.
The Directorate operates a mobile testing van which is stationed throughout the State and is used to carry out food safety surveys, sampling and awareness activities. The van also provides a facility to the public to get their samples tested at a nominal fee. The Directorate also has been utilising the facilities of third-party FSSAI approved NABL accredited laboratories for carrying out the analysis of food articles.
What types of awareness programmes to educate the masses, vendors as well as consumers, are conducted by Goa FDA?
Goa FDA uses all the channels available such as FM Radio, local TV channels, print media, hoardings in local languages such as Konkani, Marathi, and also in English, for creating awareness about the mandatory requirements about the licence and registration by FBOs, as mentioned above, regards artificial ripening of fruits, any additional requirements to be complied by FBOs, food safety and various Eat Right initiatives to the consumers and public in general.
• Eat Right India:
The Directorate implements various Eat Right India Initiatives like the Eat Right School which aims at creating awareness about food safety, nutrition & hygiene among school children, and through them among the community at large.
The 'Eat Right Campus' initiative led by FSSAI aims to promote safe, healthy and sustainable food in campuses such as schools, universities, colleges, workplaces, hospitals, tea estates and so on across the country. The objective is to improve the health of people and the planet and promote social and economic development of the nation.
• Hygiene Rating:
Hygiene Rating initiated by FSSAI, and implemented in the State by the FDA Goa, intends to ensure that consumers make informed choices while eating out and also encourages food businesses to showcase and improve their food hygiene standards. Hygiene Rating reflects the standards of food hygiene found on the date of inspection by the local authority or recognised third-party audit agency.
• FoSTaC Training
Food Safety Training & Certification is a large-scale training programme for the food business operators. All food businesses having Central Licences or State Licences should have at least one trained and certified food safety supervisor for every 25 food-handlers or part thereof on all their premises. FDA Goa regularly conducts FoSTaC training for the food handlers.
• Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO)
During frying, several properties of oil are altered, Total Polar Compounds (TPC) are formed on repeated frying. The toxicity of these compounds is associated with several diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, liver diseases. FDA Goa conducts regular checks on the quality of cooking oil and connects the food businesses to the authorised agency, which collects the used cooking oil and converts it to biodiesel.
What are the steps taken by Goa FDA towards investigation and prosecution in respect of contravention of legal provisions relating to adulterated food articles?
Goa FDA conducts surprise checks of the premises to check for adulteration, and under suspicion, the respective Food Safety Officer draws legal samples as per the FSSA, 2006, and sends the samples to the food testing lab. The Food Safety Officers of this Directorate draw regulatory samples of all food product categories as per the tour program. Upon testing, if the drawn samples are declared as misbranded, substandard or unsafe, as per the report of the Food Analyst, legal proceedings are carried out to enforce the necessary punishment on the Food Business Operator as per the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
The Designated Officers of the department are notified for compounding of petty offences.
The respective District Collector/District Magistrate is notified as Adjudicating Officer for the adjudication of substandard cases.
In case of samples declared as unsafe, cases are filed before the Judicial Magistrate First Class.
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