NAGERCOIL
Twenty-five anganvadis of Kanniyakumari district that take care of the children from poor families and serve food to them have received Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s Hygiene Rating Certificates based on the review done by the Authority.
According to Collector M. Aravind, the anganvadis, after undergoing rigorous inspection done by the FSSAI team, had received the certification for having ensured cleanliness on its premises and serving safe food to the children in hygienic manner.
The inspectors had scrutinized the quality and cleanliness of the utensils being used for making food. The vessels being used for preparing food should have been fabricated with non-corrosive and non-toxic material and should be easy to clean and disinfect. The angavadi premises should be clean and have sufficient lighting and adequate ventilation, as per the FSSAI norms.
“Since these 25 anganvadis met the stipulated standards of FSSAI, the anganvadis have bagged the Hygiene Rating Certificate,” Mr. Aravind informed during a meeting held on Saturday to review the performance of Department of Food Safety and Drug Control.
The Collector said the restaurants, bakeries and snacks, banana and potato chips manufacturing units had been instructed not to use the cooking oil repeatedly.
“Since heating the cooking oil multiple times would produce bad cholesterol which would cause serious arterial blocks. Since the used cooking oil could be converted into bio-diesel, the restaurants, bakeries and snacks manufacturing units have been told to give the used cooking oil to the firm authorised for preparing bio-diesel under the RUCO (Repurpose Used Cooking Oil) programme,” the Collector said.
If any consumer comes across the violation of this instruction and have credible information about the restaurant, bakery or the snacks manufacturing units using the cooking oil repeatedly can register complaints with the Food Safety Department through WhatsApp (94440 42322).
Mr. Aravind also said the business establishments selling eatables should not use newspapers or printed papers as packaging material. The officials should strictly enforce the High Court’s direction that the workers of eateries, bakeries, grocery stores, super markets, sweet stalls etc. should not use saliva or blow to separate the sticky packaging materials. Surprise checks should be conducted to check the sale of materials after the expiry date.
