One of the highlights of the last day of Bakery Business 2012 was a seminar on Food Safety Act of the Home Baking Community presented by Equinox Labs. The guest speaker for this seminar was Ashwin Bhadri, head, business relation, Equinox Labs. This seminar took place on November 30, 2012 at Mumbai's World Trade Centre.
Bhadri started off the seminar explaining the delegates the functionality of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Maharashtra. He informed them that around 30 per cent of the country doesn't know about the laws entailed when applying for a registration or obtaining a license to start their business. Due to this, FSSAI has extended the timeline to apply for registration or license by February 5, 2013. He emphasised on the fact that people should ensure availability of wholesome safe food for human consumption.
He further went on to explain the amended Food Safety Act, which according to him is a good thing as it abolished the old food safety laws. He explained how the new Food Safety Act has helped in the removal of multiple regulations as this new law is based on science and risk analysis, harmonisation of international laws, supportive of proprietary food, etc. This law is applicable all across the country, to all sectors which includes either a hawker or a five star hotel. This law also encompasses the compulsion of putting a nutritional label on all packaged food. He informed the delegates that no license is required for small business, based on particular parameters, just a registration would do.
Bhadri went onto further explain the benefits of the new law. Initially if a person was accused of adulteration he/she was penalised with a small jail term or fine. He gave an example of the pani-puri adulteration incident by a vendor in Thane which went viral, in that case the accused only spent one night in jail with a fine of Rs 1,200. But with the new law, the penalisation has become severe, if anyone caught performing the act of adulteration could be penalised to at least five to seven years in jail. He also gave the details of each offences and their retrospect penalties.
Bhadri informed FnB News about the licensing and the current situation amongst up and coming enterpreneurs. He said, “Getting a license today has become simpler. A license can be acquired within 60-90 days, but I also know a few cases where they got a license within ten days.”
He further added, “The common man is scared of coming forward as they do not want to come in the eye of the law, so they avoid these nuances. Though the new-age enterpreneurs today are more pro-law rather than the existing ones.”
When asked about the rampant increase in cases of adulteration he said, “The government is doing everything they can to curb this practice.”
