Is food you eat safe? Not enough people to check

Bengaluru-Over 20,000 licensed restaurants in the city, and nine food safety officers (FSO) to ensure that restaurant food doesn’t make you sick. That’s nine out of a sanctioned 19 officers to monitor food safety in the city’s 198 wards.

After the food safety division was handed over to the health and family welfare department from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike in 2015, the state government ordered the appointment of one FSO each for every 10 wards. But, over the past year, the city has been making do with just the nine — all on deputation from the health department, according to sources, and also tasked with other allied responsibilities.

“A year ago, there were officers for all 19 sanctioned posts. But many of these officers, who were on deputation, were sent back to their parent department,” a designated officer told ET. “Let alone FSOs, even the designated officers (DOs) who supervise FSOs (one DO for 50 wards) are on deputation, while ideally they should be permanent staff.”

Food safety officers have a major role to play in ensuring food products that people consume are safe. Their duties include inspecting food processing and selling facilities, including restaurants, and ensuring the regulations are followed as laid down under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

FSOs are required to conduct random inspections of restaurants or take samples of food served to investigate based on complaints from the public. The government has mandated every FSO to send at least five samples every month to BBMP’s foodtesting laboratory. These officers report to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). But due to work pressure — which includes additional duties when VVIPs and VIPs visit the city, food licensing, registration, and attending related court cases — FSOs rarely conduct random inspections.

“I get 5-6 complaints from the public about adulterated or unsafe food every month, on an average. I visit the spots, collect food samples, and send these to BBMP’s food testing laboratory. But with 10 wards under my jurisdiction, it is next to impossible to carry out random inspections,” admitted an SFO from East Bengaluru, declining to be identified.

In fact, FSSAI data show that the number of non-conforming food samples reported from Bengaluru is considerably low, as compared with the rest of the state. Take, for instance, the lab test data for two months — March and April — when only one case of unsafe/sub-standard/misbranded food sample was detected in BBMP’s laboratory.

“Very few samples are collected and sent to the laboratory in Bengaluru, which has thousands of restaurants. Adulteration cases often do not come to light due to lack of enforcement mechanism. Ideally, one FSO should not be in charge of more than five wards,” a senior FSSAI office said.

FSSAI joint commissioner Harshavardhan B said the authority is aware of the shortage of staff and has taken action to fill the vacant posts. “The enforcement authority is facing several issues, including lack of qualified FSOs, and small amounts given to FSOs for purchasing and testing food. We will start appointing the required number of staff,” he told ET.

ROLE OF FSOS
FSOs are required to conduct random inspections of restaurants or take samples of food served to investigate complaints from the public

Source:-https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/is-food-you-eat-safe-not-enough-people-to-check/articleshow/66729661.cms

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