Come April 30, online sale of food items sans hygiene rating to be banned in Punjab
CHANDIGARH: Punjab food and drug administration (FDA) commissioner KS Pannu on Sunday issued orders for prohibiting distribution, supply and sale of food items through online food supply aggregators (OFSAs) by food business operators (FBOs) who have not got hygiene rating done.
The orders also prohibit OFSAs from sourcing food items from FBOs which is not hygienically rated and also where such rating is less than three marks out of five.
The prohibition orders would be effective in the entire state for a year with effect from April 30.
Pannu said the FDA had advised all OFSAs to ensure that the FBOs from where they are sourcing the food for distribution to consumers should get the hygiene rating done.
The state government had fixed October 31, 2019, as last date for getting the hygiene rating done and by another notice the state government sought objections from stakeholders by January 30, 2020.
The order states that in the Punjab, information technology driven OFSAs such as Uber Eats, Swiggy, Zomato and Food Panda have been distributing, selling and supplying food to consumers after sourcing the same from FBOs.
This food delivery through an IT-based platform is a recent phenomenon in which the direct contact between the consumer and the manufacturers, especially the hot cooked food articles, has been snapped.
“This mechanism of food delivery has obliterated the system of responsibility of maintaining the quality of food, which till now was being directly verified by the consumers. It has become important to ensure that these aggregators supply good quality and hygienic food to consumers,” said Pannu.
He said the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued instructions vide which the system of hygiene rating of the food business operators has been introduced and the FSSAI has empanelled various agencies to conduct the hygiene rating of the FBOs.