Food regulator for rating restaurants to ensure quality

NEWDELHI: FSSAI HAS PROPOSED ALLOCATING STAR RATINGS TO EATERIES ON BASIS OF HYGIENE AWARENESS AND SAFETY STEPS ADOPTED

The country’s top food regulator, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), has proposed restaurants and café’s be rated bases on factors such as hygiene and safety to ensure the trust of consumers.

“Like hotels, we plan to allocate star ratings to restaurants and eating places out of six on the basis of six hygiene parameters to promote the concept of offering clients a ‘responsible place to eat’,” said Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI.

The places will be assessed on six broad parameters: personal hygiene of the staff, healthy food on the menu, safe water-handling practices, effective complaint handling, kitchen visible to clients or kitchen visits, and leftover food management.

“An IT-based matrix has been developed and we are in the process of fine-tuning the project. This rating concept is quite common overseas. Our food safety officers will verify compliance but we plan to rope in a third party for independent audits,” said Agarwal.

FSSAI has held consultations with stakeholders, including industry insiders, before going ahead with the plan that will be formally launched soon.

The e-commerce food platforms will also be asked to mention the FSSAI ratings of individual restaurants and eating places along with other relevant information on display.

“We will make it mandatory for these e-commerce food platforms to mention the ratings along with the usual information they share with consumers, so that people can make an informed choice,” he said.

The Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 regulates, manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import of food to promote health and safety of consumers.

The food regulator recently started the concept of ‘food safety supervisors’ in all food businesses to ensure quality items reach consumers.

It is now mandatory for all caterers, manufacturers, companies transporting food items and retail outlets with 25 or more people handling food to have at least one such safety supervisor.

“Our aim is to ensure that people are offered that is safe ,” says Agarwal.