By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 29 Jul: A meeting of the State Level Advisory Committee was held, today, under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Dr SS Sandhu at the Secretariat, in which officers of the Departments of Education, Food Supply, Agriculture, Child Development, Food Processing, and Hotel Industry, FICCI as members of the Advisory Committee also participated. During the meeting, the Chief Secretary directed that effective implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 should be ensured. For this, all departments and stakeholders would have to work with mutual cooperation.
While giving instructions to increase sampling and testing, the Chief Secretary said that strict steps are needed to prevent adulteration in food items. For this, there is a need to increase the number of mobile testing vans. He stressed on ensuring the participation of the general public in the campaign for safe and nutritious food.
Emphasising on the hygiene certification of small and big hotels and restaurants of the state, he directed that a campaign be launched in this regard. He said that the hotels also should be made aware to get the hygiene rating and display it outside the hotel or on the signboard, besides making the people also aware about the safety and hygiene rating. This would promote the culture of ‘Clean Food, Safe Food’.
The Chief Secretary added that efforts be made to make people aware about appropriate food, better food to fulfill the objective of ‘Eat Right Campaign’ run by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Through videos and jingles, people related to hotels, restaurants, etc., should also be encouraged to sell seasonal, organically grown vegetables, products with less use of oil, salt and sugar. Focusing on capacity building, he directed the officials to provide continuous training to the people associated with hotels and restaurants through online and offline mediums.
The Chief Secretary emphasised that special attention be paid to the disposal and use of used edible oil. For this, every hotel and restaurant operator should be made aware of the dangers of repeated use of edible oil and be provided proper information about the disposal of used edible oil.
During the meeting, Secretary Radhika Jha stated that, under Repurpose of Used Cooking Oil (RUCO), 13,777 litres of used cooking oil was collected till March 2022, from which IIP Dehradun had prepared 7000 litres of biodiesel and 6000 litres of biojet fuel.
