NEW DELHI: Restaurants and hotels will soon have to display hygiene ratings on their doors. The food regulator is set to make such ratings mandatory for all restaurants along with presence of a food supervisor to monitor compliance of food regulation and ensure safety of food served.
The idea is to raise the standards of dining out, while also ensuring the food served is safe and of good quality. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has already started a pilot for rating among online players. It has also trained over 1.7 lakh food supervisors to ensure compliance, chief executive Pawan Agarwal said.
The regulator is in the process of forming guidelines to implement the rating system. Once, it is in place, the regulator will keep a check for compliance and will also serve notice in case restaurants are found violating the norms.
The move is part of a series of regulatory measures taken by FSSAI to support its ‘Eat Right India’ campaign focused at preventive healthcare measure to trigger social and behavioural change through a judicious mix of regulatory measures, combined with soft interventions for ensuring awareness and capacity building of food businesses.
Rating should be based on parameters open for public scrutiny. An online database with photos etc. would be good. Otherwise it will merely open doors for bribery of inspectors.
“India is passing through an epidemiological shift from communicable to non-communicable diseases, and the burden of diet-related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity is rising rapidly. The new ‘food systems approach’ judiciously combines the regulatory and capacity building measures with consumer empowerment initiatives,” health minister Harsh Vardhan said.
FSSAI has also brought in regulations to check re-use of cooking oil by repeated frying and avoid use of leftover oil. The regulator has prescribed a maximum limit of 25% for total polar compounds. It has also notified regulations to reduce trans-fatty acid levels to less than 2% of fat in all edible oils.
