The
licensing and registration of food business operators (FBOs), FSSAI’s
mega campaign to bring all the FBOs and food processing companies under
the umbrella of the Food Safety & Standards (Licensing &
Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, is once again in
rough weather.
The programme, which was given a six-month
extension to its previous deadline of August 4, 2012, could not utilise
it properly as many states did not start the registration and licensing
process as was expected of them. The regulations under FSSR for
licensing and registration were first notified on August 5, 2011.
In
some states, the state of affairs is shocking. For example, officials
in-charge of licensing and registration in some states admitted to that the process was yet to start. Meanwhile, the online process,
the software for which was developed with much fanfare, was also started
on a trial basis in some states but even this could not gain the
required momentum.
No wonder, a top official from FSSAI, on the
condition of anonymity, informed FnB News, “Relaxation will be given to
those states who have not yet started the process of registering and
licensing the FBOs under the new regulations.”
As for
Maharashtra, K B Sankhe, joint commissioner (food), FDA, Maharashtra,
explained, “In Maharashtra, around 2,60,000 FBOs have already registered
and licensed. Many FBOs are coming ahead to get themselves registered
and licensed before the deadline of February 4, 2013. We are also
organising awareness camps at many places in Maharashtra to make all the
small and big food business operators aware about the importance of
registration and licensing. Even though we initiated with online
registration and licensing, the process through online is very slow.”
B
Vijayan, food safety commissioner, Goa, stated, “More than 60 per cent
of FBOs have been registered and licensed in Goa. The online process has
not been successful here and the ratio is 70:30. Lack of awareness
about online registration and licensing has forced many FBOs to apply
manually.”
Talking about the progress in Gujarat, H G Koshia,
food safety commissioner, FDCA, Gujarat, said, “We have registered and
licensed more than 70,000 food business operators. Most of the
registration and licensing was done manually and not online. The reason
for this was lack of English and computer knowledge.
However, he
added, “We are continuously organising awareness camps to make all FBOs
aware about the importance of getting registered and licensed.”
Raji
Srivastava, food safety commissioner, Punjab commented, “We have been
conducting various awareness camps to make all the FBOs aware about the
importance of getting themselves registered and licensed. The awareness
camps organised by us are helping us to get more people to come ahead
and get themselves licensed and registered. Till October 10, 2012, 4,576
and 24,599 FBOs have been issued licences and registration
respectively.”
Meanwhile, Ashish Kumar, designated officer
(headquarter), Bihar, said, “More than 14,000 FBOs from Bihar already
have their licences and registration in place. We are waiting for more
FBOs to come ahead and get them registered and licensed before the
deadlines. They should not rush at last moment. We have also asked
various organisations of FBOs to arrange awareness camps themselves and
get more people for registration and licence. The online process is yet
to start in our state.”
S Rajan, statistical officer, Food and
Drugs Administration (FDA), Tamil Nadu, said, “Till date we have
licensed and registered 1,51,310 FBOs. The number of FBOs who have been
licensed are 17,316 and those who have registered themselves are
1,33,994. We are sure that before the deadlines we will be able to
complete the process of licensing and registering of all the FBOs in the
state. The process is offline because online work is under process.
Regulation 3.2.1 registration of petty food business
Every
petty food manufacturer shall register themselves with the registering
authority by submitting an application for registration in Form A under
Schedule 2 of these regulations along with a fee as provided in Schedule
3.
The FBOs shall follow the basic hygiene and safety
requirements provided in Schedule 4 (Part I) of these regulations and
provide a self-attested declaration of adherence to these requirements
with the application in the format provided in Annexure-1 under Schedule
2.
The registering authority shall consider the application and
may either grant registration or reject it with reasons to be recorded
in writing or issue notice for inspection, within 7 days of receipt of
an application for registration. In the event of an inspection being
ordered, the registration shall be granted by the registering authority
after being satisfied with the safety, hygiene and sanitary conditions
of the premises within a period of 30 days.
If registration is
not granted, or denied, or inspection not ordered within 7 days as
provided in above Sub-regulation (3) or no decision is communicated
within 30 days as provided in above Sub-regulation (4), the food
business operator may start his business, provided that it will be
incumbent on the FBOs to comply with any improvement suggested by the
registering authority at any later time provided that registration shall
not be refused without giving the applicant an opportunity of being
heard and for reasons to be recorded in writing. The registering
authority shall issue a registration certificate and a photo identity
card, which shall be displayed at prominent place at all times within
the premises or vehicle or cart or any other place where the person
carries on sale/manufacture of food in case of petty food business. The
registering authority or any officer or agency specifically authorized
for this purpose shall carry out food safety inspection of the
registered establishments at least once in a year.
Regulation 3.2.2 license for food business
Subject
to regulation 3.2.1 no person shall commence any food business unless
he possesses a valid license under these regulations. Provided that any
person or food business operator carrying on food business on the date
of notification of these regulations, under a license, registration or
permission, as the case may be, under the acts or orders mentioned in
the second schedule of the act shall enable the licensing authority to
collect complete information of all food establishments, get their
existing license converted into the license/registration under these
regulations by making an application to the licensing/registering
authority within one year of notification of these regulations. No
license fee will have to be paid for the remaining period of the
validity of the earlier license or registration granted under any of the
said acts or orders non-compliance with this provision by a food
business operator will attract penalty under section 55 of the act.
Provided further that any food business operator holding
registration/license under any other act/order as specified under
schedule 2 of the FSS Act, 2006, with no specific validity or expiry
date, and other wise entitled to obtain a license under these
regulations, shall have to apply and obtain a registration/license under
these regulations within one year from the date of notification by
paying the applicable fees.
