New Delhi: The National Restaurant Association of India organized a seminar on the ‘Food Safety & Standards Act’ focusing on its implementation and challenges for the Indian Restaurant Industry on Tuesday. Mr Samir Kuckreja, President, NRAI, addressed issues related to licensing and registration, excessive documentation to the central list, group nominations for 
licenses for chain outlets, licensing registrations for vendors, proprietary product approvals, supply and clearances of imported products and more; to the Chief Guest Shri DK Samantaray, IAS, CEO, FSSAI and the Guest of Honour was Shri K.K. Jindal, Commissioner, Food Safety, Delhi. He, further, handed over a memorandum to the CEO, FSSAI.
Agreeing to look into the issues addressed by Mr Kuckreja on behalf of the restaurant industry, Shri Samantaray addressed the audience saying, “There cannot be an ‘inspector raj’ now. This act is in interest of all of us and is still in the making. Once the government and private sector combine together, we can ensure that this compliance requirement is fulfilled without taxing the private sector too much. It’s a completely revolutionary way for looking at food in India.”
He further suggested, “The industry at the state level must interact closely with the Food Safety Commissioners to resolve the teething problems.”
Mentioning that the new food law came into existence after a decade of detailed deliberations, Shri Samantaray said, “If the processed food industry has to deliver wholesome and safe food, it will have to ensure that this act and its rules & regulations are implemented. The entire idea of this act is not to implement it by force. It has to be a process of making people educated. Proactive training and capacity building will be the main instruments in this process. The private sector in the industry will have to take the lead.”
To standardise the food products, Shri Samantaray stated, “FSSAI is trying to harmonise with the Codex to expand the standardised food basket from 377 to about 11,000 by August 2014.”
Speaking on the occasion, Shri K K Jindal, said, “Earlier food business operators had to deal with so many regulators. A big change in the new act is that now you’ll be dealing with only one, that is, FSSAI.” With regards to vendor registration and licensing, he said, “There is no provision extending the last date which is August 4, 2014.”
Commissioner, Food Safety, also announced that to expedite the regulatory process, about 126 centres have been made operational in various parts of Delhi with the beginning of July. In fact, the latter part of the month would see opening of a large facilitation centre at Mayur Bhavan, Cannaught Place, which will have 22 facilitation counters.
Giving a brief outline about the Act, he added, “The new act is comprehensive legislation. It facilitates food safety management systems, ensures better consumer safety, provides for effective, transparent and accountable regulatory framework within which the industry can grow more efficiently.”
This was further followed by an interactive session with Shri D K Samantaray and Shri KK Jindal, moderated by Mr Kuckreja; three presentations, panel discussions and Q & A sessions on Licensing& Registration Compliance; Sampling Enforcement & Legal Challenges; and Schedule IV Compliances.
The seminar was well attended by restaurateurs from across the NCR region and other parts of India and will be also held in the city of Bangalore.
Giving extremely useful insights into each of the specific areas, the presentations and interactive sessions will help the participants ensure compliance to the new law that is being implemented from August, 2014.
NRAI’s seminars are committed to serve as platforms to provide knowledge on key areas, engage, exchange ideas and network with the industry leaders.