Special squads of Food Safety officials from various districts conducted raids on 147 hotels in Thiruvananthapuram and suspended Food Business Operator (FBO) licences of 10 establishments.The raids were conducted following an instruction from Food Safety Commissioner to ensure the 30 guidelines for cleanliness in hotels.
A total of 10 eateries lost their licences and were closed down. Around 90 hotels were given improvement notices and a total fine to the tune of Rs 1,13,500 was imposed on 23 hotels. A total of 60 hotels had been closed down following the recent raids and imposed a fine of Rs 4,48,500.
The implementation of Food Safety and Standards Act/ Rule/Regulation rests with State Government/ Union Territories. The food safety inspection of these license/ registration establishments is required to be carried out at least once in a year.The guidelines are fixed on the basis of location and layout of food establishment, equipment and fixtures, storage systems, personal hygiene, water supply, pest control system, operational features, food testing facility, additional requirements for meat and meat products, additional requirements for milk manufacturing chilling, centre/ storage, additional requirements for catering / food service.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) operates under the provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 as a statutory body for laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import of food so as to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption. It practices the right of conducting routine / unannounced inspections as directed by the Authority from time to time to verify the Food Business units so as to comply with FSS regulations made there under.