Rues FSSAI Chief Executive Officer Pawan Kumar Agarwal

Mysuru:  Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Chief Executive Officer Pawan Kumar Agarwal said that if food safety standards and rules have to be followed then more Food Safety officers must be appointed.

He was addressing a press conference at the Convocation Hall in Muktagangonthri premises here yesterday and said there is shortage of 824 Food Safety officers. In some States if there are enough of them, in others there is severe shortage. Hence, there must be sufficient officials appointed,he explained.

There is positive response to the proposal suggested by FSSAI regarding guidelines by to be followed in temples where prasadam is manufactured for the devotees. This is because in temples religious and devotional aspects are involved. Hence, care must be taken not to hurt religious sentiments, he said.

In the beginning there was opposition from the Tirupati Temple authorities. However, our team held discussions with the Tirumala Tirupati Devastanams Board members and requested them to follow food safety guidelines while manufacturing prasadam and they agreed to follow them. Even other temples in the country have decided to check the quality of prasadam, he said.

“Karnataka has taken care to implement the mid-day meal scheme without any hiccups. However, by the time this scheme was implemented the Central Government had prepared many food safety guidelines. Even the school administration must follow them. We have directed the governments to keep an eye on this implementation,” he said.

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