Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 22: CCI Jammu, CII and PHDCCI Jammu delegations met Central Officers of Food and Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and discussed various issues.
A delegation of CCI Jammu headed by its President Arun Gupta met Rita Teaotia, Chairperson and Arun Singhal, Chief Executive Officer, FSSAI Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and discussed various issues being faced by the traders.
Arun Gupta apprised the Central Food Safety officers about the flaws in the working of Food Safety Department. He made them aware that the local Food Safety officers are harassing the small shopkeepers and shopkeepers selling packed food on various pretexts and never dare to inspect big shopping malls and marts in Jammu.
He also raised serious concern over various flaws in the Packing and Labeling Act. He appealed to the FSSAI officers to direct the officers of Jammu based Food Safety officers not to harass the traders of Jammu region and hold awareness drives after regular intervals instead of penalizing the traders due to none of their faults.
Anil Gupta Senior Vice President raised the issue that in Jammu unemployment rate is 22 per cent & in India is overall 8.7 per cent. People run their livelihoods by opening small retail shops with small investment. Department should have a policy for them and should not impose heavy fines on them, he added.
Arun Singhal, giving a patient hearing, termed the issues raised by Jammu Chamber was genuine and assured to address the same at the earliest. He also directed the Jammu based FSSAI officers to inform the local traders about the laws of food safety by carrying out awareness drives on regular basis.
Meanwhile, a delegation led by Ravnish Gulati, Chairman CII J&K Council also interacted with Rita Teaotia and Arin Singhal.
Gulati while giving suggestions to the officials of FSSAI said that awareness and educational programs should be conducted on frequent basis to assist food operators to keep pace with the changes in the Food Safety and Standards Act. CII members also made a request for doing away with the requirement of Mandatory BIS Certification for Cattle Feed Industry. They also suggested that Government testing labs need to be equipped with quality testing equipment and manpower in order to enhance the quality and level of testing food products.
Sanjay Puri and Farooq Amin, Past Chairmen CII J&K Council also suggested that in order to create an enabling and smooth working environment for food operators, FSSAI should further upgrade FOSCOS and provide express redressal on license issuance and modification.
Other CII members were Gagan Jain, Abhinandan Sachdev and Anshal Gulati.
Rahul Sahai Chairman PHDCCI Jammu met Rita Teaotia. She was accompanied with Arun Singhal, CEO FSSAI, Shakeel-Ul-Rehman Commissioner, FDA J&K, Sanjeev Kumar Deputy Commissioner Food Safety (HQ) and other senior officials of FSSAI New Delhi and Jammu.
PHDCCI delegation suggested Chairperson FSSAI about various points for food safety and standards in J&K. Sahai suggested mass awareness programs of various schemes by the department. PHDCCI delegation also raised some issues of Food Industry. The delegation also demanded extension of time for implementation of Mandatory BIS certification for Cattle Feed Industry by atleast six months more.
Rita Teaotia Chairperson FSSAI gave patient hearing to PHDCCI delegation and assured that FSSAI is very serious about their schemes to be implemented in letter and spirit in J&K and will definitely keep these points in mind and will take regular reviews regarding these activities.
Others present from PHDCCI Jammu present were Kuldeep Gupta Co Chairman, Shantnu Gupta, Amit Gupta and Sonaad Gupta.
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