‘Regulates food safety, not festivals’: FDA chief Tukaram Mundhe clarifies new order | Mumbai News
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) new year-round festival food-safety directive is aimed at preventing food adulteration and ensuring safe food at public gatherings, not regulating how festivals are celebrated, FDA commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said.Mundhe said the directive applies uniformly to festivals and gatherings across communities, including weddings, bhandaras, Eid, Christmas and New Year’s Eve events, and does not introduce any new restrictions on religious or cultural activities.“We are not regulating festivals; we are ensuring that food served at festivals – just as in weddings, bhandaras, Eid, Christmas, New Year’s Eve events and other gatherings – is safe and compliant with a law that has existed since 2011,” Mundhe told PTI.After months of intensified action against food adulteration, the FDA recently introduced a year-round “Festival Enforcement Calendar” to systematically monitor food safety during festivals, news agency PTI reported.“There appears to be some misunderstanding and apprehension regarding the standing order issued for food-safety arrangements during festivals and large public gatherings,” Mundhe said.“The order does not regulate festivals. It regulates food safety,” he said.The commissioner said the legal framework governing food safety, including registration and licensing of Food Business Operators (FBOs), has been in place since 2011 and has been operational for years.The latest order, he said, does not create a new law, introduce a new licensing regime or impose additional restrictions on festivals.Mundhe said festival-related food-safety directions were earlier often issued separately as individual festivals approached.The latest order instead establishes a standing framework for the entire year, covering festivals and large gatherings across communities and religions.The aim is to ensure that officers, vendors, caterers, FBOs and organisers understand their respective roles and responsibilities, he said.“This reduces ambiguity, prevents arbitrary interpretation and ensures consistent implementation of the law,” the senior IAS officer said.Mundhe said the latest standard operating procedure is both religion-neutral and festival-neutral and does not discriminate between communities or festivals.The order does not prohibit bhandaras, prasad or community food distribution, or interfere with Ganapati and other religious festivals, religious rituals or traditions, he said.It also does not stop communities from organising festivals or regulate the manner in which people celebrate, nor does it impose a new legal requirement specifically for festivals.“No religious or cultural activity is being prohibited by this order,” the FDA chief said.Mundhe said the SOP was intended only to ensure implementation of the existing food-safety framework across all communities, festivals and food-service activities.“It is a uniform, year-round SOP for implementing the existing food-safety framework, applicable without discrimination to all communities, all festivals and all food-service activities.“The objective is not to restrict celebration but to prevent illness. Let festivals be celebrated with faith, joy and tradition and let the food served during the festivities be safe,” Mundhe said.(With agency inputs)
