Ludhiana: In a bid to improve the quality of food available in the city, additional district commissioner Neeru Katyal and healthcare district officer Avinash Kumar held meetings with representatives of associations of food in the small secretariat.
They were informed that all entities selling food must be licensed and must get registered as soon as possible. "This will help ensure the health of the people of the city," said Neeru Katyal, ADC, Ludhiana.
Punjab Government has given food entities deadline of February 4, 2014 to get registered. Under the Safety Standards Act and the Food, once the food supplier is registered, it will be authenticated to sell food hygiene.
The health department keep a tab on the registered entities by conducting surprise checks.
"The idea is to ensure that consumers can eat hygienic food. If an entity is registered, will have to pay a fine up to Rs 5 lakh or imprisonment for six months," said Avinash Kumar, district health officer.
To enroll in the health department, food sales entities with annual turnover of up to Rs 12 lakh will be charged up to 100 rupees, while those with an annual turnover of more than Rs 12 lakh will have to pay between 2,000 rupees and Rs 5000.
Taking strict notice of the samples that failed in the city in the past two years, the department has made it mandatory for all organizations to get the record out as soon as possible. About 5,000 registration applications have been submitted, of which 950 have passed.
Partnerships in food safety meeting including Ice Cream Association, Association of Bakery, Hotels and Restaurants Association, Candies, Dairy Association, Association of Commerce and Karyana.