Now the quality of food items will be strictly monitored on every festival in Maharashtra. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has informed that special steps have been taken in this regard and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been issued.
From Ganesh Utsav to balanced diet in schools and quality of medicines, the department took a strict stance and till now more than 900 licenses have been suspended for violating the rules.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said, “Instead of seeing this every year in Maharashtra, we have issued a permanent standard operating procedure (SOP) for the entire year covering the festival season. This includes festivals of every religion and every locality. This is a standing order for the festivals, so the entire process will be done from 21 days before the festival till 30 days after the festival.”
He further said that it will be the responsibility of our office to take action against food business operators working during the festive season. As far as the ongoing Ganesh Utsav is concerned, we had asked that organizers or food providers should inform us about the food business operators working there and whether they are functioning properly or not.
We are taking action in schools. You must have seen that a few days ago FDA Maharashtra had issued an order regarding implementation of balanced diet in schools. We first decided on a strategy and held a meeting with all the officials of the school education department.
There are approximately 1.08 lakh schools including those falling under the local body. So far, we have trained around 68,000 schools, and work is progressing for the remaining schools as well.
He further said that till now more than 900 licenses have been suspended, whether of pharmacies, manufacturers, blood centers or other places in the cosmetic sector. Wherever necessary, we took action and to a large extent the licenses of the manufacturers have also been cancelled.
In some cases, the action has been against a specific product, while in others it has been against companies. The drug sector also comes under the Food and Drug Administration. Therefore, we keep a close eye on pharmacies, manufacturers, wholesalers and dealers.
We also do sampling and if there are any violations of licensing conditions, we take action against them. It is our responsibility and role to enforce the rules of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
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