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Food safety license is a must for the annadhanams proposed in Virudhunagar district in connection with Muthuramalinga Thevar guru puja on October 31. In a statement, Virudhunagar Collector N. O. Sukhaputra said that the annadhanam organisers and those putting up temporary eateries on that day should register themselves under Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 through https://foscos.fssai.gov.in Similarly, the cooks who cook food for feasts and catering agents should also register themselves and get registration certificate/license. The organisers of annadhanams should engage only such cooks and catering agents. Besides appylying for license, the annadhanam organisers should submit in advance an application to the Food Safety Designated Officer, whose office is located in Room No. 116, 118 on New Collectrate premises, seeking permission to organise annadhanam. The application should contain details like the address, contact number, venue of annadhanam, details of the cook/catering agent, the source of water to be supplied for drinking and cooking purposes and in case of distribution of bottled drinking water, the details of its distributor/owner of the unit. If the organisers were planning to use water drawn from well or through borewell for cooking and drinking purposes, the organisers should produce the permission got from respective local body and the water analysis report. In case, the organisers were planning to use water supplied by local bodies, the organisers should give a self declaration. Medical certificate to certify that those involved in cooking and the personnel from the catering agents were free from contagious disease should be produced. They should also use gloves and kitchen caps. The organisers should procure only those raw materials for cooking which are packaged and had proper labelling and only from those suppliers who have got food safety license. A self declaration to ensure this should be submitted along with the application. The food should be served within two and half hours from the time of cooking. In case of using milk, fish and meat for cooking, those goods should be maintained at the right temperature. A sample of all types of cooked food should be packed in clean bottles and preserved in refrigerator for 48 hours. The water used for drinking and cooking should be certified for quality by the laboratories of Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board or that of Public Health Department. Water drawn from borewells in private land should not be used without prior permission. Food and snacks should be cooked by traders using quality raw materials in hygeniec environment. Food colour agents which are not permitted should not be used for cooking. Used oil should not be used for cooking. Packaged food items should have proper labels like date of manufaturing, date of expiry, food safety license number. Packaged food items and cool drinks and drinking water with lapsed expiry date should not be sold. People involved in cleaning the dining table should not serve the food. Besides, the snacks should not be served on newspapers or banned plastic goods, the Collector said.
