The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has directed for the re-operationalisation of the Food Safety Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Business) Amendment Regulations, 2018. These directions were issued by a notification dated 19th August 2020. The re-operationalisation of the said Amendment Regulations will be in effect from 16th August 2020.
The FSSAI states that it is in the process of notifying draft regulations and it acknowledges that the process of notification, consideration of comments received thereon and finalization of these regulations will require additional time. Hence in the meanwhile, it has decided to re-operationalise the said Amendment Regulations.
The Food Business Operators (FBOs) are required to comply with these Regulations. However, the enforcement of these Regulations will commence only after the final Regulations are notified.
The FSS (Licensing and Registration of Food Business) Amendment Regulations, 2018 contemplates the following aspects:
- Licensing and registration of e-commerce FBOs, including their responsibilities.
- Requisite documentation to be enclosed with applications for licences to State/ Central Licencing Authorities. The Amendment makes a series of exceptions in the list of documentation so far as restaurants are concerned. For instance, restaurants are not required to furnish the blueprint/layout plan of the processing unit showing the dimensions in metres/square metres and operation-wise area allocation.
- The licence will be subject to conditions, such as exhibiting a Food Safety Display Board at all times, in a conspicuous place of a restaurant’s premises. The restaurants are, inter alia, also required to purchase raw food materials only from licensed vendors and must maintain records of such purchases.
- General requirements on hygiene and sanitary practices that must be followed by all FBOs applying for licenses. These include stipulations in respect of hygiene of location and surroundings, premises and rooms, equipment, utilities, ventilation, maintenance, sanitation, etc.
- Establishment of small slaughter-houses. This includes sanitary and hygienic requirements, NOCs from local authorities and State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), premise requirements, facilities, etc.
- Good hygiene and manufacturing processes to be followed by licensed FBOs engaged in catering/ food-service operations. These include the design and facilities of the establishments, storage of food and packaging materials, requirements for pre-preparation activities, food preparation, re-heating, food packaging and transportation.
