Third party audit for food units of central institutions

New Delhi, Jan 19: To strengthen the food safety surveillance system, the Union government has initiated a process of getting third party food safety audit of units under various central institutions.

Official sources said the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has started the process under the draft Food Safety and Standards (Food Safety Auditing) Regulations, 2017.
The FSSAI has granted provisional Recognition as Food Safety Auditing Agency to 15 auditing agencies after the approval by the Food authority to create a pool of auditing agencies that could be used for the purpose.
These agencies will audit the food safety and hygiene standards of canteens, cafetarias and hotel mess on a pilot basis of several Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs, including at Delhi, Mumbai, Guwahati, Chennai, Roorkee and Kanpur; Indian Institutes of Management(IIMs), including at Ahmedabad and Kozhikode and the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), at Delhi and Jodhpur.
The objective of these food safety audits are to strengthen the food safety surveillance system, reduce regulatory food safety inspections conducted by central, state licencing authorities in case of satisfactory third party audits and to encourage self compliance among Food Business Operators (FBOs) as they may opt for voluntary audits, the sources said. UNI