New food safety Act to go tough on adulterators

The Delhi government is all set to introduce the Food Safety and Standard Act-2006 in the coming months.

The Delhi government is all set to introduce the Food Safety and Standard Act-2006 in the coming months. The new Act will have more stringent provisions,and to settle cases faster,many of the offences will be decided by an officer of the rank of sub-divisional magistrate.

Health department officials said although the Act was passed by Parliament in 2006,the Centre notified the rules for enforcement of the legislation only a few weeks ago. It will be enforced in Delhi within a period of three months.

With the enforcement of the new Act,food adulteration will become almost impossible as it will attract heavy fine and punishment,including life imprisonment. Since not all cases have to go to court,disposal of cases will be done faster, said Health minister A K Walia.

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Under the new Act,all food business operators will have to acquire licences and get themselves registered. Small-time shopkeepers will have to apply for registration while bigger business establishments will have to acquire licences.

The punishment has been divided into two categories under the new law. In case of substandard,misbranded food or misleading advertisements about food products (not injurious to health),the cases will not go to the court. The offenders,however,will be fined up to Rs 10 lakh.

In case of injurious food,the punishment will be imprisonment up to seven years,with a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh. In case of death caused due to adulterated food items,the punishment will range from seven years imprisonment to life,besides a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh.

The new Act will also have a provision of a compensation of injury or death. In case of death,the compensation will not be less than Rs 5 lakh,and in case of grievous injury,up to Rs 3 lakh. In the case of minor injury,the compensation can go up to Rs 1 lakh.

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The punishment will be doubled in case of subsequent offences. In case food processing units do not meet the stipulated standards of hygiene,units can be fined up to Rs 1 lakh. The manufacturers can also be fined if the quality of the food does not meet the standard promised by them.

In April 2011,as many as 40 of the 264 food samples were found to be adulterated and four misbranded. The results for 43 samples are still awaited. Officials had taken 32 samples of spices,31 of milk products,22 each of pulses,cereals and milk,18 of edible oil and 17 from eateries across the Capital. Apart from this,69 samples of miscellaneous food items were taken,and raids were conducted across the city.

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food adulteration