Andhra Pradesh Food Safety Department has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), New Delhi, for establishing food labs and mobile food labs in the State, said the department’s Commissioner Salijamala Venkateswar, in a statement released on Sunday.
As a part of this agreement, the State received funds of ₹80 crore for setting up these labs and improving the food safety ecosystem here, he said.
After reviewing the functioning of food and water labs, the Commissioner instructed authorities to conduct regular quality tests, take stringent action against those using banned items such as synthetic food colours, and reuse cooking oil.
He said that special drives would be held to raise awareness around the ill effects of reusing cooking oil multiple times, asserting that more than 300 cases were booked in the past 18 months against those reusing cooking oil.
Mr. Venkateswar reiterated that regular review meetings would be held for the effective implementation of the Food Safety Act (2006) across the State, and programmes like ‘Hygiene Rating’, ‘Eat Right Schools’, ‘Eat Right Campus’, ‘Clean Food Hubs and Clean Vegetable Hubs’ would be regularly organised.
