Govt forms task force to ensure food safety

Hyderabad: Strong comments from the court and protests from parents and students have finally forced the state government to come up with certain guidelines to prevent incidents of food poisoning in government-run welfare and residential schools. The government on Thursday constituted a state-level task force committee and institution-level food safety committees.

According to the new guidelines, which are mandatory, the food safety committees are supposed to take photos of the cooked food and send them to the designated officials regularly.

They should also keep a record of the same till the nodal department develops an app so that the photos can be uploaded in real time. They are also supposed to taste the food before it is served to the students.

It is also mandatory for the committees to inspect the store room and kitchen before cooking every meal and ensure that the quality of provisions and best hygiene in the premises, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari said in a circular issued to all the institutions.

The District Collectors have been asked to appoint Mandal, Divisional and District-level committees for all institutions and ensure that the food served in all institutions is safe, hygienic and well nourished.

The task force committee will consist of three members – Commissioner, Food Safety, Head of the department of the concerned institution – Additional Director and district-level officer of the social welfare/tribal welfare/BC welfare / District Education Officer.

The task force committee has also been asked to visit and inquire into any issue related to food safety reported by any institution, identify the reason and fix up the responsibility against the persons and agencies responsible for such incidents and submit a detailed report to the government for further action.