The FDA has called a meeting at its headquarters on Tuesday to provide instructions and guidance to representatives of Sarvajanik Ganesh mandals. In a first, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) led by Tukaram Mundhe has introduced a 21-point standard operating procedure (SOP) to regulate food preparation, its hygiene and large-scale distribution. MUMBAI: Ganpati mandals will have to pay extra attention to the prasad, annadaan or bhandara they serve to devotees this year.
An administrative initiative operating under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, Mundhe’s ‘Festival Enforcement Calendar’ has been designed to systematically implement the existing food safety framework for festivals and community events. Ganeshotsav has been classified as a Level 1 festival or one that involves significant consumption and distribution of food, and will be subjected to a four-stage enforcement cycle of preparation, intensive enforcement, festival-day surveillance and post-festival follow-up. Shivaji Khairnar, joint secretary of the Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti, which oversees around 12,000 mandals in Mumbai, also expressed concern about the requirement of licensed contractors.
The GSB Seva Mandal at Sion, which serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks as part of its seva to tens of thousands of devotees, has begun preparations to comply with the SOP. However, while larger mandals may be able to comply with the requirements, smaller mandals have raised concerns about the practical difficulties involved, particularly the mandate to engage licensed contractors to cook food. Satish Nayak, former trustee of the GSB Seva Mandal, agreed that mandals needed to follow minimum food safety protocols but sought more time for implementation. “As directed by the Bombay high court, the FDA should adopt a practical approach and give us time till next year to execute the SOP. “Not every mandal will be able to engage a contractor. In smaller mandals, we provide the ingredients, and members of women self-help groups come together and prepare the food or prasad. What will happen to them?”
Bharat Kini, the in-charge of food at the mandal, said that all mandals had to meet FDA requirements such as water testing and maintaining hygienic food preparation areas. “Prasad is also food, and this is the first time that mandals are following this SOP,” he said. “For very small mandals, where women from the society come together to cook and serve food, implementation will be difficult, especially since there are only four days left for the festival,” he said. “The 12,000 mandals in the city encompass a gamut from mandals in housing societies to public mandals,” he said.
The FDA’s four-stage enforcement for Ganeshotsav begins 21 days before the festival. Inspection and sampling records are also required to be updated digitally. In the first phase, officials are expected to identify high-risk areas and food establishments, gather intelligence, map supply chains, form inspection teams and ensure that sampling equipment, rapid-test kits and laboratory facilities are available. The second phase, immediately preceding the festival, involves intensive inspections and sampling. Depending on the risk assessment, officials can inspect manufacturers, mills, milk collection centres, cold storages, warehouses, wholesale markets and other points in the food supply chain. For Ganeshotsav, milk and milk products have been specifically identified as priority commodities. Milk, curd, paneer, khoya, butter and ghee are to receive increased scrutiny, particularly at collection centres and during early morning movement. If adulteration is detected, the FDA is expected to trace the supply chain back to the source rather than restricting action to the point of sale. The third stage of enforcement is on the day of the festival. Retail outlets, sweet shops, food stalls, temporary food establishments and mass food-distribution points will come under surveillance, and the FDA may deploy ‘Food Safety on Wheels’ vans for on-site screening and food safety awareness. Complaints from devotees regarding suspected adulteration or unsafe food will also be taken up on priority. The FDA’s four-stage system will continue even after Ganeshotsav ends. Laboratory reports will be followed up, and where violations are established, appropriate adjudication, prosecution or other statutory action may follow. Mundhe has clarified that the framework does not impose restrictions on religious rituals or celebrations but seeks to ensure that food prepared, distributed or sold during festivals is compliant with food safety laws.
