Food safety remains a critical issue in India with frequent reports of outbreaks of food-borne illnesses every year resulting in substantial costs to individuals, healthcare system and the country said experts form the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research.
Food contamination can occur at any stage from production to consumption i.e. from Farm to Fork. This issue is a matter of concern for authorities in all kinds of settings like eating outlets of hospitals, schools, colleges etc.
Dr Puja Dudeja, who is doing her PhD under Dr Amarjeet Singh of SPH, PGIMER has taken the initiative of creating a useful set of training material on this aspect. Dr Sukhpal Kaur has also contributed in this endeavour.
Both Hindi and English versions of a book on food safety have been published this month by them. Dr Puja has also developed a short comedy film on food safety.
These books and CDs are expected to help FBOs of eating establishments in training the food handlers on safe food practices.
This book has eight sections. These sections have covered aspects like who is a food handler, their role in causing and preventing food borne illnesses, various environmental aspects of a kitchen, procurement and storage of food materials, safe food handling practices, tips for ready to eat foods, cleaning of utensils, maintenance of kitchen and role of monitoring and supervision in ensuring food safety, said DR Puja Dudeja one of the author and a PhD student.