Food delivery business has turned sour for those with no or poor hygiene rating in Punjab. For, the Punjab Government has decided to impose one year ban on the online FBOs (food business operators) without or less than three marks hygiene rating.
Ban orders, which would come into effect from April 30, 2020, will also be applicable on those Online Food Supply Aggregators (OFSAs), like Zomato, Swiggy, Food Panda, Uber Eats, among others, which would supply food from the unrated FBOs.
Issuing prohibition orders, the State Food and Drug Administration Commissioner KS Pannu on Sunday said that exercising the powers conferred under section 30(2)(a) of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, read with section 18(1)(a) of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, in the interest of public health, the “distribution, supply or sale of articles of food through Online Food Supply Aggregators (OFSAs), related to those Food Business Operators (FBOs) who have not got their hygiene rating done, has been prohibited”.
The orders also prohibit OFSAs from sourcing the food from FBOs which are not hygienically rated and also where such rating is less than three marks out of five, said Pannu, adding that the prohibition orders would be effective in the entire State of Punjab for the period of one year with effect from April 30, 2020.
Pannu said as per the orders, in Punjab, information technology driven online food supply aggregators (OFSAs) such as M/s Uber Eats, M/s Swiggy, M/s Zomato, M/s Food Panda etc have been distributing, selling or supplying food to the consumers after sourcing the same from Food Business Operators (FBOs).
“This food delivery, through an IT-based platform, is a very recent phenomenon in which the direct and primary contact between the consumer of food articles and the manufacturers of food articles, especially the hot cooked food articles, has snapped,” said Pannu.
Pannu added the mechanism of distribution, sale or supply of food by OFSAs has obliterated the system of responsibility of maintaining the quality of food, which till now was being directly verified by the consumers from the food business operators at his counter.
With the introduction of mechanism of OFSAs, it has become important to ensure that these aggregators supply only the good quality and properly hygienic food articles to the consumers.
“Although, it is the moral responsibility of FBOs and OFSAs to ensure quality and hygiene of food delivered. However, the duty is also cast upon the State Authorities to ensure safe food to public under the Section 18(1)(a) of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006,” said Pannu.
He said the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued instructions, vide which the system of hygiene rating of the food business operators has been introduced and the FSSAI has empanelled various agencies to conduct the hygiene rating of the FBOs.
Pannu informed that the office of Food and Drug Administration, Punjab, had advised all the OFSAs to ensure that the FBOs from where they are sourcing the food for distribution to consumers should be asked to get the hygiene rating of their business done and the OFSAs should source and supply the food from only those FBOs who secure at least three smilies out of a range of five smilies in the matter of hygiene rating.
The date of getting the hygiene rating of the FBOs done was extended till October 31, 2019.
However, it has been observed that even after creating awareness regarding the importance of hygiene rating, OFSAs have not taken the matter seriously, resulting in consumers continuously facing the potential of delivery of unsafe or unhygienic food.
Later, the department gave a notice on January 18, 2020, for seeking objections, if any, to the OFSAs as well as the FBOs and other stakeholders to show cause as to why not to prohibit the distribution, supply or sale of food through OFSAs related to those FBOs who have not got their hygiene rating done.
The objections were called to be filed on or before January 30, 2020. Since, no objection has been received from any stakeholder including OFSAs and FBOs, so the prohibition orders have been issued, said Pannu.