Principal Secretary V.K. Meena, Department of Health & Family Welfare chaired a meeting of the officers of Food & Drugs Administration
V.K. Meena, IAS, Principal Secretary chaired a meeting of the officers of Food & Drugs Administration, Punjab and this meeting was presided over by Dr. Abhinav Trikha, Commissioner, Food & Drugs Administration, Punjab.
The Chair conveyed the directions of Govt. of Punjab and Dr. Balbir Singh, Hon’ble Health Minister, Punjab and reiterated that the main objective of Food and Drugs Administration is to provide safe & healthy food and quality & affordable medicines to the public of Punjab.
All the officers of Food & Drugs Administration, Punjab were directed to implement the provisions of Food Safety & Standards Act as well as of Drugs & Cosmetics Act in letter & spirit to weed-out the Not of Standard Quality drugs & Sub-standard food items from the market. Worthy PSHFW directed the officers of the department to take more samples of suspected items of food & medicines. From January 2022 to January 2023, 130 new court cases have been launched in the Judicial Courts of the State for violating the provisions of Drugs & Cosmetics Act by the Drugs Control Wing of FDA and 26 accused have been awarded convictions by the Hon’ble Courts. At present 636 cases are under trail in the Judicial Courts.
It was informed in the meeting that in the Food Wing, at present there are 450 cases pending in the Judicial Courts and 577 cases are pending in the Civil Courts of various districts of Punjab. From April 2022 to January 2023, 05 accused have been awarded convictions by the Hon’ble Courts and a fine of Rs 1,70,75,500/- has been imposed upon the defaulting Food Business Operators as per provisions of Food Safety & Standard Act.
The officers of FDA were directed to ensure that sale of schedule drugs should be done on proper sale bills on the prescription of Registered Medical Practitioners and also directed to check the sale & purchase records of Chemists. The officers were further directed to take strict action against the chemists, who are found indulged in the sale of habit-forming drugs.
Food Safety Wing has initiated the FSSAI’s Eat right India Movement in the state, in which certification process for Clean street food hubs, clean fruits and vegetable markets, Eat right campuses including jails, colleges, schools, railway stations etc are being done. Hygiene rating, audits and trainings of various Food Vending Establishments is also the part of this campaign. Food Safety Wing has organized Eat Right Melas and Walkathon in the districts of Ludhiana, Amritsar and Bathinda. To promote the international year of Millets in 2023, FDA Punjab has organized Millets Melas at Amritsar and Mohali in January 2023.
The Officers of FDA were directed to ensure that Food Business Operators register themselves with Food Safety Department, which is mandatory as per Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. A total of 2,13,443 Licenses and Registrations have been issued in State till 31-01-2023.
Food and Drug Administration has already put in place 7 Mobile Food Testing Vans which are sent in each and every district periodically to test milk, Water and spices samples etc.
