Telangana: Restaurants to soon get hygiene ratings

The food safety task force will ensure a hygiene audit programme for restaurants with third-party auditors, who can keep tabs on the quality.

Hyderabad: In view of recent food inspections that highlighted poor hygiene, cleanliness and expired food products in the kitchens of the restaurants in the city and elsewhere in the State, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) Hyderabad chapter decided to immediately develop a hygiene rating system for restaurants.

For this, a special food safety task force has been constituted by the NRAI Hyderabad chapter to come up with the rating system besides ensuring an effective implementation of FSSAI standards in the restaurants. As per the action plan, the task force will ensure a hygiene audit programme for restaurants with third-party auditors, who can keep tabs on the quality.

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The 15-member taskforce chaired by NRAI Hyderabad chapter head Sampath Tummala will organize multiple FSSAI awareness workshops/trainings to educate all restaurant members with the first such session held on Thursday.

In association with the FSSAI and GHMC, the taskforce is also planning to organize a food safety week in the next few weeks and medical camps to provide food handlers certificates to restaurant staff.

“As a responsible body, we have constituted this special taskforce that will take all necessary measures of utmost priority to enhance awareness and knowledge about all required protocols of food safety amongst all F&B Operators,” Sampath Tummala said.

NRAI food safety taskforce members who met Telangana State Food Safety Commissioner RV Karnan on Thursday apprised him of the taskforce created by NRAI to work in collaboration with the FSSAI body and GHMC to raise food and hygiene standards in the city.

During the meeting, Karnan suggested the possibility of adding hygiene ratings and displaying them in restaurants for customer awareness. Both parties have agreed to host a large event in coming months to further enhance awareness of required protocols.