Aug 21, 2020
The ‘Eat Right India’ movement initiated by FSSAI under the aegis of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, has gone a long way in creating awareness amongst the people about eating safe, healthy and sustainably. Adding another milestone, FSSAI has recently announced the Eat Right Challenge, an annual competition for the Districts and Cities in a unique way to strengthen the food safety and regulatory environment, build awareness among the consumers and urge them to make better food choices.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Hon’ble Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare addressed the registered Districts and Cities, today, in an online orientation workshop organised by the Food Authority. Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey, the Hon’ble Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare also graced the occasion.
The Hon’ble Minister released the ‘Eat Right Handbook’, a comprehensive guide for the Food Safety Commissioners and district officials to adopt and scale-up Eat Right India (ERI) initiatives. The handbook provides ready information, resources and success stories about various ERI initiatives. He also launched the new Eat Right India website (http:// https://eatrightindia.gov.in/) with enhanced features, sharp look & feel and better user accessibility. The new website also showcases a citizen section for healthy tips, recipes and expert speaks on food related matters.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Harsh Vardhan complemented FSSAI for its out-of- the-box thinking to reach out to almost all sections of society in its efforts to provide safe and healthy food to the citizens through this unique challenge. The Hon’ble Minister highlighted “The Eat Right Challenge will surely help in strengthening our food ecosystem; bringing the thrust for self-compliance in food businesses by building their capacities, thereby, transforming the food environment with safe, healthy and sustainable diets to all. This challenge will be led by the Designated Officers (DOs) under the guidance of the State Food Safety Commissioners/ District Magistrates (DMs) and will prove beneficial in broadening the reach of registration/licensing, enforcement and surveillance efforts at the States level, among other core regulatory activities of FSSAI”.
He further highlighted that this challenge is not only a competition but a unique way to bring about innovation in the field of food safety harnessing the rich intellect that India possesses. In the past, FSSAI has been spearheading various mass movement activities to build awareness amongst consumers wherever they are. Several benchmarking and certification schemes for improving the infrastructure and hygiene compliance levels in food establishments have been created like Clean Street Food Hubs, Eat Right Campus and other mass awareness efforts at the ground level.
Dr Harsh Vardhan lauded the efforts of FSSAI for supporting first 150 cities & districts, financially with a seed funding of Rs. 5 lakhs to gear them up for the challenge. He further urged everyone to come out with innovative ideas/ models to promote Eat Right initiatives in their respective areas and compete for an additional funding from FSSAI as part of this challenge.
Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Hon’ble Ministry of State for Health and Family Welfare highlighted that “The Eat Right Challenge is a commendable way for FSSAI to recognize the work done by its State counterparts in ensuring food safety. This annual activity will help States/UTs learn from each other and motivate to do better”. Highlighting the age-old wisdom of traditional Ayurveda and right eating practices, Hon’ble Minister of State further mentioned that the Eat Right India tells people that safe and right food in a sustainable manner is helpful for both people as well as the planet. Such large-scale engagement activities at the States level ensure that our food safety departments fulfil their responsibilities and work more dynamically to live upto the expectations of our citizens.