Tamil Nadu Is The Safest State In The Country When It Comes To Food

Tamil Nadu took first place among large states in the country in the State Food Safety Index 2021-2022. The award was presented to state food safety commissioner P Senthilkumar, who is also an officer on special duty for the state health department, by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday. The prize was given in recognition of the state's overall achievement on different food safety metrics.

In addition to the state award, 11 districts - Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Salem, Coimbatore, Chennai, Tirunelveli, Erode, Madurai, Thoothukudi, Tiruppur, and Dindigul - were recognised for their outstanding achievement in the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India's 'Eat Right Challenge' (FSSAI).

He stated that the competition attracted at least 150 districts from across the country, with 75 being picked. Eleven of the participants were from Tamil Nadu.

While the state performed well across the board, including human resources and institutional data, compliance, food testing infrastructure and surveillance, training and capacity-building, and consumer empowerment, Senthilkumar noted that it excelled in specific outreach programmes.

For example, for weddings, IT parks, canteens, and other large occasions, the state appoints NGOs to distribute extra food from FSSAI certified hotels. He said that almost all of the food donated through similar networks across the country came from Tamil Nadu.

More than 400 temples in the state have BHOG certification thanks to the HR&CE's collaboration with the state FSSAI department. To prevent cooking oil from being reused, the state has instructed hotels and restaurants to hand over the oil to agents for conversion into biodiesel or other non-cooking uses.