World Food Safety Day celebrated by the Food Safety Department, Government of Tamil Nadu and Consumers Association of India (CAI), Chennai.

• Officials stressed the  importance of reading package information food labels as a mandatory to know about a food product.

Chennai, June 7, 2019:  As the city celebrated the first World Food Safety Day on Friday, food safety officials and consumer activists raised the need for consumers to read food labels and ensure that the food is safe, at an event organised for students by the Food Safety Department, Government of Tamil Nadu and Consumers Association of India (CAI), Chennai.

(From Right) , Mr G Santhanarajan Director Concert Trust Chennai, Mrs Nirmala Desikan chairman, Consumers Association of India Chennai, Dr Vanaja MBBS

Addl commissioner, Food Safety Dept, Govt of TamilNadu, Dr Ramakrishnan MBBS, Designated Officer, F S Dept, Dr Jawahar MBBS, Dy Director, Principal, Health and Family Welfare Training Centre, Chennai

A. Ramakrishnan, designated officer, Tamil Nadu Food Safety Department, Chennai, said as a consumer, one should read the food label that would provide 13 points about the product, including ingredients list, nutritional value, preservatives/flavour agents, manufacturer address, net weight, batch number, date of packing or manufacturing, best before date, how to use and FSSAI license number.

A view of Audience

On World Food Safety Day, officials stress importance of package information Reading food labels could tell you at least 13 things about a food product. Most importantly, food labels give information on when the product was manufactured, its ingredients and best before date to ensure its safety.

Nirmala Desikan, chairman of CAI, Chennai, said the five pillars of food safety were maintaining personal hygiene, maintaining cleanliness of kitchen and its surrounding, checking for adulteration and spoilage and reading food labels. She added that according to WHO, every year, one in 10 persons fell ill by eating contaminated food, and such food was the cause for more than 200 diseases.

Students taking the Pledge on World Food Safety Day

G. Santhanarajan, director, CAI, put forth the need to check for logos on food labels and K. Vanaja, Additional Commissioner and Director, Tamil Madu Food Safety Department, was present among others.