To maintain the food safety standards with the help of technology, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will be providing 4000+ smart jackets to the food safety officers across India. According to a recent report, the FSSAI has sought demands from states and based on those demands, about 4086 smart jackets will soon be handed out to the FSOs (Food Safety Officers) across the country.
According to the FSSAI, Tamil Nadu will get 598 jackets, Maharashtra 454, Tripura 8, Ladakh 2, Manipur 44, Gujarat 798, Goa 44, Arunachal Pradesh 8, Chandigarh 10, Dadra and Nagar Haveli 8, Kerala 294, Chattisgarh 112, Uttarakhand 104, West Bengal 358, Odisha 36, Karnataka 510, Haryana 42, Bihar 210, Himachal Pradesh 40, Assam 64 and Nagaland 16. Besides Regional Offices, Mumbai will get 80 jackets, Delhi 38, Chennai 48 and Kolkata 28. Apart from the regional and state offices, FSSAI HQ will also get smart jackets for its several departments.
Details of the hi-tech jackets: Food Safety Smart Jackets were conceptualised and designed by FSSAI in collaboration with National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and should serve as a mark of professional identity for the FSOs. The Jacket will limit cross contamination during the sampling and examination of food businesses. The design will aid in technology-based inspections by allowing the FSO to smartly hold devices like smartphones, tablets etc. The jacket will also have provisions for a pocket camera, RFID tag and QR code to allow the use of such technology for tracking the visit of FSOs.
Expert Take: The jackets in the future will be made available through GeM and Eat Right India Merchandise Store. These can be ordered and purchased by the State Food Safety Commissioner or any other Official duly authorised by him or any FSO from Eat Right India Merchandise Store/GeM directly. Speaking about the jackets, Ashwin Bhadri, CEO of Equinox Labs mentions, “The jacket’s practical layout will not only allow FSOs to load it up with essential items and easily carry them to the area of operation, but it will also improve efficiency in real-time testing of food. The jackets will serve as a uniform and make the FSOs in our country stand out for what they do.”
(The information in the article is provided by Equinox Labs, a top Indian FSSAI-certified Food, Water, and Air Testing Laboratory and Auditing Agency)