Marico Collaborates with FSSAI to Promote Healthy & Safe Food Practices |

Marico Limited, in partnership with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDA) Gujarat, aims to expand the Eat Right program with an objective to foster hygienic and safe food habits in the state. Through this program, Marico is working with 3 Eat Right Campuses, 5 Clean Street Food Hubs and 50 schools in Gujarat wherein it has introduced the Safe and Nutritious Food at School (SNF@School) initiative.

Marico has supported FSSAI‘s “Eat Right” program since its inception and in the last one year alone, reached out to 200 schools benefitting more than 80,000 children across India. Through the SNF@School program Marico aims to inculcate the habit of eating safe and eating right by 2020. This program includes magic box tool kits to help students detect adulteration and canteen certification in 50 schools, reaching out to over 50,000 children across Gujarat.

As a part of its Eat Right Campus program, in accordance to FSSAI’s mandate, Marico Limited has adopted the five star-rating mechanism which has a set of well-defined benchmarks on food safety and hygiene, food waste management, healthy diets, promotion of local/seasonal food and awareness building on healthy eating across campuses such as IIM Ahmedabad, NIRMA University in Gujarat, among others. Additionally, Marico will also promote food safety and nutrition through Health & Wellness Coordinators and Health Teams on campuses.

In an effort to revive the street food culture across the country and provide safe and hygienic local eating experiences for domestic and international tourists, FSSAI introduced the Project Clean Street Food initiative. It has charted out guidelines with respect to the location and facilities; cleaning and sanitation; water supply and quality; waste disposal and other regulatory requirements that need to be followed to ensure food safety and hygiene. Marico has partnered FSSAI in this initiative and have started working with 4 street food hubs in Gujarat. Recently, one of them, Maa Bharti Udhyan and Food Court in Dahod, Gujarat was awarded certification of ‘Clean Street Food Hub’ by Rita Teaotia, FSSAI Chairperson. The other street food hubs which are in the pipeline are Highway Food Court, Fun Food Battalion and Law Garden in Ahmedabad and Food and Fun, Rajkot. To implement this program in Gujarat, Marico has brought on board audit partner DNVGL and FSATO for Food Safety Training and Certification of food handlers.

Pawan Kumar Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI says, “I congratulate Marico Limited for initiating and supporting Eat Right Program at Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Chandigarh. I appreciate the efforts taken by respective FDAs as well as auditing and training agencies. Food Safety is a shared responsibility and Marico has been our partner in the Eat Right program since its inception. My best wishes for the future programs.”

Commenting on the initiative, Dr. Hemant Koshia, Commissioner, FDCA, Gujarat said, “We are very happy to drive these positive changes through Public-private partnership (PPP) model. I congratulate my FDCA team for driving this with perfection and speed. Also, thanks to FSSAI for continual support and guidance and Marico for being a constant partner in the food the safety journey of Gujarat for last 12 years.”

Deepika Chauhan, Deputy Commissioner, FDCA, Gujarat and Dr. Yogesh Kamat, Director, FSSAI western region has appreciated Marico’s contribution towards the project.

Speaking about the launch of these initiatives in Gujarat, Dr. Sudhakar Mhaskar, Chief Technology Officer, Research and Development, Marico Limited says, “Marico has always been committed to making a difference in the community and support healthy living. In line with this, we are delighted to partner FSSAI to aid their Eat Right program. Having made a positive impact in the last 3 years, we are now expanding our initiatives in Gujarat through Eat Right Campuses, Clean Street Food Hubs and Safe and Nutritious Food at School programs, with an aim to promote healthy, safe and hygienic food habits.”

Marico, with the support of local FDA and FSSAI, aims to work with 100 schools, 10 Eat Right Campuses and 11 Street Food Hubs and reach over 4,00,000 people across Gujarat, Chandigarh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in 2020.