Srinagar- The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), Jammu and Kashmir, has asked the School Education Department to ensure strict implementation of food safety regulations prohibiting the sale and promotion of junk food in and around government and private schools across the Union Territory.
The FDA has written to the Directors of School Education, Jammu and Kashmir, seeking effective enforcement of the Food Safety and Standards (Safe Food and Balanced Diets for Children in School) Regulations, 2020, officials said.
The regulations aim to ensure that schoolchildren are provided safe, hygienic and nutritionally balanced food and protect their health and well-being, they said.
Under Regulation 3(5), school authorities are required to ensure that food products high in saturated fat, trans-fat, added sugar or sodium are not sold or offered for sale, including free of cost, within school premises.
Regulation 5(1) further prohibits the advertising, marketing, sale or offering for sale of such food products within the school campus or to schoolchildren within 50 metres of the school gate in any direction.
The FDA has also stressed that food business operators selling or catering food on school campuses must be registered or licensed under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
Such operators are required to follow prescribed sanitary and hygienic practices, besides complying with requirements relating to Food Safety Display Boards and Food Safety Supervisors, officials said.
The regulations also provide for designated meal times in schools to promote healthy eating habits among children and require schools to provide safe drinking water free of cost to all students.
School authorities are also required to put in place a system of regular inspection of food premises to ensure that safe, balanced and hygienic food is served to students.
The FDA has asked the School Education Department and concerned school authorities to ensure strict compliance with the regulations across Jammu and Kashmir.
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