The controversial implementation of the Food Safety & Standards Regulations 2011, has taken a fiery turn with FBOs (food business operators) in Mumbai, who have so far been out of the protests, going to town about the harassment that they are facing at the hands of food safety officers (FSOs).
The situation in Mumbai, a city where skyscrapers jostle for space with sprawling slums of Dharavi (also a hub for the snack industry), is interesting. On the one hand, FBOs operating from the thickly populated bylanes of the city, have to contend with rodents, dust and overflowing garbage bins over which they have no control, and on the other, they are made to shell out hefty fines “for unhygienic conditions and improper labelling.”
