Milestone: KMC canteen gets FSSAI certificate

Kolkata: The canteen of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has received a certificate from the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) for supplying good quality food at a cheaper price.

“The credit for this new feather in the cap of KMC should go to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose who had inaugurated the canteen and had food sitting inside it during his stint as the Mayor of Kolkata,” Mayor Firhad Hakim said.

Netaji served as the Kolkata Mayor from August 22, 1930, till April 14, 1931.

An official in the food safety wing of the KMC said that the FSSAI certificate deserves special mention as several canteens in different offices of the central government in the city are still awaiting the FSSAI certificate.

Every day hundreds of people have food at the KMC canteen which includes not only workers of the civic body but also people who come to the KMC for various services. Vegetable, fish, egg and chicken meals among others sell like hot cake in the canteen.

“The certificate will deliver the message to the consumers that they are having healthy food in our canteen,” an official in KMC’s food safety wing said.

The FSSAI provides certificates after a thorough examination of the kitchen’s cleanliness, the quality of the cooking ingredients, the quality of water, the cleanliness of the cooking staff and the waiters and other parameters that guarantee safety and hygiene.

The cooks in the KMC canteen have been trained through an expert agency. They have learnt what ingredients should be used and most importantly how to maintain cleanliness and hygiene.

They had to appear and pass a written test of 20 marks after completion of the training.