Evaluating Compliance to Food Safety and Hygiene Standards in Selected Delhi Based Catering Establishments as per Schedule IV of Food Safety and Standard Regulation, 2011 under FSS Act, 2006

Abstract

Background: Schedule 4 introduces the concept of Food Safety Management System (FSMS ) based on implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Good Hygiene Practices (GHP) by food businesses. This study was conducted to evaluate compliance to food safety and hygiene standards in the selected Delhi based catering establishments as per schedule 4 of Food Safety and standards Regulations 2011. Methods : Twenty four Catering Establishments were selected for the study using snowball sampling technique from all the nine districts of Delhi between September 2016 to February 2017.The observational checklist was developed and used using the pre-requisites of FSSAI system, Schedule 4 to gather data on quality and quantity of physical facilities. The observational checklist was set up with 3 points for qualifying the norm, 2 point for partially qualifying and 1 point for not qualifying. The minimum and maximum possible score of the sanitation survey was between 67-201.The establishments were given grades on the basis of obtained scores : Exemplar (A+Grade)=89.1-100%, Compliance (A Grade)=81-89%, Needs Improvement (B Grade)=72-80.9% and No Grade=<71.9%. Descriptive analysis was done using MS Excel and SPSS Software Version 21. Results: The mean sanitation survey score of 24 catering establishment was 135.41±17.19 with a median and mode of 133 and 132respectively.The establishments lowest and maximum score ranged between 101-177. Only 8% (2) of the catering establishments had provided uniform to 100% staff members, 84.0% (16 ) failed to provide adequate hand washing facilities. Potable water was provided by 75% (18) of the catering establishments and 33.3% (8) of the catering establishments failed to provide information about the source of ice as they were not making ice at their premises. Record maintenance with respect to temperatures specifically was very poor and 65.3% (15) failed to comply the guidelines. Ideal thawing procedures were not followed by the 54% (13) of the catering establishments .But ,one good thing observed was that 100% (24) of the catering establishments were cooking food at ideal temperatures.