The year 2020 started on a very sad note because of the COVID-19 pandemic and is eventually becoming a threat to every individual. But that won’t be able to stop India from developing. Our government started many schemes such as work from home, online classes for students and the list is endless. Food being the primary concern and FSSAI promoting the Food Business Operators (FBO) has also launched a free online COVID-19 training called Food Safety Training and Certification for the association related to the food business. FSSAI has made training mandatory for all Central and State Licensed FBOs under the FSS app, October 6, 2017. People without a science background can deal with awareness and management during the outbreak. It is a nine module course and completely free of cost. Anybody with a social media account can access and complete these modules.
Apart from the nine modules, the course also includes 8 videos, a PDF file, an online quiz, and a file related to the assessment of the participants. The videos are a helping hand in explaining the aspects such as an introduction about the corona virus, how it spreads, and its structure and composition. It has one more advantage which is that there is no proper schedule to compute the course. It is all up to you to finish the nine modules as soon as possible. FICCI has launched this course in association with the adversity, that lay claim on to its website that it is the first to become the largest institution in India to direct online medical certifications. There is no practical training correlated with this course. At the end of the course, every person as a student will be provided a certificate along with feedback.
Why is the course Launched?
This online training has been launched to ensure uninterrupted food supply to consumers whilst curb the risk of COVID-19
for the workers, consumers, and all the people included in the food supply chain.
Further to empower and furnish food businesses to function properly and lessen the risk of contagion, FSSAI decided to launch a training program for food businesses under its leadership of the Food Safety Training and Certification program i.e. FoSTaC.
FoSTaC:
FoSTaC (Food Safety Training and Certification) is an initiative by FSSAI where food safety training is conducted for particular groups in the food business to help them to maximize knowledge and awareness of food safety regulations and policies that will ensure food safety and general hygiene around the globe. Each food business must have at least one trained and certified food safety supervisor for every 25 food handlers or each department for their premises. Every supervisor will be certified and trained under FoSTaC. There are 16 courses in the 3 levels. These courses of different levels will be conducted in the classroom session.
Who should do this training?
Food businesses can connect with FoSTaC training partners directly or visit the FoSTac website for the certification. This program serves all stakeholders in the food ecosystem comprising manufacturers, packers, transporters, retailers, and food delivery partners and aggregators. The agencies/NGO’s serving food in places including langar, community kitchens, and many more should train their food handlers for COVID-19 precautionary measures. A certificate of participation shall be provided to all the trainers through the FoSTac portal.
Procedure for applying:
1.You must fill all the required details in the online form.
- Your Aadhaar number.
- Name along with surname.
- Father’s/Mother’s/Guardian’s name.
- FBO ( given in the FSSAI License).
- Your current mail id and contact number.
- Your State, District, and City name.
2. Once you have submitted the form, a new page opens up where a successful submission message along with an application number appears.
3. Lastly, you have to wait for the FSSAI training partner who will connect, you after all the process is successfully done.
Different levels of the course:
The course is divided into 3 different levels:
Basic Level Certification:
- Mainly meant for food business.
- The time span of each course is of 4 hours.
- The course is mainly related to the following:
- Catering
- Storage and Transport
- Street food vending
- Manufacturing and Processing
- Retail and Distribution
Advance level certification:
- This course is mainly meant for State and Central Licensed food business.
- The time for each course is 8 hours.
- The course is mainly related to the following:
- Catering
- Manufacturing and Processing
- Storage and Transport
- Retail and Distribution
Special level certification:
- This course is mainly meant for a high-risk food business or the food business requiring special attention.
- The period of this special course is 8 to 12 hours, spreading ever 1 to 2 days.
- The course is mainly related to the following:
- Milk and milk products.
- Meat and poultry.
- Fish and all sorts of seafood.
- Packaged water.
- Bakery ( Level 1 and level 2).
- Edible oil and fat.
- All kinds of Health supplements.
Some essential details about the course:
This course is established by expert committee members and domain experts of FSSAI. 17 different types of competency-based certification programs are offered by this course.
ü The duration of each course ranges from 8 to 12 hours, which a person has to complete within 1 to 2 days.
ü The training manual is not so difficult and is mainly based on general hygiene or manufacturing practices.
The main aim behind the launch of this online training course by FSSAI is to promote and maintain safety and hygiene across the food supply chain given the corona virus pandemic around the globe. The COVID-19 outbreak has posed a serious challenge for food supply chains worldwide.
Every Business dealing with Food supply chain should have their food license.