Express News Service
NEW DELHI: As many as 700 Places of Worship (PoWs) in India, the maximum in Tamil Nadu, have been provided with the food safety license as part of the BHOG initiative by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for adopting and maintaining food safety and hygienic ‘prasad’ and food.
Among the PoWs that have been provided with the coveted certificates for providing safe and hygienic ‘prasad’ and food include the famed and iconic Mahakaleshwar Temple, Ujjain, Vaishno Devi temple, Jammu, Kedarnath temple, Uttarakhand, Rameshwaram temple, Tamil Nadu, Siddhivinayak temple, Mumbai, Akshardham Temple both in Delhi and Ahmedabad and Kashi Vishwanath temple, Varanasi.
Interestingly, out of the 700 PoWs, Tamil Nadu alone has 576 such places of worship that have been given these certificates. Officials at the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), a statutory body under the Health Ministry, said they hope to add another 100 PoWs by the end of this year under the BHOG or Blissful Hygienic Offering to God initiative.
“In three months, we will add 100 more PoWs. We already have 50-60 in the queue for getting the certificates,” the official told this newspaper. It was observed that there are many small, small temples in Tamil Nadu which distribute ‘prasad’ to devotees, and they were the ones who opted for the voluntary programme. “It is impressive to see that even small temples in Tamil Nadu have adopted this voluntary programme,” the official added.
After Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (52) has the maximum number of PoWs who are part of the programme. It is followed by Gujarat (47), Himachal Pradesh (29), and Maharashtra (15). The other states are — Madhya Pradesh (11), Delhi (11), Karnataka (8), and Uttarakhand (4).
The BHOG initiative was launched in 2018 as part of the Eat Right India initiative, a large-scale effort to transform the country’s food system to ensure safe, healthy and sustainable food for all Indians. Under the programme, FSSAI issues certificates to places of worship handling food in packed form, loose meals, etc.
NEW DELHI: As many as 700 Places of Worship (PoWs) in India, the maximum in Tamil Nadu, have been provided with the food safety license as part of the BHOG initiative by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for adopting and maintaining food safety and hygienic ‘prasad’ and food.
Among the PoWs that have been provided with the coveted certificates for providing safe and hygienic ‘prasad’ and food include the famed and iconic Mahakaleshwar Temple, Ujjain, Vaishno Devi temple, Jammu, Kedarnath temple, Uttarakhand, Rameshwaram temple, Tamil Nadu, Siddhivinayak temple, Mumbai, Akshardham Temple both in Delhi and Ahmedabad and Kashi Vishwanath temple, Varanasi.
Interestingly, out of the 700 PoWs, Tamil Nadu alone has 576 such places of worship that have been given these certificates. Officials at the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), a statutory body under the Health Ministry, said they hope to add another 100 PoWs by the end of this year under the BHOG or Blissful Hygienic Offering to God initiative.
“In three months, we will add 100 more PoWs. We already have 50-60 in the queue for getting the certificates,” the official told this newspaper. It was observed that there are many small, small temples in Tamil Nadu which distribute ‘prasad’ to devotees, and they were the ones who opted for the voluntary programme. “It is impressive to see that even small temples in Tamil Nadu have adopted this voluntary programme,” the official added.
After Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (52) has the maximum number of PoWs who are part of the programme. It is followed by Gujarat (47), Himachal Pradesh (29), and Maharashtra (15). The other states are
— Madhya Pradesh (11), Delhi (11), Karnataka (8), and Uttarakhand (4).
The BHOG initiative was launched in 2018 as part of the Eat Right India initiative, a large-scale effort to transform the country’s food system to ensure safe, healthy and sustainable food for all Indians. Under the programme, FSSAI issues certificates to places of worship handling food in packed form, loose meals, etc.
