Thousands Punekars Walk for Safe Food
Surakshit Khadya AbhiyanTM – Thousands Punekars Walk for Safe Food. Embracing a Safer and cleaner lifestyle, CII, FACE with National Industry Partner Cargill India hosted Walkathon to raise ones voice for Food Safety and stay fit, healthy and happy. Student Community, Consumers, Street Food Vendors and Industry Pledge Solidarity to Food Safety
Aligned to the countrywide mission “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” for ensuring commitment to Cleanliness and Jago Grahak Jago, a Consumer Welfare movement, Confederation of Indian Industry CII, FACE with National Industry Partner Cargill India and in association with multi-stakeholder bodies like Consumer Body VOICE, National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) organized a Safe Food Walkathon on 13th March in Pune, as a part of its food safety advocacy programs of Surakshit Khadya AbhiyanTM. The initiative is a Pan India Food Safety Awareness & Capacity Building Campaign to strengthen nationwide action on Safe Food for All.
The Safe Food Walkathon was flagged off by Mr Sanjay Kirloskar, Chairman CII Western Region; Mr Shashikant R Kekre,Joint Commissioner (Food), Food & Drug Administration (MS) and Mr Siraj Chaudhry, Chairman, Cargill India Ltd soon after completing the Pledge Ceremony of committing sensitization of all stakeholders and strengthening capacity towards safe food for all.
Mr Sanjay Kirloskar, Chairman CII Western Region and Chairman & Managing Director, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd said that if industries volunteered to train street food vendors and consumers it would be highly effective in terms of outreach and quality towards raising their awareness on food safety. He further added that, CII is very pleased that Cargill has joined hands as National Industry Partner in Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan. Association of global companies like Cargill who themselves follow stringent food safety standards, is instrumental in triggering the continual and breakthrough improvements required to achieve Food Safety Excellence in our country.”
Mr Shashikant R Kekre emphasized the importance of consumer education in prevention of food borne illnesses. He also mentioned that when consumers are quality and safety conscious, they complement the efforts of regulating agencies in ensuring quality and safe food. He further emphasized on the role of youths to popularize & aware people on the initiative taken by CII of this magnitude on food safety.
Mr Siraj Chaudhry, Chairman, Cargill India Pvt. Ltd conveyed that ““Cargill is dedicated to nourishing people and our goal is to provide high-quality, safe food every time, everywhere. Our products stand for purity and adhere to global standards around food safety. We are glad to join hands with CII as National Industry Partner and be a catalyst to improve food safety awareness in the country as well as drive the agenda of ‘safe food as everyone’s right’ through the Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan. He further added, through this initiative, Cargill and CII has a vision towards sensitizing consumers, street food operators and industry on their roles, rights, importance of hygienic practices and systems for food safety risk mitigation. Cargill India will be supporting various advocacy programs as well as walkathons across the country, which are designed as part of the Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan mission and will work closely with CII-FACE, Industry and Government in designing appropriate sector specific Good Manufacturing Standards and help Risk Mitigation in the Food Chain.”
Mr Shishir Joshipura, Chairman, CII Pune Zonal Council & Managing Director, SKF India Ltd said what is food to most people could be poison for some individuals. Many of us could be allergic to certain types of food & food ingredients. Hence do we know what our food contains? Pune, Let us all join hands to wage a battle against unsafe food by knowing more about it and helping others know it by cascading this information to our family and friends. Let us Walk towards Safe Food as both Walking and Safe Food are key to a Healthy Future.
Mr Nitin Chalke, Vice Chairman, CII Pune Zonal Council & Managing Director – India, Eaton Technologies Ltd said we all are equally responsible for what we do and what we don’t. Food safety involves everybody in the food chain. Our goal should be to provide high-quality, safe food every time, everywhere and for everyone.
Mr J P Shroff, Chairman – IGBC Pune Chapter & Director Shroff Group said a perfectly nutritious glass of milk can become unsafe if an insect drops into the milk. That delicious apple can become unsafe if it has overloads of pesticides sprayed into it and the chatpata chat can make you sick when bacteria is passed into it with dirty hands or dirty spoons. Let us learn more about safe food practices and practice it in our daily lives.
Dr Dilip Ramkrishna Nandanwar, Principal, Government Polytechnic Pune; Mr Rohit Narra, Director, Sadguru Sri Sri Ravindra; Mr Ashwini Malhotra, Chairman, CII Maharashtra State & Managing Director, Weikfield Foods Pvt Ltd and Mr Lakshmikant Bhakre, Director, Deven Infotech Pvt Ltd.were also present at the Inaugural Session.
The Walkathon had several parallel activities comprising Ganesh Vandana, Art of Living session, Dance Performance, Food Safety Skit, painting competition and i-pledge wall. There were more than 2000+ participants including the senior Government official, Senior citizens, Schools children, Colleges students, Industry members, and people from all walks of life participated in the Walkathon.
During the Walkathon there was knowledge sharing through Informative Posters. simple yet informative Training material about why food safety is important and how food borne illnesses can be prevented was also shared with schools and colleges prior to this Walkathon. Subsequently activities initiated in school were painting competitions based on the theme of Food Safety for which prizes were given out during the Walkathon.
Volunteers from the students community and Industry were enrolled during the walkathon to engage them in the adoption of food streets across Pune. Maj. Neil Castelino, Deputy Director & Head, CII Pune invited Colleges, Industries and Schools to cascade food safety practices to their canteens and day to day life and also nominate and encourage enrolment of more volunteers for strengthening Food Safety in Street Vended Food .
