Food Safety Month 2018: Ending the 4th Season with Pomp and Splendor!

It is not everyday that we come across initiatives for the safety and quality of food. However, when we do, it isn't something we should miss. Food Safety Month 2018, powered by Equinox Labs, is an event of the year - dedicated to its main goal of far-fetched awareness.Like every other good thing, the fourth season of Food Safety Month concluded, churning out a fantastic victory with massive awareness and reach. FBOs, corporates and individuals alike, joined us from across India. The results, were beyond anybody's expectations. Over the last four seasons, the campaign impacted more than 14,000 businesses, engaged more than 35,000 participants and over 50,000 downloads of Food Safety Month resources were noted.Over the years with Food Safety Month on the go, a drastic change in the attitude of the the food companies has been observed. We have come across many food units who have prioritized Food Safety, Good Hygiene Practices and Good Quality Standards for the consumers.
With the idea of giving a recognition to these companies, Food Safety Awards, which came into existence in 2017, saw the light of the day even this year. This time, the nominations we received were manifold and crossed 500. We are overwhelmed with the response. They ended with FSM18 on 6th May. The winner of this prestigious award is:
 

• Aksharesh Barot - Sr Manager, Apollo Hospitals from Corporates, 
• Swati Mehta - Asst Hygiene Manager, The Taj Mahal Hotel  from FBOs and 
• Raghunath Sawant - Senior Manager - Product development, FSSAI & Food Safety Mumbai, Godrej & Boyce from Individual category. 

A common phenomena that we observed in all these food companies was a religious practice of keeping the cafeterias clean, zero wastage of food and the most sincere food vendors. Right from the petty things to the big ones, every food activity was supervised and improved accordingly on a regular basis. We also noticed minimum absenteeism in the employees and zero record of any outbreak in foodborne diseases.Cheers to them for practicing healthy food habits, while complying with all FSSAI regulations.Food Safety Month also ran a series of events like quizzes on pertinent topics of food safety,  free consultation programmes, contests and courses to engage people in the food safety exercises and empower them. The number of participants in all the four quizzes surpassed all our previous records with more than 1,000 participants. It gives us immense happiness to see the growth & enthusiasm in participants with every week. We are sure the quiz questions must have definitely enlightened them on various important topics of food safety.The FSM team also conducted a free consultation on Food Labeling & Functional Labeling for FBOs, Corporates and Individuals. The consultation included a 15 - minute session, where people asked their queries and our experts gave them effective solutions. The team received a remarkable response with almost 50 registrations as we couldn't occupy more and our experts did a fantastic job. The topics were chosen as labeling in India has undergone changes with many drafts and amendments in the picture.In order to educate the FBOs and the common man on FSSA and food safety training, Food Safety Month Course was included in the FSM. The course covered the topics of introduction to FSSA, GMP / GHP practices and food safety training programmes. The registrations to this course exceeded expectations and the people demanded more. The team was applauded for the efforts put in, with many suggestions coming up from the participants.Shifa Sheikh from Wheresthyfood was the winner of the contest that was held during the FSM. She won an Amazon voucher worth Rs. 5000/- for her commendable work of engaging participants on our social media platform. She was chosen amongst 252 participants who played the contest.Food Safety Month 2018 saw a stupendous time with the support of their sponsors Raw Pressery, Orbango, Urban Platter, Snack Right, The Spotted Cow Fromagerie and Artis Kitchen. The team expressed their immense gratitude to Fest Flick for making this initiative eventful and productive.