A new policy for food preparation and sale has been published yesterday, now requiring home cooks to undergo a compulsory food safety training before selling food items.
A new policy for food preparation and sale has been published yesterday, now requiring home cooks to undergo a compulsory food safety training before selling food items.
Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA) said that the home based food standard policies will now be available for viewing on their 'Dhirithi' portal and the official website of the Ministry of Health. Permits will henceforth be issued only to those who meet these newly defined standards.
The policy states that home based cooks must register the place of food production and list of products at MFDA through the Dhirithi portal by using their eFaas accounts.
Required checklists and other documentation must be submitted annually, and MFDA also reserves the right to conduct inspections on food safety premises.
The policy says that the smells, sounds and smoke through food production must not pose public health risks. Those besides people residing in houses must not be employed to produce these food items, and food items for sale can only be produced by those who have completed the 'Basic Food Safety Course' offered by MFDA, the policy says.
Unrelated persons must not be allowed in the kitchen at the time of food preparation and large scale food production equipment such as industrial ovens should not be used, it says. It foes on to add that the products must be labelled in accordance with national standards.
In addition to waste management guidelines, the policy states that animals and birds must not be allowed in the food production space.
MFDA's policy comes at a time when Maldives Immigration has been identifying several premises where expatriates have been producing food products in unsanitary conditions. Many expatriates working illegally in this business have now been taken into Immigration custody and are set to be deported.
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