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The Telangana government has announced a merger of the food safety and drug control departments under a unified administration called the Telangana Standards Authority for Food and Essential Drugs, or TG SAFE, with a focus on the Core Urban Region Economy (CURE).
A government order by Health Department Principal Secretary Dr Christina Z Chongthu issued on August 4 said that since the two departments share common objectives related to public health and consumer safety, a unified administrative framework would improve surveillance, intelligence, enforcement, legal support and regulatory outcomes. The order came into effect on August 15.
Until now, the food safety department had been functioning under the Commissioner, Food Safety, and the Drugs Control Department was functioning independently. The departments are responsible for regulating food, drugs and cosmetics through licensing, inspection, sampling, testing and enforcement.
TG SAFE will include the drug administration, food safety, enforcement, legal and prosecution, laboratory, and administrative wings. The existing statutory powers and responsibilities of designated officers and Food Safety Officers shall remain unaffected, the order said.
TG SAFE will start operations prioritising the CURE region that includes Hyderabad and the peri-urban regions within the Outer Ring Road, due to the high concentration of food business operators and drug establishments here, according to the order.
It also said that the Director General of Police will attach adequate police personnel to TG SAFE for enforcement activities.
A state-level committee will also be formed on modernising food safety and drug control administration, focusing on intelligence and data-analysis systems, infrastructural upgrade for field units and laboratory services, and other measures.
The announcement comes amid a series of raids by the H-FAST (Hyderabad Food Adulteration Surveillance Team) task force under the Hyderabad police, which has gone after many well-known restaurants and highlighted poor hygiene in kitchens and food adulteration.