NT Reporter
Panaji
The Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) will launch three initiatives — a nutrition education series, an Eat Right Culinary Challenge, and food safety training for street food vendors — to promote food safety and healthy eating in the state. The initiatives will be launched on the occasion of World Food Safety Day on Thursday.
Under the nutrition education series initiative, the FDA will mobilise a pool
of certified nutrition experts in the state by launching an official Forum of Nutrition Experts in Goa in association with Goa College of Home Science.
“These experts will function as resource persons to deliver nutrition-based workshops, which will consist of a short awareness lecture on basic nutrition and exercise of about 60 minutes, along with training handouts, to dispel myths about nutrition and to inculcate the habit of regular physical exercise,” an FDA official said.
The handout will be given to various establishments including government offices, schools, colleges, citizen groups, consumer forums, etc.
Speaking about the Eat Right Culinary Challenge, the official said chefs are among the most important links in the food chain.
“A chef who is trained or sensitised on inculcating the positives of healthy cooking methods while maintaining a superior gastronomic experience for the consumer is an asset to the industry,” the official said.
The official said that most people have at least one meal that is not prepared at home every day, which is a higher than expected exposure to outside food. “This outside food should not burden our health. The chefs’ challenge is a platform for professional as well as novice chefs to think out of the box, innovate and display their culinary masterpieces based on the theme of healthy cooking,” the official said.
The official said that the competition will help send a strong message to chefs and the wider culinary community to never compromise on food safety and nutrition.
The competition will be conducted at different levels through primary rounds, including outside Goa, and a grand finale will be held in Goa at a later date to declare the winners.
