PRAYAGRAJ: Now, devotees visiting the Civil Lines Hanuman temple and the famous Bade Hanuman temple at Sangam to offer prayers will get ‘prasad’ prepared and packed following all the guidelines of Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA), according to officials.
The two temples have been selected under the BHOG (Blissful Offering to God) scheme—an initiative started by the Association of Food Scientists and Technologist of India (AFSTI) along with the Food Safety and Standards India (FSSAI) to offer clean and hygienic prasad to devotees, they said.
As part of the initiative, the state FSDA department would now supervise implementation of this scheme, they added. “The two popular temples of Prayagraj have been selected in accordance with the instruction of the divisional commissioner Sanjay Goyal. Cooks and workers involved in preparing the bhog and the prasad would also be trained in ensuring proper hygiene and cleanliness as part of this initiative. For this, the FSDA department will also organise camps at the two temples,” informed Sanjay Kumar Pandey, assistant commissioner (Food safety), Prayagraj.
During the camp, training and tips regarding precautions that need to be taken while making the prasad, taking it out and distributing it as well as additional steps to maintain cleanliness would all be imparted to the people concerned of the two temples, he added.
He said that this BHOG scheme was being implemented in a total of five districts of the state, including Ayodhya, Varanasi, Mathura, Kanpur city and Prayagraj.
Officials said that across the state, 17 districts including Prayagraj have been included under the BHOG scheme. These includes the districts of Saharanpur, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Moradabad, Bulandshahr, Bareilly, Agra, Aligarh, Mathura, Kanpur Nagar, Lucknow, Jhansi, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Ayodhya and Firozabad.
“Under this scheme, 100 hygiene rating centers are also to be built and under which special campaign will be run in bakeries, hotels and restaurants etc to improve cooking standards and ensure food safety.
A fresh food and vegetable market is also to be set in the district under this initiative. The vegetables of this market will be checked from time to time. There will be clean street food hubs too. The department will keep an eye on how the food is being prepared at the site and being sold here. A hygiene canteen will also be set up in a hospital or nursing home under the supervision of the department so that patients can get quality, safe and hygienically cooked food. This target is to be completed by March 31, 2022,” the officials shared.
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