Mumbai’s Food and Drug Administration has conducted five workshops for Ganesh mandal representatives and workers to improve the safety, cleanliness and hygiene of prasad and mahaprasad distributed during the festival. A total of 320 Ganesh mandals and members of associated organisations attended the sessions held at different locations in the city.
The workshops focused on precautions required while preparing and distributing large quantities of food during the Ganesh festival. Participants were briefed on maintaining hygiene during food preparation, checking the quality of raw materials and taking measures to prevent contamination.
The guidance was provided by the Brihanmumbai division of the Food and Drug Administration as part of an awareness initiative ahead of the festival. Ganesh mandals commonly distribute prasad and mahaprasad to large numbers of devotees, making food handling and preparation an important public-health concern during the period.
In a separate programme, the FDA’s Brihanmumbai division and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s planning department jointly organised a special training workshop for representatives of 110 self-help groups. The programme was titled ‘Modak’s sweetness with food safety’ and focused on groups involved in preparing modaks.
Around 110 self-help groups took part in the training. The sessions were intended to support safer preparation practices among community groups involved in producing and distributing festival food.
The workshops form part of the authorities’ preparations to improve food safety during the Ganesh festival. The guidance covered cleanliness, raw-material quality and steps to ensure that food remains free from contamination during preparation and distribution.
