
Hyderabad: Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Avinash Mohanty on Monday, August 17, took charge as the Commissioner of the Telangana Standards Authority for Food and Essential Drugs (TG SAFE), a new department established to regulate food and drugs.
The Food Safety Department and the Drugs Control Administration (DCA) were officially unified on Sunday, August 16, according to government order (GO 67) by the State Health Ministry.
TG SAFE will follow the provisions under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
The move comes amid the growing number of licensed food business operators in Telangana. TG SAFE will have six wings – Drug Administration, Food Safety, Enforcement, Legal and Prosecution, Laboratory, and Administrative.
TG SAFE will initially commence unified operations in the CORE region, involving common administrative, enforcement, legal, laboratory, intelligence and data-analysis mechanisms.