The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) will offer a food safety training and certification course by food safety regulator FSSAI, the varsity announced on Thursday.

The government recognised institution has partnered with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for this.

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According to the agreement, the university will conduct ‘Food Safety Supervisor’ training programmes related to street food vending, catering, manufacturing, retail and distribution, storage and transport and specialised courses at its centres spread across the country.

In a statement by the university, its Vice Chancellor S.B. Arora said that the “IGNOU framework is best suited” for training people in standards of food safety, while FSSAI’s chief said that the course would do well in a country where there is a great need of individuals trained in norms of food safety.

FSSAI’s CEO Pawan Agarwal, in a statement, said: “Our country needs a large number of well trained human resources for implementing the food safety regulations in the organised and unorganised sectors of the food industry as it has become mandatory for all Food Business Operators (FBOs) to have at least one FSSAI trained and certified Food Safety Supervisor (FSS).”

IGNOU will develop and offer online MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) programmes using the resources available with the FSSAI and will also have them on offer through its network of Gyanvani, Gyandarshan, SWAYAM PRABHA channels.