Blissful Hygienic Offering to God (BHOG)

In India, it is quite common to pay homage to God in the form of food as a part of religious rituals. Food offered is regarded as pure and sacred and these offerings are known as “Prasad” or “BHOG”.

BHOG is an initiative taken by FSSAI under Eat Right India Scheme to encourage Places of Worship (PoW) to adopt and maintain food safety and hygiene as well as convey food safety messages through such places to the people to follow as responsible citizens.

 It is not a mandatory scheme; this initiative aims to build self-compliance at Places of Worship. In addition, in some states there is a dedicated Government Department/Temple Authority who takes care of Places of Worship falling under their jurisdiction which makes implementation and communication easy.

Community feeding (Prasad/ Langar) is also common in the Worship places. Cooking and preparation of BHOG is done in traditional ways that have evolved from many centuries. While basic hygiene is maintained when preparing food but there were few instances where people have been fallen ill due to unsafe and unhygienic practices or handling of food.

Worship places need to follow a proper FSMS (Food safety Management System) for food preparation and services which include standardized Prasad ingredients and manufacturing processes to improve the shelf-life to ensure that the ingredients are safe. It also includes training of vendors and food handlers in good hygiene practices, personal hygiene and use of protective gears such as aprons, gloves, etc.

It creates awareness among the Places of Worship to prevent malpractices and irregularities related to food served as Prasad/Langar, etc. and ensure proper regulatory compliance of the Food Safety and Standards Act,2006.

• BHOG provides useful tips, do’s and don’ts, methods and practices that should be followed in the Place of Worships.
• Implementation of BHOG would help to ensure that safe and wholesome prasad is received by the devotees along with the blessings of God.
• BHOG also highlights about the Flower Disposal Mechanism.

Whenever we enter the Worship Place one thing we most commonly see is the abundant amount of flowers.

What happens to all of these flowers once we are done with our prayers?

According to the religious belief these flowers cannot be dumped into garbage bins as they are considered sacred.  So, what we do is dump them in the lakes, rivers or other water bodies. But the fertilizers used to grow these flowers might get mixed up and pollute the water which in-turn can be harmful to the aquatic ecosystem.

So, BHOG came up with the idea of converting Floral waste into useful materials such as:

1. Production of Vermi-compost from temple waste to produce manure.
2. All the waste can be collected in the dumping ground to produce organic fertilizer.
3. Use of technology to prepare incense sticks from the waste flowers.
4. From dehydrated flowers using foliage technology wall plates, artistic greeting cards, landscapes, etc. can be created.
5. Eco-friendly dyeing of Cotton, Wool and Silk can be done using the temple waste flowers.

• Identification of Places of Worship (Food prepared, served and sold) by State/UT’s by nominating nodal officer and engaging Designated Officer and Food Safety Officer.
• Licensing/Registration under FSSA 2006 of the identified Places of Worship by concerned State Food Safety Officer or the Nodal Officer.
• Audit by empanelled third-party/hygiene rating auditing agencies.
• Training of food handlers associated with these places of worship by empanelled training partners under FOSTAC (Basic Catering course).
• BHOG Certification by FSSAI.
• Display of Certificate at visible place within premises of certified Place of worship along with food safety display board, personnel hygiene messages, eat healthy messages, etc.

• Licensing/Registration under FSSA, 2006 of the identified places of worship by concerned State Food Safety department.
• First Audit  
• FOSTAC training (Basic Catering course).
• In case where scores are below satisfactory, second audit to be scheduled.
• Final recommendation by concerned State Food Safety Commissioner to CEO, FSSAI for certification supported by report of training and audit done.
• BHOG certification by FSSAI.
• Sustenance thereafter by State officials by doing periodic audit and training as required.

Validity of BHOG Certification is for 2 years.