Dec 6, 2012

155 food samples fail test

 Pithoragarh, December 5
Most of the food samples collected by officials from across the state in the past 18 months have been found adulterated.

According to a report released by the Food and Drugs Testing Laboratory, Rudrapur, out of the 949 samples tested in the laboratory in the past 18 months, 155 failed the test.

“A total of 1,151 food samples had been received by the laboratory from across the state. Of these, 949 were tested. However, 155 samples failed the test,” said JR Dhyani, a testing officer in the laboratory.

Dhyani said the samples included milk, milk products, spices, pan masala, pulses, edible oil and packed juices.

Administrative officer, US Nagar, RS Kathayat said action had been taken against the defaulters under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

Quit that kalakand, boo that barfi

Your favourite sweets are not so sweet after all.
Tests done on food samples picked up by the district food inspection team in Jamshedpur before Diwali has found eight of 17 sweets ' and their ingredients ' "unhealthy for human consumption". And the offenders include several well-known mithai makers ' from kalakand veteran Brindavan Sweets of Bistupur to barfi master Shri Hari Sweets of Kadma.
A report from the state's lone food testing laboratory in Namkum, Ranchi, which reached East Singhbhum food inspector Krishna Prasad Singh on Monday evening, categorises five of the samples as "substandard" (see chart) and three as "unsafe".
According to the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, only the state food commissioner can exercise legal jurisdiction over unsafe sweets. The rogue shops can attract a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh and their owners a prison term of six months to two years.
On the other hand, deputy commissioners of respective districts can double up as adjudicating officers and decide the quantum of punishment against substandard sweets. The violation of food safety norms in this case invites a fine ranging between Rs 25,000 and Rs 2 lakh, but no imprisonment.
Despite the law being clear on how to act against offenders, a seemingly confused district health department has sought guidance from food commissioner T.P. Burnwal.
Speaking to The Telegraph from Ranchi, Burnwal reasoned that since the November 1-10 raids were carried out on sweet shops in the steel city after several years, the food inspection team was in two minds on how to go about punishing the guilty.
"There has been modifications in the Food Safety and Standards Act (2006) in 2012, which may have led to confusion. We have called a meeting of all district food inspectors and additional chief medical officers (ACMOs) at the health directorate in Namkum tomorrow (Thursday) to discuss and decide on the legal course of action," he promised.
Burnwal admitted that copies of the 2006 act were available with district officials.
"We had also conducted orientation sessions this year. It is unfortunate that the rate of prosecution is negligible. Designated officials claim they are unaware of certain clauses in the modified act. We will clear their doubts and ask them to pursue the matter with deputy commissioners who can hold tribunals and prosecute the offender," he maintained.
The ambiguity, according to the food commissioner, lay in assessing the fine to be levied on shops selling substandard sweets. "The 2012 modified act says the quantum of fines should be fixed taking the profit of selling substandard sweets into account. Besides, it should be compounded with each number of offence. For instance, a shop earning a profit of Rs 50,000 by selling a particular substandard sweet will be fined Rs 50,000 for the first offence and doubled for the second," he explained.
Food inspector Singh claimed that they were unable to fix the profit earned on various sweets, which is affecting prosecution of offenders.
However, insiders in the health department said the ambiguity of the act was just an excuse on the part of overburdened food inspectors, who look after several districts, to escape the onus of preparing prosecution reports.
Sources in the know also said that the confusion might have been triggered by haste on the part of the district food inspector. Singh ' who is also in charge of Seraikela-Kharsawan, Deoghar, Dumka and Gumla ' did forward the lab report to deputy commissioner Himani Pande and serve notices to rogue shopkeepers, but apparently forgot to submit a copy to implementing official of the act, which in this case is ACMO Swarn Singh.
Contacted on his mobile phone on Wednesday afternoon, Singh said he was in Patna for a wedding, but would attend the meeting with the food commissioner in Ranchi to iron out issues.
Have you ever bought sweets from these tainted shops?

RAT FOUND IN PICKLE - OOTY FOOD SAFETY DEPT. NEWS




Dinamalar


Food Regulatory Authority

 RAJYA SABHA

The Government has established Food Safety and Standards Authority of India under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 consisting of 23 members including Chairperson of the Food Authority and appointed independent scientific experts as members of its scientific panels.

The scientific experts in these panels have been selected according to the approved procedures. With a view to bring together the best scientific expertise available in the country for forming scientific opinions, Scientists have been selected as members of the Panels/Committee in their individual capacity of being a scientist and an expert in their respective fields irrespective of their present association or affiliation with any public or private sector organisation. This is in accordance with the international practice followed in respect of Committees requiring high level expertise on any specific subject.

An elaborate procedure has been laid down to manage conflict of interest. The members of the Scientific Committee and Panels are required to submit an annual declaration of interest and declaration of any possible conflict of interest before each meeting of the Scientific Committee and panels. Whenever a conflict of interest is established, Chairman of the panel/Committee is required to exclude such a scientist from consideration of items in the agenda.

Thus an elaborate conflict of interest procedure has been introduced in this standard setting body (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) in the interest of absolute transparency and objectivity.

The guidelines to Scientific Panels and Committee make it very clear that having an interest in a particular scientific issue does not necessarily mean a conflict of interest. In fact, keen intellectual interest in scientific issues is a pre-condition for participation in such Committee and Panels. It is based on the recognition that any scientist can contribute to scientific knowledge and safety of food, if discussions and conclusions are based on reliable scientific evidence, open discussion and rigorous validation procedures.

The Scientific Panels will provide scientific opinion to the Food Authority which would be reviewed by the Scientific Committee and the final decision would be taken by the Food Authority consisting of members from various stakeholders including the consumer organizations.

This information was given by Minister for Health and Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question raised in Rajya Sabha today.