Dec 13, 2012

FSSAI Act discussed at India Food Service Forum 2012


13 Dec 2012


A knowledge-based session organised by NRAI on the Food Safety and Standards Act issued by the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on the first day of the India Food Service Forum 2012, held at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, discussed the impact of the Act on the food industry. Titled "NRAI Knowledge Session: Food Safety and Standards Act – Everything You Need to Know and How to Deal with it" was chaired by Samir Kuckreja, President, NRAI. Others on the panel included Ujjwal Kumar, Country Head Business-Development, CQM; Ais Kumar, Designated Officer Western Zone, Food Safety Standards Authority of India; Anand Krishnan, Deputy Counsellor- Agriculture, Consulate General, The Netherlands; Dr. Shatadru Sengupta, Director-Legal and Company Secretary, McDonald’s (West & South); and Rajiv Malik, Deputy General Manager, Jubilant Foodworks.

Since the industry is still not aware about the new Act, the panel took the task to discuss briefly the various provisions that affect the industry directly and specially the independent restaurateurs and the areas where they need to prepare themselves to avoid pitfalls.

Krishnan delivered the key note address on the new food safety regulation describing the entire process of registration, role of the food safety officer, and the act in a nutshell.

When asked about the challenges the new FSSAI act brings, Malik said, “We work with around 250 suppliers. The challenge lies in making all the suppliers compliant to the new rule. In last six months we also warned our suppliers to get themselves aligned according to the needs of the new rule and then only we will work with them.”

The discourse then centered around the challenges and the consequences for both the operators and the FSSAI in the timely implementation of the new Act. The speakers also shared the various cost effective solutions to improve the hygiene and sanitation process.

Talking on the licensing issue, Kumar clarified that if the annual turnover of a food service outlet is less than Rs 12 lakh then it must get the registration of that place and no licence is required. If the turnover exceeds Rs 12 lakh, then the outlet license is required.

The session was concluded with the suggestion that industry bodies should conduct more sessions on the Act to create awareness.

SC reserves order on plea against soft drinks

The Supreme Court today reserved its order on a plea for setting up a committee to evaluate the alleged harmful effects of soft drinks on human health and to properly label the beverages, detailing their ingredients.

SC reserves order on plea against soft drinks
The Supreme Court today reserved its order on a plea for setting up a committee to evaluate the alleged harmful effects of soft drinks on human health and to properly label the beverages, detailing their ingredients.
A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra reserved its order after a detailed hearing on the Public Interest Litigation petition, filed in 2004.

The plea alleged the ingredients of carbonated drinks have "serious deleterious effects on human health" and no action has been taken to test and assess the risk posed by such beverages.

Soft drink major Pepsi, however, opposed the PIL with its counsel senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi arguing that the Food Safety and Standards Act aimed at regulating the standards of beverages was "sufficient" and all the regulations were in place.

The Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), in its petition filed in 2004, had also sought directions to the cola firms to disclose the contents/ ingredients on the label of their bottles and to regulate "misleading" advertisements targeting children.

Earlier on November 23 the apex court had asked the the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to file "records" relating to proceedings of its panels, formed following a judicial order on the PIL filed by the NGO.

The court's direction came after Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO CPIL, alleged that instead of an expert panel, another FSSAI panel on labelling and claims/ advertisement should consider the grievance of additives in carbonated drinks.

The apex court, on February 8, 2011, had asked FSSAI to reconstitute independent scientific panels to look into the harmful effects of chemicals in carbonated beverages.

APMC sends licensing & registration circulars to traders, transporters

The Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) have sent circulars urging all those who are directly or indirectly associated with the APMC market to obtain licenses and register under the new Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) 2006.

The last date for getting registration and licenses under the new act is February 4, 2013. It is mandatory for all traders, transporters, labourers, mathadi and maphadi workers who are associated with the APMC market will have to get themselves registered or obtain licenses.

Sudhir Tungar, additional commissioner and secretary, APMC market, said, “I have sent the circulars to everyone associated with the market. All those who are directly or indirectly involved in the market would have to obtain licenses.”

“Those whose turnover is below Rs 12 lakh would have to register themselves. The process have already started but the number of registered operators and that of the licensees cannot be revealed because we are yet to count it,” he said.

Tungar added, “Those who touch the fruit, vegetables and other agricultural products in the market would have to take licenses or register at any cost. The process of registration and license is going on at it own pace, but I am sure that most of the traders, transporters, mathadi and maphadi workers would be able to get it done before the deadline.”

New safety standards for street food vendors important step: President

President Pranab Mukherjee today said while new safety standards for street food is an important step, small vendors should not find these guidelines “intimidating” as food businesses are mainly run by small and cottage scale units.
Food and Consumer Affairs Minister K.V Thomas today released safety standards to ensure hygienic conditions for street food vendors. He presented the first copy of these standards to the President.
Addressing a conference on food safety issues, Mukherjee said, “The Indian standard on basic requirements for street food vendors is an important step – especially in the context of the significant growth in the street food sector.”
“It has important economic and nutritional implications for our urban populations as street foods are an accessible and affordable option for a sizable percentage of our working population,” he said.
Mukherjee, however, cautioned that since substantial majority of food businesses are small and cottage scale units, “they should not be intimidated by the standards that are set for them or find their implementation to be too complex.”
Instead, he suggested, awareness should be created among these street food vendors that improving safety would increase their profitability. Apart from that, there must also be a channel for addressing their genuine problems.
Stressing that food safety standards are essential both for manufacturers and consumers, he said the importance of consumer education in the prevention of food-borne illness is another universal imperative.
On new risks due to globalisation in food trade, Mukherjee said faster transboundary transfer of micro- biological and chemical hazards present a new set of challenges to food safety.
“These potential risks require robust preventive and curative capacities to be put in place to safeguard health of our population,” he observed.

‘Globalisation is a major boost to food trade’


President Pranab Mukherjee inaugrated the national seminar on Food Safety. He elaborated on how a global economy has caused a paradigm shift in consumption patterns
The challenge of meeting the ever growing food requirement of our population calls for major investments and innovation in our agriculture, agri-business and food processing sectors,” said the President of India at the inaugral function of  the . While upgradation of suitable technology is essential, safe farming practices, modern breeding techniques should go hand in hand with food related research, duly concentrating on how food safety should be regulated under Indian climatic and other relevant physical and cultural conditions. The Bureau of Indian Standards has an increasingly important role in this effort, he said.
The, President of India, Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the national seminar on Food Safety — Role of Standard organised by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) at the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, the President said that globalisation of the world economy has given a significant boost to food trade and resulted in a paradigm shift in food consumption patterns, production methods and processing technologies. But at the same time, there is a new risk of faster trans-boundary transfer of microbiological and chemical hazards, he said. He stated that this presents a new set of challenges to food safety and these potential risks require robust preventive and curative capacities to be put in place to safeguard the health of our population.
The President also received the first copy of book Indian Standard Street Food Vendors — Food Safety Requirements on the occasion from Prof KV Thomas, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
Prof KV Thomas in his presidential address said Food Safety remains a serious concern, particularly since consumer interest in ‘fresh’ food that is food without preservatives is growing. Also, there is a craze among children and young generation towards fast food and food from roadside eateries, where there is every possibility of contamination and less attention on hygienic aspect. Food Safety is not an alternative; it is non-negotiable as it may endanger life. Standards promote public health by reducing the risk of food borne illness. They protect consumers from unsanitary, unwholesome, mislabelled or adulterated food; and provide a sound regulatory foundation for domestic and international trade in food. These standards should be sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of changing technology. At the same time, they should assure real and meaningful safety benefits rather than merely perceived benefits.
Pankaj Agrawala, Secretary (Consumer Affairs), Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in his welcome address said that foodborne diseases are increasingly being perceived as a widespread and growing threat to health, both in developed and developing countries. Since, every person eats food, every person is at risk of foodborne diseases. However, infants, young children and elderly are particularly at risk. As such, food safety is an issue concerned directly with the human health and human survival and food safety standards can lead the country forward in our efforts to tackle this issue.

Govt releases guidelines for street vendors
The government on Wednesday released guidelines of the Bureau of Standards (BIS) for street food vendors that seek to provide minimal check points for ensuring safety in terms of hygiene and quality of food offered by them.

“These standards will focus on providing minimal check points for ensuring safety of street foods by assuring food security for a large number of rural, urban and migrant populations,” Food Minister K V Thomas said, after releasing the BIS recommendations at a national seminar on food safety.

Addressing the seminar, President Pranab Mukherjee said food safety ensuring clean and nutrition food should be a “key priority” of the government policies as it was vital for physical and mental health of people. Noting that these businesses were mainly run by small and cottage scale units in the country, the President, however, cautioned that small vendors should not find the BIS guidelines “intimidating” and “complex” for their implementation. He suggested awareness should be created among street food vendors about the fact that improvement in food safety will increase their profitability.

Mukherjee noted that the country has made significant strides over the past decades in food production and globalisation of the world economy has given a significant boost to the food trade. “But at the same time, it has created a new set of challenges to food safety,” he said.

National Seminar on Food Safety Inaugurated BIS Standards on Food Safety Released

President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has said that food safety ensuring clean and nutrition food should be a key priority of the government policies as it is vital for physical and mental health of people .He said that India has made significant strides over the past decades in food production and globalization of the world economy has given a significant boost to food trade. But at the same time, it has created a new set of challenges to food safety. The Indian Standards on basic requirements for street food vendors is an important step- especially in the context of the significant growth in the street food sector. It has important economic and nutritional implications for our urban populations as street foods are an accessible and affordable option for a sizeable percentage of our working population, he asserted. Shri Pranab Mukherjee further said that but we should be conscious that a substantial majority of our food businesses are small and cottage scale units hence implementation should not be too complex.

. Releasing BIS Indian Standard on Food Safety requirements for street food vendors during the occasion, Prof Thomas Minister Of Consumer Affairs, Food And Public Distribution said that these standards will focus on providing minimal check points for ensuring safety of street foods by assuring food security for a large number of rural, urban and migrant populations in terms of hygiene and quality. These will also act as a bridge between the street food vendors and the consumer of street food, and assure that the street food conforms to specified standards and hence are safe.

The Minister said that with the expectations of the people regarding safety of food rising by the day, Indian standardization system must, at all costs, step in to safeguard public health, and thus promote consumer confidence. It is in this direction that the BIS has already released “Indian standards on Good Hygienic Practices, Good Manufacturing Practices and Food Retail Management.”

Underling the importance of awareness among all stake holders regarding these food safety standards, the Minister said that BIS had recently organized a series of seminars at major State capitals. Now, this National Seminar being organised today is mainly to discuss the recommendations arrived in the past, and to draw up a road map for future course of action in this important area.

Prof. Thomas said that the Government is fully conscious that the food industry, being a good earner of foreign exchange, , deserves all our support, and must not be tied down of its potential to grow by perceived limitations as viewed from safety angle. “We only want that standards should be contributory to a sound regulatory foundation for domestic and international trade in food, taking into account the interests of consumers, the industry and a very strict regime of international quality norms” he said.

.Addressing the Seminar Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, the renowned Agriculture scientist said that food safety literacy movement should be taken up in a big way through information and communication technology, community food managers from local elected bodies should also be involved in this campaign. Expressing concern over pesticides residue in food products he said that strict safety standards should be adopted to safeguard common man from this.

‘Indian standards on street food vendors- food safety requirements’ released on the occasion provide detailed guidelines regarding quality of inputs and ingredients, transport, reception and storage of inputs, utensils and cutting tools: material of construction, cleaning and storage, hygienic practices, personal hygiene and habits, food preparation cooking and handling.

புகையிலை பொருட்களுக்கு தடைமத்திய அரசுக்கு சுப்ரீம் கோர்ட் "நோட்டீஸ்'

புதுடில்லி:புகையிலைப் பொருட்களை தடை செய்வது தொடர்பாக, மத்திய அரசுக்கு, சுப்ரீம் கோர்ட் "நோட்டீஸ்' அனுப்பியுள்ளது.புகையிலைப்பொரு
ட்களுக்கு தடை விதிக்க வேண்டும் என, டில்லியை சேர்ந்த, தன்னார்வ தொண்டு நிறுவனம் ஒன்று, சுப்ரீம் கோர்ட்டில் பொதுநல மனு ஒன்றை தாக்கல் செய்தது. இந்த வழக்கில், மனுதாரர் தரப்பில், பிரபல வழக்கறிஞர், பிரசாந்த் பூஷன் ஆஜர் ஆனார்.இந்நிலையில், இந்த வழக்கு, நேற்று, சுப்ரீம் கோர்ட்டில், நீதிபதி சிங்வி முன், விசாரணைக்கு வந்தது.
அப்போது, பிரசாந்த் பூஷன் கூறியதாவது:புகையிலை பொருட்களை, பிளாஸ்டிக் பைகளில் வைத்து விற்பதை தடை செய்ய வேண்டும் என்ற கோர்ட் உத்தரவை, மத்திய அரசு நடைமுறைபடுத்தவில்லை. அதுபோல், புகையிலை பொருட்களின் உற்பத்தி, வினியோகம், விற்பனை, ஏற்றுமதி மற்றும் இறக்குமதி போன்றவற்றிற்கு தடைவிதிக்க வேண்டும். புகையிலையை மென்று தின்பதற்கும், குட்கா மற்றும் பான்மசாலா போன்ற, இதர போதைப் பொருட்களுக்கும் தடை விதிக்க வேண்டும்.
இதனை மீறுவோர் மீது சுற்றுச்சூழல் பாதுகாப்பு சட்டம் மற்றும் உணவு பாதுகாப்பு தர சட்டப்பிரிவுகளின் கீழ், நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க வேண்டும். விதிமுறைகளை மீறி, புகையிலைப் பொருட்களின் உற்பத்தி, விற்பனை போன்றவற்றில் ஈடுபடும் நிறுவனங்கள் மீது, கோர்ட் அவமதிப்பு வழக்கு தொடர வேண்டும்.
அரசின் ஆதரவு இல்லாமல், இதுபோன்ற கொடுமைகள் நடைபெறாது. குட்கா, பான்மசாலா மற்றும் பிளாஸ்டிக் பைகளில் புகையிலை பொருட்களை வைத்து விற்பவர்கள் மிகப்பெரிய அளவில், "லாபிகளாக' செயல்பட்டு வருகிறார்கள். இவர்கள்தான் அரசின் கொள்கைகள் மற்றும் நடவடிக்கைகளை நிர்ணயிப்பவர்களாக உள்ளனர். எனவே, இவர்கள் மீது நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க வேண்டும்.இவ்வாறு, மனுதாரர் தரப்பில் தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டது.இதையடுத்து, புகையிலைப் பொருட்களுக்கு, முழுமையான தடை விதிப்பது தொடர்பாக விளக்கம் அளிக்கும்படி, மத்திய அரசுக்கு, சுப்ரீம்கோர்ட் "நோட்டீஸ்' அனுப்ப உத்தரவிட்டது.

SC notice to Centre on PIL seeking ban on gutka

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre on a plea seeking prohibition of production, consumption and trade of gutka, pan masala and chewing tobacco in all forms.
A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya sought response from the Union  government on an interlocutory application filed by NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), requesting the court to issue direction for strict enforcement of ban on all such products.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, submitted that as many as 14 states had already banned gutka and a mixture of pan masala and tobacco but the production of pure tobacco and pan masala without tobacco was still n practice.

He contended that even the ban imposed by 14 states was not effective as manufacture was yet to be curbed.

“If gutka and chewing tobacco is banned, leaving pan masala alone, then the implementation of such a ban is rendered impossible as manufacturers will pass on their tobacco-laden pan masala as ‘sada’ pan masala or tobacco-free pan masala. Pan masala consumption too is linked to high rates of oral cancer,” he noted.

Violation of orders

The counsel alleged that the order passed by the apex court on December 7, 2010 for prohibition of such products were “wilfully and brazenly” violated by some manufacturers who sold them under other “misleading” nomenclature and some others dumped their products under the “for export” tag.

The application said that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, a statutory body set-up under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 had on August 5 last year banned gutka and other chewing tobacco products.

It sought direction from the bench that disobeying their order would make the manufacturer liable under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, Food Safety And Standards Act, 2006, and for contempt of court.