Dec 17, 2012

Festivals: food safety to be ensured

The Food Safety wing of the Health Department has decided to draw up guidelines for supplying water in tanker lorries to hotels and apartments and to make licences compulsory for individuals or agencies engaged in water supply. A decision in this regard was taken at a review meeting of district food safety officials convened by Health Secretary Rajeev Sadanandan here on Saturday.
It was decided to form squads of food safety officers to conduct inspections at eateries and other food-related businesses to ensure food safety and hygiene during the Christmas-New Year season when food businesses soar.
Food safety officials have been asked to conduct necessary inspections to make sure that only licensed catering services are serving food in all mass Christmas and New Year celebrations conducted in auditoriums, where large number of people are likely to consume food.
The officials were told to ensure that all employees in hotels and food businesses had health cards and that hotels were keeping a register of the details of the raw materials they were purchasing, including the agencies supplying them. Hotel owners who failed to comply with these conditions would have to face action. The Food Safety Commissioner, Biju Prabhakar, directed officials to conduct inspections at eateries and hotels which had been served notices earlier to ensure that these units were functioning in accordance with the safety and hygiene standards.

'No adulteration in spices & condiments; Chillies the exception': Rana

Spices and condiments are seldom adulterated, because sellers like the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) – which operates a large wholesale market in Vashi, Navi Mumbai – take complete precautions to supply and sell goods as per the regulations of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, according to Kirti Rana, director, APMC's spice market.

He added, “To safeguard the spices, we add preservatives suitable to the type of spice, the climatic conditions at the place of production and the climatic conditions at the places where they would be consumed. But at times, the consumer mistake the preservatives for ingredients used for adulteration. This could also be because of rumours that do the rounds.”

Oil and salt are used as preservatives for chillies, which are imported from various states of the country. The quantity the 180 wholesalers in Vashi add is essential and is as per the climatic conditions of Maharashtra. As far as chillies are concerned, they are faint red in colour, so artificial red colour is used to give the impression that they are fresh.

In some cases, artificial flavour or aroma is added and unscrupulous sellers pass it off as a Grade I spice to lure customers and earn an extra profit. “Although there have been cases of adulteration in spices in various parts of the world, we at the APMC market (which employs about 100 people for grading, powder-making, storage, etc.) ensures that there is no such malpractice,” Rana said.

He said, “Now the APMC market distributes and trades about 3,500-4,000 trucks of agricultural produce, and feeds a population of approximately 2.5 crore. But cases of adulteration are not rampant; there may be just one or two cases here and there. So blaming the traders is not justified.” In fact, Indian spices – renowned the world over for their nutritional value – are in demand.

Now Japan is one of the largest importers of cardamom, coriander and cumin from India. The US imports about 90 per cent of the world's total psyllium husk, a herb and soluble fibre known to affect metabolism significantly and be an effective cure for both diarrhoea and constipation. By providing a feeling of fullness, it helps in weight control.

Government policies
Commenting on the policies framed by the government, Rana said, “Our government keeps coming up with rules and regulations, but they need to be more practical while drafting the rules and taking the wholesalers into consideration, as the rules are made for them. Although the rules pertain to food safety and not to adulteration, the infrastructure to implement and adhere to them is inadequate.”

“Spices and condiments are imported and exported at the international level, but there are no laboratories in India to test spices as per the international safety standards before exporting them. However, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has approved 37 mobile labs, but this number would not be sufficient, as there are approximately 3,500 traders in the APMC market,” he said.

Rana said, “There are other important things that FSSAI should take note of. For instance, Indian farmers use a number of pesticides which are banned in America and other European countries, so why is India allowing the usage of these harmful pesticides?”

“Also for the safety of the product, several parameters must be kept in mind conducting lab tests. For instance, if chillies are brought from Andhra Pradesh, people should know what pesticides are used, how much is the percentage of pesticides used, when did it come to the market, will the consumption of these pesticides grown product safe consumption, etc.,” he added.

“Research and development is always welcome and essential for the success. But adopting a genetic way for the production is not good, as original taste and nutrition is lost in the process. Government officials should instead see that people do not produce genetic foods and also ensure that the urea used for the crops is from America and not from India”, Rana said.

'We're specialists'
Responding to Kapil Sibal's comment that wholesalers are middlemen, Rana said, “We are not middlemen, we are specialists. We know every aspect of our product, be it trading, storage, consumers' demand, grading, output or input. Calling us middlemen doesn’t do any justice to our profession as wholesale traders.”

“Today there is a trend of organic food. But has anyone ever noted that in the name of organic food, there is so much money looted from customers whereas middle-class people can’t even afford it. Instead I would say Kapil Sibal is a middleman who don’t have know about the wholesale business or farmers' plight and wants to bring Walmart, which has already proven itself unsuccessful in foreign countries, to India. We may get little profit on the arrival of Walmart, but we are not fine with the discriminatory treatment that we are getting,” Rana, who is into trading of spices and condiment for the past 40 years and has travelled all over the world to learn new techniques and apply and teach new acquired knowledge to India, said.

He said, “We have been paying heavy taxes to the government from the profits or loss we make, but what is the government doing in return for us? Even if the government sets aside a small amount from our paid taxes for to educate small wholesale traders, train them and introduce them to new technology, its operation will be more beneficial to government in return. Then there would be no need of FDI in India. Provided with the same infrastructure that other countries have, we Indians can come up with our own Indiamart. Given a chance and the support of the government we can become a world-class agricultural market.”

Violation of Food Safety Act goes unabated

Srinagar, Dec 16: In blatant violation of the Food Safety Act, sale of expired, substandard products and adulteration of milk is going on unabated in the summer capital in absence of regular monitoring by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation
 Expired and adulterated products are being sold openly in various markets of the City while the SMC’s Food Monitoring wing entrusted to check adulteration and sale of substandard goods is acting as mute spectator.
 The Food Safety Act 2006 makes it mandatory for even small manufacturers or shopkeepers to follow the basic hygiene and safety requirements. 
 “It is mandatory for SMC department to collect samples of milk products on weekly basis from the markets and check its standards. But very rarely market checks are being conducted thereby putting the lives of common people at risk,” sources said 
 It has been learnt that expired products particularly dates, candies and noodles are being used in packaged small baskets. “These products are mainly consumed during marriage functions and festive occasions,” they said. 
 Pertinently, death of a five year old girl by allegedly by consuming expired noodles at Kulgam in south Kashmir has sent alarm bell ringing with civil society castigating the monitoring agencies including SMC for failing to maintain the set food quality standards. 
 “If any small vendor sells any article of food which is not in compliance with the provisions of the act or regulations made there under shall he liable to a penalty not less then three lakhs rupees with imprisonment,” reads a clause of the Food Safety Act. 
 According to the Food Safety Act it is not permissible for any mutton dealer to slaughter animals at his workplace or home.  They have to bring animals to assigned abattoir to slaughter them. But in Srinagar, animals are slaughtered near drains and at unhygienic places. 
 “There is no quality check of mutton. Besides the concerned SMC officials overlook unhygienic condition in mutton shops. In violation of norms they stamp the slaughtered animals in shops in lieu of money,” a group of concerned citizens said.  
  They said most of mutton dealers also sell low grade meat at higher rates. “Meat sold in City is of low-grade. Most of the dealers purchase C or D-grade sheep from other states. Ironically the SMC authorities are acting as mute spectators,” they said.
 Deputy Director, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Shafqat Iqbal passed the buck on the SMC. “Our department looks after the rates of essential commodities and food quality checks are to be conducted by the SMC,” he said.
 When contacted Health Officer SMC, Dr Rubeena claimed that SMC conducts market checking regularly. 
 “Our teams are regularly monitoring the markets and taking food samples” she said.
 Dr Rubeena however said that there is a need to create awareness among consumers. “People should verify expiry date of the food items before consuming them,” she added.

Dinamalar