Teams of the Health Department bury unhygienic dhoda and milk barfi at Khambra in Jalandhar.
Jalandhar, October 19
Festive season is the best time for those involved in the business of food adulteration to sell their rotten, stale, spurious and fake food items in glittery packages.
The smart advertisement campaigns passing off savoury foods and snacks as lucrative Diwali gift options have only added to the burden of the health authorities who now have to worry about adulteration in all sorts of foods.
Kinds of adulteration and prevention
Mixing of urea in milk and milk products is among the most harmful forms of adulteration. The pouring of ammonia gas over stale sweets to render them odourless is a common practice.
“I have personally seen a sweet seller doing this. Ammonia is poured over food items and then a bit of khoya, besan or other food item is added to make the item appear fresh. The ammonia kills the smell but what the consumer consumes is a recipe for ill health,” said a city resident.
Besides, one of the most common form of adulteration is the addition of colours to sweets, fruits and various other food items during the festive season.
To test the urea present in milk
Put 5 ml milk in a test tube and mix it with half spoon of soybean powder. Immerse a red litmus paper in it. If the paper turns blue after half-a-minute, it means the milk contains the urea.
Test for ascertaining powder in milk
Take milk in a test tube. Pour nitric acid at the edge of the test tube. If it turns orange, it means the powder has been mixed.
Jalandhar, October 19
Festive season is the best time for those involved in the business of food adulteration to sell their rotten, stale, spurious and fake food items in glittery packages.
The smart advertisement campaigns passing off savoury foods and snacks as lucrative Diwali gift options have only added to the burden of the health authorities who now have to worry about adulteration in all sorts of foods.
Kinds of adulteration and prevention
Mixing of urea in milk and milk products is among the most harmful forms of adulteration. The pouring of ammonia gas over stale sweets to render them odourless is a common practice.
“I have personally seen a sweet seller doing this. Ammonia is poured over food items and then a bit of khoya, besan or other food item is added to make the item appear fresh. The ammonia kills the smell but what the consumer consumes is a recipe for ill health,” said a city resident.
Besides, one of the most common form of adulteration is the addition of colours to sweets, fruits and various other food items during the festive season.
To test the urea present in milk
Put 5 ml milk in a test tube and mix it with half spoon of soybean powder. Immerse a red litmus paper in it. If the paper turns blue after half-a-minute, it means the milk contains the urea.
Test for ascertaining powder in milk
Take milk in a test tube. Pour nitric acid at the edge of the test tube. If it turns orange, it means the powder has been mixed.
Test of khoya in ‘barfi’
If barfi appears powdery upon being touched with the tongue, it means it is adulterated. Real khoya melts in the mouth and does not give a dry powdery taste.
117 food samples failed this year
As many as 117 samples of food items have failed this year. In the past three years (till September 2013), 78 food samples had failed in the district.
From the point of view of the Health Department, this is a good news because it denotes an increased frequency both in the sampling drive and in nailing the offenders. Sources say this has also created a sense of strictness among various establishments, which now know they won’t escape the law if they sell spurious food items.
In 2011, 22 food samples failed (out of 363 samples ). In 2012, 41 failed (out of 266 samples) till September 2013, 15 samples had failed.
As per the Health Department sources, while for the substandard samples, a fine amounting to Rs 1 lakh is supposed to be levied. For the unsafe samples, the owner of vends or units is liable to undergo a sentence ranging from three to five years.
As many as 17 trials of the owners, whose samples of products were found unsafe, are undergoing in the court. A recovery of Rs 2-and a-half-lakh has been made so far this year from the offending owners.
Milk report
Till August, as many as 112 milk samples had failed.
With the bustling Jamsher Dairy Complex, the milk production in the district is pretty high and adulterated as well. Milk sellers admit if there is no mixing, there is no milk in the district. The commercial produce from 400 dairies in the city is officially pegged at 1.5 lakh litres per day. Other large scale commercial milk- producing agencies produce about 65,000 to 80,000 litres of milk per day. However, this does not include the milk being sold from various vends selling milk in the district.
Around Diwali there is much-heightened adulteration in the production of milk products including khoya, paneer, desi ghee among other products. The highest adulteration is in khoya. A number of agencies also discretely ferry spurious milk products from other parts of the country.
In the run up to Diwali there have been two seizures of spurious desi ghee in the district – in both of which trucks bringing in spurious products from other places were apprehended by the police or the Health Department.
FSSA Act
Over 8,000 food establishments in the district are registered under the Act in the district and about 2,000 have obtained the licenses.
Following the implementation of the Food and Safety Standards Act, 2006, it has become mandatory for the Health Department to register all establishments selling food. There have been several meetings, announcements and deadlines issued to speed up the process of registration of all establishments. But the process still goes on at snail’s pace due to lack of awareness and possibly stringent measures. However, gradually the word is being spread among vendors and more are coming up every year for registrations and to seek the license.
Health officials say word is being spread so that the rest also join in soon.
Big fish vs small
Big sweetmeat producing establishments and commercial milk production units in the city are rarely (or never) inspected and even if they are, the samples pass most of the times. The smaller establishments, however, bear the brunt.
There have been outcries by the small establishments, wherein they say they are the ones who face a real scare from the authorities during the festive season. Talking to Jalandhar Tribune, a local dhaba-owner said, “There is adulteration in all foods today. If you take samples right now, they will come out adulterated. It’s a matter of pick and chose whom to be nailed and who has to be spared.”
However, the Health Department points to the raids and drives and various meetings held with establishment owners to prove they have been working hard.
District Health Officer Dr Balwinder Singh says, “We are making all efforts that we possibly can to ensure that this festival season goes on smooth for all people. We have held two major seizures of desi ghee and quintals of stale or bad sweets. In the coming days as well we shall be on the lookout. Our teams have inspected places near the railway station, cold stores as well as other storage places. Besides, we shall also be running an awareness campaign regarding adulteration from tomorrow onwards.”
If barfi appears powdery upon being touched with the tongue, it means it is adulterated. Real khoya melts in the mouth and does not give a dry powdery taste.
117 food samples failed this year
As many as 117 samples of food items have failed this year. In the past three years (till September 2013), 78 food samples had failed in the district.
From the point of view of the Health Department, this is a good news because it denotes an increased frequency both in the sampling drive and in nailing the offenders. Sources say this has also created a sense of strictness among various establishments, which now know they won’t escape the law if they sell spurious food items.
In 2011, 22 food samples failed (out of 363 samples ). In 2012, 41 failed (out of 266 samples) till September 2013, 15 samples had failed.
As per the Health Department sources, while for the substandard samples, a fine amounting to Rs 1 lakh is supposed to be levied. For the unsafe samples, the owner of vends or units is liable to undergo a sentence ranging from three to five years.
As many as 17 trials of the owners, whose samples of products were found unsafe, are undergoing in the court. A recovery of Rs 2-and a-half-lakh has been made so far this year from the offending owners.
Milk report
Till August, as many as 112 milk samples had failed.
With the bustling Jamsher Dairy Complex, the milk production in the district is pretty high and adulterated as well. Milk sellers admit if there is no mixing, there is no milk in the district. The commercial produce from 400 dairies in the city is officially pegged at 1.5 lakh litres per day. Other large scale commercial milk- producing agencies produce about 65,000 to 80,000 litres of milk per day. However, this does not include the milk being sold from various vends selling milk in the district.
Around Diwali there is much-heightened adulteration in the production of milk products including khoya, paneer, desi ghee among other products. The highest adulteration is in khoya. A number of agencies also discretely ferry spurious milk products from other parts of the country.
In the run up to Diwali there have been two seizures of spurious desi ghee in the district – in both of which trucks bringing in spurious products from other places were apprehended by the police or the Health Department.
FSSA Act
Over 8,000 food establishments in the district are registered under the Act in the district and about 2,000 have obtained the licenses.
Following the implementation of the Food and Safety Standards Act, 2006, it has become mandatory for the Health Department to register all establishments selling food. There have been several meetings, announcements and deadlines issued to speed up the process of registration of all establishments. But the process still goes on at snail’s pace due to lack of awareness and possibly stringent measures. However, gradually the word is being spread among vendors and more are coming up every year for registrations and to seek the license.
Health officials say word is being spread so that the rest also join in soon.
Big fish vs small
Big sweetmeat producing establishments and commercial milk production units in the city are rarely (or never) inspected and even if they are, the samples pass most of the times. The smaller establishments, however, bear the brunt.
There have been outcries by the small establishments, wherein they say they are the ones who face a real scare from the authorities during the festive season. Talking to Jalandhar Tribune, a local dhaba-owner said, “There is adulteration in all foods today. If you take samples right now, they will come out adulterated. It’s a matter of pick and chose whom to be nailed and who has to be spared.”
However, the Health Department points to the raids and drives and various meetings held with establishment owners to prove they have been working hard.
District Health Officer Dr Balwinder Singh says, “We are making all efforts that we possibly can to ensure that this festival season goes on smooth for all people. We have held two major seizures of desi ghee and quintals of stale or bad sweets. In the coming days as well we shall be on the lookout. Our teams have inspected places near the railway station, cold stores as well as other storage places. Besides, we shall also be running an awareness campaign regarding adulteration from tomorrow onwards.”
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