Jan 11, 2016

Food authority rejects calls to enforce egg refrigeration in Australian stores

There is no food safety ­reason to require whole eggs to be refrigerated, Australia’s food authority says.

THE nation’s food authority has dismissed concerns stores selling unrefrigerated eggs are putting consumers at extra risk of salmonella food poisoning.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand acting chief Peter May said there was “no safety reason” to compel ­retailers to refrigerate whole, ­uncracked eggs.
“There is no food safety ­reason to require whole eggs to be refrigerated,” Mr May said.
“However ­retailers may choose to refrigerate eggs for their own reasons for example, to maintain quality of the egg such as firmness of the yolk or reduce spoilage.”
Consumers could also keep eggs refrigerated in their cardboard box to “enhance quality”.
The agency was responding to calls from some ­public health experts for ­supermarkets and other stores to chill eggs.

உண்பது உணவா, உயிர்க்கொல்லியா?


உணவு தர விவசாயிகள் மட்டும் போதாது; தேனீக்களும் தேவை. தேனீக்களும் மகரந்தச் சேர்க்கையும் இல்லாவிட்டால் உலகம் கூடிய சீக்கிரம் செத்துவிடும். ஆக, தேனீக்கள் பிரச்சினை நம்முடைய பிரச்சினை.
தேனீக்களைக் கொன்றுக் குவிக்கும் ஒரு நோய் ‘காலனி கொலாப்ஸ்’ குறைபாடு. இந்தியத் தேனீ குடும்பத்தில் பெரும் சேதாரத்தை உருவாக்கியிருக்கும் நோய். இதற்கு முக்கியமான காரணம் ‘நியோனிகோடினாய்ட்ஸ்’ என்னும் பூச்சிக்கொல்லி. உலக நாடுகள் பலவற்றில் தடைசெய்யப்பட்டது.
பூச்சிகளின் நரம்பு மண்டலத்தைத் தாக்கி அவற்றை அழிக்கும் இந்தப் பூச்சிக்கொல்லி பயிர்களின் மீது தெளிக்கப்படுகிறது. ஆனால், அது கொல்வது விஷப் பூச்சிகளை மட்டுமல்ல; மகரந்தத்திலிருந்து தித்திக்கும் தேனைச் சேகரிக்கும் இனிய தேனீக்களையும்தான்.
புற்றுநோய் உண்டாக்கும் நச்சுத்தன்மை கொண்டது ‘கிளைஃபோசேட்’ என உலகச் சுகாதார நிறுவனம் என்றோ அறிவிக்கவிட்டது. இந்திய வேளாண் பட்டியலிலும் நம் உணவுத் தட்டிலும் இன்னும் ஸ்திரமாக ‘கிளைஃபோசேட்’ இருக்கிறது.
இந்தியாவில் பயன்படுத்தப்படும் 250-க்கும் மேற்பட்ட பூச்சிக்கொல்லிகளில் 109 அபாயகரமானவை என்கிறது அமெரிக்கா. பல்வேறு நாடுகளில் தடைசெய்யப்பட்ட குறைந்தது 66 பூச்சிக்கொல்லிகள் இந்திய நிலங்களை ஆக்கிரமித்திருக்கின்றன. இதுபற்றியெல்லாம் எப்போது நாம் எதிர்வினையாற்றப்போகிறோம்?

Tough time for moms as CBSE bans junk food

Nutritionists have welcomed the CBSE Board’s decision. 
 Visakhapatnam: Parents are now perplexed about what to pack in the lunch box for their children following the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) direction to all schools affiliated to it to inspect lunch boxes to ensure students don’t eat junk.
The Board has also asked schools to ensure that food items like chips, carbonated drinks, ready-to-eat noodles, pizzas, burgers and confectionery items like chocolates, candies are not available in the school canteens. Schools are being encouraged to have healthy snacks on the canteen menu.
A working mother Jayati Majumder said, “It’s really hard to prepare food in time in the morning for working mothers,” while admitting, “I hadn’t realized the importance of nutritious food… for good health of our children, we have to put in a little more effort to prepare healthy food instead of giving our children ready-to-make noodles and other junk food.”
M. Venumohan, founder of a senior secondary school, said co-operation from parents is needed to ensure children eat healthy food. “Parents should first stop proving junk foods to their children and sensitise them about the bad impact of these foods,” he added.
Nutritionists have welcomed the Board’s decision. Mamta Narang, a nutritionist, said, “The health and fitness of the children were really at high risk due to the consumption of junk food. Parents give lunch box filled with junk food, conceding to the demands of their children or because of lack of time".
"The direction of CBSE will surely help students to inculcate good food habit… Children will gradually adapt to home-made healthy foods if they don’t get junk food from home or in school canteens. Idli, dosa and all our traditional dishes are very good for health. This initiative will really yield wealth in terms of health", Nutritionists added.
The CBSE directive to schools followed a Women and Child Development (WCD) ministry report suggesting how to control the “endemic” problem of consumption of junk food available in and around schools.
The Board has also asked schools to focus on encouraging physical activities for students up to Class 10 and have nutritionists, physical activity trainers, public health specialists, food safety experts talk to students about a healthy lifestyle. It is also encouraging schools to keep a record of height, weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) of all students.
Nutritionist Mamta Narang suggests Curd rice with vegetables, lemon rice, dosa, sandwich with stuffing and chapatti with curry could be prepared and packed easily for the kids and is good for their health.

Banned Khesari Dal May Gets Promotion To Meet Shortage And Price Rise Of Pulses


New Delhi: Now Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has recommended government to promote cultivation of ‘Khesari Dal’ and lift ban on its sale in the open market to meet pulses back to the common man’s ‘thali.’
Defamed Khesari dal is banned in the country since 1964 after the several cases of paralysis in adult males after prolonged consumption of it due to neurotoxin ‘di-amino-pro-pionic acid.’
But Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has appealed Government after it’s November 6 meeting that ban on Khesari dal must be lifted and its production should be promoted considering it’s nutritional values and low cost as the ‘Arhar Dal’ has became out to reach of common man.
Authority has also quoted that Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has also found that in last twenty years not even a single case of neurolathyrism was reported due to this.
Presently this dal which is also known as Tiwara, was prohibited to use as an ingredient under Food Adulteration prevention Act after a study of 1964 found that this pea is associated in crippling disease in young adult males in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh where it was distributed as payment of wages to farmer’s families.
But now Government bodies feels that story of its toxic effects are just myth not reality and this variety of Dal may bring pulses to common men food as this can be grown in less than just less than five months.

Notice issued to 8 water purification plants in Haldwani

NAINITAL: The state food security department has issued notices to eight water purification plants in Haldwani for flouting various norms, including running without a licence from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and without paying taxes for several years.
Kailash Tamta, food supply officer, Nainital district said, "These plants were running without a licence from the BIS or any requisite approval from the concerned departments for years. Notices were served to them on Saturday. They have to give clarification and explanation on four vital points within ten days of stipulated time period."
The notices have sought details of test reports of the water purifiers operating in the plants equipped with reverse osmosis or ultra violet filtration technique. Monthly reports of the quality of water filtered in these plants also have to be submitted.
Plant owners will also have to present records, dating back to three years, of the operating machines, revenue, maintenance and other relevant details. Medical reports of the employees working in the plants has also been sought.
The move comes after media reports highlighted various norms being flouted by the water purification plants.
Commenting on the issue, city magistrate Harveer Singh said, "We are always vigilant on the issue of public concern. As soon as we came to know about illegally running plants, action was taken."

The scientific truth about state fish-Shevto

Nandkumar M. Kamat
Maggie noodles were banned because the lead content was alleged to be above 2.5ppm, the permissible limit. Shevto – the state fish of Goa would be found to have much more lead in its edible part – the muscle, because studies in India had earlier found 3 to 16ppm of lead in the fish. If I were to sum up the current scientific truth about the gray mullet, scientifically known as Mugil cephalus and locally known as shevto, if it is harvested from polluted waters then it is absolutely unfit for human consumption.
My family, familiar with all kinds of fish and shellfish, gave up consumption of shevto about 10 years ago when we found them totally unfit for human consumption, irrespective of site of sale. Many market samples smell strongly of Diesel. The skin and fins too show infections. Government knows that consumers on inspection of marketed shevto would only spot what is visible to eyes and smelt by nose but would never demand rigorous toxicological and pathological analysis or quality standards. The government of Goa which provides a world record subsidy of `29 for every kilogram of fish that is caught in local waters has failed to pass on the benefit of this subsidy given to mechanized and traditional sector to common fish consumers. Besides it has failed to disclose the facts about chemical, biological and microbiological pollution of estuaries and offshore marine areas where fishing is done. All tidal estuaries are polluted (high nitrates, phosphates, heavy metals, oil, grease, agrochemical residues, coliforms etc). Fisheries department is silent on dangerous concentration of radioactive isotopes, toxic heavy metals, pesticide and insecticide residues, pharmacologically active substances and pathogens in fish and shellfish caught and sold in Goa.
On the contrary by hastening to declare Mugil cephalus, a species notorious for its capacity to accumulate toxic metals like cadmium and prone to red spot and parasitic diseases as a ‘state fish’, the government is endangering the lives of the consumers. A reputed MNC like Nestle well known for stringent quality standards and R&D was taken to task for negligible concentration of lead in some noodle samples. Ironically, there is more lead in our potable water, milk, tea, poultry products, vegetables and fish. In a study conducted in 1979, De Souza and Naqvi from NIO had analysed metal concentration in shevto from Vishakhapatanam. They checked zinc, manganese, iron, copper, nickel, cobalt and lead concentration in muscle, gills, brain, bone, eyes and liver. They proved that shevto accumulates these metals from surrounding waters. They found these metals in all tissues. Lead level was 3 to 16ppm in muscle, the edible part.
Shevto belongs to the mullet family (Mugiliformes: Mugilidae). These have a worldwide distribution and are found in tropical and temperate waters. Mugilidae family includes 24 genera and 72 species and the grey mullet Mugil cephalus can be cosmopolitan. Shevto can be produced in aquaculture but scientists are concerned about the pathologic potential of some parasites, in particular Myxosporea which represents one of the important groups of parasites infecting worldwide mullets. If samples of shevto are subjected to toxicological (especially polonium, radium, caesium, heavy metals, pesticides and insecticides, pharmacologically active substances), microbiological and pathological analysis then the fisheries department would repent for its hasty decision.
The gastrointestinal tract of fish is known to constitute one of the major infection routes like the skin and the gills and allows a favorable site for bacteria proliferation. A team of fish pathologists had isolated Myroides sp. during the course of grey mullet gut micro biota studies which they collected from government fish farm, Old Goa. The parasites which would be found in the shevtos of Goa are Myxobolus muelleri, Myxobolus ichkeulensis, Myxobolus episquamalis, Myxobolus exiguus, Myxobolus parvus, and Myxobolus spinacurvatura.
Fish consumers would be shocked to know that the shevto is virtually a factory of dangerous anthropogenic chemicals and parasites. Generally any species of flora or fauna is declared as ‘state species’ is consistent with well laid down state policy. This is a prerogative of Goa State Biodiversity Board under Biodiversity Act, 2002. It has been bypassed in declaring shevto as state fish. Fisheries department should not play with lives, health and safety of unsuspecting consumers by declining to commission detailed studies on quality of fish. Both state fisheries department and the Directorate Of Food and Drug Administration have failed to take expected co-ordinated action to inform the fish consumers on various provisions, rules and amendments to The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) related to fish and fish products in the Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulation from 2011. They have failed to generate adequate publicity on draft amendment related to pharmacologically active substance prohibited for fish and fishery products.
The local authorities too are passive to engage FDA inspectors and labs to check the quality of marketed fish. So in announcing shevto as state fish, Goa government has committed a blunder which would fail the touchstone of hard science and stringent food safety regulations.

Jamshedpur walks for safe, hygienic food for all



In what was a first-of-its kind Walkathon held in the Steel City, people from walks of life — politicians, Superintendent Police (City), sporting luminaries, industry members, street food vendors, students, senior citizens and differently abled students — joined an estimated 2500-strong Jamshedpur Walkathon, Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan, organised by CII, FACE and its’ National Industry partners Cargill India, multistakeholder National Partners VOICE on Sunday to walk for the cause: Safe and Hygienic Food for All.
Among the notable personalities who joined the Jamshedpur Walkathon were Laxman Tudu, MLA, Ghatsila, Chandan Kumar Jha, Superintendent of Police (City), Jamshedpur, Aruna Mishra, Olympian boxer, Anand Sen, president, TQM & Steel Business, Tata Steel Ltd, A B Lall, Vice Chairman, CII Jharkhand, Ashim Sanyal, Chief Operating Officer, VOICE, A K Srivastava, Convener, CII Jharkhand, MSME Panel & President, Citizen Forum and Tapas Sahu, Co-Chairman CII YI, Jharkhand along with scores of industry members.
Chandan Kumar Jha, Superintendent of Police (City), Jamshedpur, praised CII for organising the Walkathon and said such awareness programmes need to be organised at regular intervals to generate greater awareness about the need for consuming safe and hygienic food, and also implementation of food safety practices at all levels.
The Jamshedpur Walkathon was marked by the parallel session on Food Safety Training of 60 Street Food Vendors. For cascading Food Safety knowledge to schoolchildren through interactive activities a Sit & Draw competition with 140 schoolchildren was also organised as a parallel forum at the Walkathon venue, the XLRI Grounds of Jamshedpur.
The Walkathon programme comprised several thematic Food Safety skits by Consumer VOICE and NASVI, Tribal Dance performances by Kala Mandir and music performance by the students of Jamshedpur Women’s College. Some of the other key activities associated with the Jamshedpur Safe Food Walkathon was a photography competitions on food safety in colleges and schools as a precursor to the Walkathon.
A B Lall said, “that this is a welcome step in the direction of food safety and hygiene and that day’s walkathon will act as a catalyst to improve food safety awareness in the country as well as drive the agenda of ‘safe food as everyone’s right’ through the Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan.”
Saugat Mukherjee, regional director, CII, Eastern Region, said in a statement, “The Safe Food Walkathon is part of CII’s resolute and sustained commitment to capacity building on food safety along with national industry partner, Cargill India, multi-stakeholder bodies National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), Consumer Body VOICE.”