May 9, 2016

Food safety department launches mobile labs

Thiruvananthapuram: Two mobile laboratories of food safety department will become operational by next month. Making the functioning the department more effective. The department was facing difficulties in conducting on the spot checking food items. The two mobile labs - one for the northern and other for the southern part of the state - are being launched spending Rs 1.08 crore.
Food safety commissioner T V Anupama said that the mobile laboratories could be helpful in conducting inspections at check posts and market places. "Usually, we have to take large number of samples for testing at labs. However, with the preliminary testing conducted in mobile labs, the number of samples that has to be taken to labs can be reduced," she said.
The mobile labs will conduct preliminary inspection. The samples, if found to be adulterated, will be brought to analytical labs for further analysis. "With the use of mobile labs, entry of adulterated milk, water and other products can be denied at the check post itself," Anupama said.

Tea, sweets and more: The toxins on your plate you don’t know about

The number of contaminants and pollutants in our food has so ballooned that keeping track of what’s really on your plate has become an impossible ask
You think you know what you’re eating. But do you really?

The number of contaminants and pollutants in our food has so ballooned that keeping track of what’s really on your plate has become an impossible ask.
Whether chemical or biological, the adulterations can creep in at any stage from farm to fork — in some cases during agriculture, in others, during storage and transportation, or processing, packaging and marketing.
Read: Tinkering with the food supply chain
Eating organic and knowing the source of your produce is one way to ensure a clean diet, say food safety experts.
Meanwhile, here’s a look at contaminants in your everyday diet that you probably don’t know are there.
IRON FILINGS IN TEA


The effects of an iron overload can range from an upset stomach to organ damage.
Dried in a sieve fitted with mesh, tea leaves are cut using iron rollers — a process that tends to leave behind traces of iron filings in your tea powder. Manufacturers typically remove these filings using magnets, but particles often get left behind. Based on a 2014 report by the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)’s draft notification has set the iron limit in tea powder to 150 mg per kg.
“An iron overload can cause something as minor as an upset stomach or as serious as organ damage and even death,” says Dr Rommel Tikoo, senior consultant for internal medicine at Delhi’s Max Healthcare.
The daily allowance of iron is 18 mg for women and 8 mg for men.
ANIMAL RESIDUE IN SILVER LEAF

The silver leaf or
Did you know that the silver leaf or chandi ka varq atop Indian sweets, spices such as cardamom and paan, is often made by rolling and hammering silver between sheets of animal intestines?
In February this year, the FSSAI proposed a complete ban on the use of animal parts in any stage of manufacturing silver leaf, and now insists on the use of modern machinery instead.
It has also fixed limits for thickness, weight and purity of silver to avoid toxic aluminum foil being used as silver leaf.
ANTIBIOTICS IN CHICKEN
As recently as last year, the Centre for Science and Environment found antibiotic residue in chicken samples collected from Delhi-NCR. Of the 70 samples tested, 17% had more than one drug, found the 2014 study.
Some antibiotics found to be present were tetracycline and ciprofloxacin, which are used to treat infections, including those of the urinary tract, eye and ear, blood stream and diarrhoea, and infections of the respiratory tract like pneumonia and tuberculosis.
Read: How antibiotics in meat could be hurting you
Exposure to these antibiotics in food can result in anti-microbial resistance (AMR), which is often impossible to treat, says Dr Chand Wattal, honorary consultant in clinical microbiology at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
HORMONES AND CHEMICALS IN FRUIT
The most commonly used chemical, the banned calcium carbide, is often contaminated with dangerous arsenic and phosphorus elements. When converted into arsine and phosphine, these contaminants can cause cancer.
Despite chemical ripening of fruits being prohibited under the Prevention of Food Adulteration rules, carbide compounds are rampantly used to do so.
The most commonly used chemical, the banned calcium carbide, is often contaminated with dangerous arsenic and phosphorus elements. When converted into arsine and phosphine, these contaminants can cause cancer.
Meanwhile, oxytocin, a mammalian hormone used to induce childbirth and lactation, is being injected into pumpkin, watermelon, brinjal, gourd and cucumber plants to pump up their sizes. Ingested over time, high levels of oxytocin can cause headaches, dizziness, seizures, heart disorders, sterility and even memory loss.
“These chemicals are endocrine disrupters that interfere with gene expressions and lead to hormonal imbalances,” says Dr SV Madhu, head of the endocrinology department at Delhi’s government-run Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital.
COLOUR BLUE IN DRINKS

The two artificial colours Indigo Carmine and Brilliant Blue, if used in more than their permissible amounts, could damage your brain and kidneys.
That funky blue cocktail you love to order could be damaging your brain and kidneys, if the two artificial colours Indigo Carmine and Brilliant Blue added to it are above their permissible limits.
During a 2011 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Advisory hearing, experts testified that this blue colour behaves differently than others, as it is absorbed more and has been noted to cross the blood-brain barrier, which could lead to permanent damage over time.
Read: Living in Color: The Potential Dangers of Artificial Dyes
“The brain has a protective covering that doesn’t normally allow what a person normally eats or drinks in. However, substances like narcotics, that are known to cross this blood-brain barrier, have the potential to damage brain cells,” says Dr Deepak Agrawal, additional professor at the neurosurgery department of Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
In India, the permissible limit for these two colours has been set at 100 parts/million.
ALUMINIUM PHOSPHIDE IN RICE TABLETS

Aluminium phosphide tablets are commonly used as a fumigant in rice.
Rice tablets, as they are commonly known, contain aluminium phosphide, which can lead to poisoning if ingested, or if the tablet crumbles, says Dr Pratik Samdani, head of medicine units at Mumbai’s Breach Candy and Jaslok hospitals. “These tablets are commonly used as a fumigant across India,” he says. “When ingested, they are poisonous as they contain mercury. They also crumble if they are not manufactured according to stipulated rules and regulations. This can poison all the rice in a sack.”
CHALK AND WATER IN MILK

Some vendors add chalk dissolved in water to milk. This can cause a build-up of calcium, which can cause kidney stones.
A recent study by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration found that 20% of milk sold in the state continues to be adulterated. “Milk can get contaminated by chemicals and bacteria,” says Dr Anil Ballani, consulting general physician at Mumbai’s Hinduja Healthcare Surgical Hospital. “Some vendors add chalk dissolved in water, which results in a build-up of calcium, which can cause kidney stones.”
A lot of unpasteurised milk is sold too, which is a key cause of contamination. “I see about two cases a month of milk-related poisoning,” Samdani adds.

Testing gods’ food

FSSAI should know its limits
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has a knack for ending up with an egg on its face. It has now taken cudgels with gods’ many abodes. After tasting defeat from multinationals like Nestle, for the controversial high content of lead in two-minute Maggi noodles, India’s top food regulator has set its goals higher-heavenwards, to be precise. Only gods know if they would like to taste FSSI-standardised bhog and prasad. The food regulator is hoping to ensure the “safety” of prasad distributed in temples and at other religious places. Its approach is secular, however.
The FSSAI has a challenging task on its organisational hands. According to the 2001 Census, India has 2.4 million places of worship, visited by approximately 300 million people every day. These numbers must have grown since, by the grace of God! While the FSSAI has already begun standardising prasad at famous temples like Shri Siddhivinayak temple (Mumbai), Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple (Tirupati) and Sai Baba temple (Shirdi), the fate of its crusade would rest with millions of bhakts. Will they like to have the food, supposedly partaken by the gods, after it is sullied in the name of sanitising and standardising by the FSSAI?
Where faith is at work, even angels fear to tread! But the FSSAI assumes to straighten up complex socio-cultural issues. The organisation is in its infancy. Launched only in 2006, it has no judicial power to punish offenders and was told by the Supreme Court in the Nestle case to remove ambiguity about its food regulations. They would know — not all prasad is sold in sealed packets. There is no mention of the ingredients on a packet and having a date of expiry would be a blasphemy. Yet, the authorities of all religious institutions have been asked to take a licence from the FSSAI for providing any kind of prasad, bhog, langar etc, even when they outsource it. It will require a lot of ingenuity to standardise charnamrit, the consecrated water, and the Eucharist across the country.

Health officials check ice, packaged water at factories

Vadodara: Food safety officers of Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) conducted checking at factories manufacturing ice and packed water as well as products of mango sellers in the city on Friday and Saturday.
The officials checked nine ice factories, six packed drinking water units, two ice depots and nine establishments selling or storing mangoes. Officials destroyed 8,000 drinking water pouches and 32kg mangoes during the drive.