Nov 9, 2017

Mark dairy products with ‘non-veg’ brown dot: PETA to FSSAI

No animal cruelty: PETA members promote veganism in New Delhi. 
Animal rights organisation asks for food packaging and labelling regulations to be suitably amended
Mumbai: In a bid to make choosing packaged food easier for vegans, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has requested the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to amend regulations to introduce the brown dot for milk and milk products. At present, vegetarian products are marked with a green dot, while non-vegetarian ones display a brown dot on their packaging.
Dr. Manilal Valliyate, CEO, PETA has written to FSSAI chief P.K. Agarwal, outlining reasons for the request. His letter said the production of dairy foods commonly involves violence, such as eventual slaughter, separating calves from their mothers, and other forms of cruelty. It said India’s beef industry exists because of the dairy industry. “Ethical vegetarians who want to refrain from supporting the beef industry and cruelty to animals are being duped, because they commonly believe that a ‘green dot’ designates products not involving animal suffering or the slaughter of cattle.”
Urging for the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations 2011 to be amended to introduce the brown dot in packaging, PETA said cattle aren’t raised solely for beef, so the dairy industry is the primary supplier of cattle to the beef industry, especially for export.
Dr. Valliyate also said since all dairy products are derived from animals, the amount of cholesterol in them is high and could lead to heart diseases. “It’s important to differentiate animal and plant-based products,” he said, adding 75% of the global population, including three out of four Indians, can’t digest dairy products properly.
It is mandatory for food manufacturers to indicate if the food item contains non-vegetarian ingredients. Some products, like carbonated water and milk, are exempt from this provision, so these markings are not required on these products.

FSSAI launches logo for organic food products

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 8: 
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has launched an “Indian Organic Integrity Data Base”, to help consumers verify the authenticity of organic food.‘Jaivik Bharat’
It has also introduced a common logo for “organic foods” with the tagline ‘Jaivik Bharat’.
The portal has been jointly developed by the FSSAI in collaboration with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
FSSAI said that through this portal, consumers can access information about the producer, the certification system and the availability of certified organic products
“The unified logo is an identity mark to distinguish organic products from non-organic ones, supported with the tagline “Jaivik Bharat” at the bottom, for easy identification of Organic Food from India. Effectively intertwining elements of the environment, the logo communicates adherence to the National Organic Standards,” an official statement added.
The regulator had introduced the umbrella regulation for Organic foods earlier this year.

1,400 food adulteration cases settled in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD, NOVEMBER 8: 
The Gujarat Food and Drug Control Authority (FDCA) has said it settled 1,400 long-pending cases under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) in a single day through special courts.
“The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had issued an advisory to all State Food Safety Commissioners to hasten the disposal of the cases. Nearly a year ago, there was a Supreme Court judgement on the matter. But no state had acted, except Gujarat,” HG Koshia, Commissioner, Gujarat FDCA, at the inauguration of the 8th edition of Pharmac India 2017 here.
“On October 9, we had a special sitting and we settled 1,400 cases. This is a first in the country,” he added.
He added that faster disposal resulted in nearly ₹1.25 crore being added to government coffers by way of penalties. Of the 4,800 old PFA cases in Gujarat, 3,881 were found to be trivial mistakes after analysis.
According to Koshia, the pharma manufacturers in Gujarat have improved on quality parameters. Compared to a national failure ratio of 2.3 per cent currently (which was 12 per cent a few years ago) Gujarat has a failure ratio of 1.8 per cent.
Deepnath Roy Chowdhury, National President, Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA), pointed to some regulatory challenges arising in the current market scenario.
“Apart from pricing regulations and regulatory changes, if a company wants to launch products, it has to be checked if it is within the parameters of a certified formulation of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation,” he said..

Amway guilty of misbranding, asked not to sell two products

New Delhi, Nov 8 Global direct selling major Amway has been asked to remove two of its products from sales by the apex counsumer commission which also slapped a fine of Rs one lakh on it for wrongly branding its products.
The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) asked Amway India Enterprises Pvt Ltd to remove Amway Madrid Safed Musli (Apple) and Kohinoor Ginger Garlic Paste from the market within a period of six weeks.
"As these products have been sold to certain consumers and they have suffered on account of the unfair trade practice adopted by the petitioner in respect of these two products, I deem it appropriate to set aside the order of the State Commission setting aside the order of the District Forum for awarding exemplary damages of Rs 1,00,000 to be deposited with the Consumer Welfare Fund mentioned in the order," NCDRC Presiding Member Prem Narain said.
"The petitioner company shall also issue the corrective advertisement as ordered by the District Forum. If the petitioner company wants to reintroduce these products, the same may be introduced after getting the approval from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India," the NCDRC said.
According to the petition filed by Consumer Guidance Society, an Andhra Pradesh-based NGO, three items were found to be misbranded or adulterated after samples of products of the firm were tested by the Chief Public Analyst of State Food Testing Laboratory.
The district forum in 2007 had asked the company to remove two out of the three adultrated/misbranded products from market and directed it not to indulge in such unfair trade practices in future.
It had also imposed Rs one lakh as exemplary damages and asked the firm to deposit the amount in the Consumer Welfare Fund.
The state commission had, however, partly allowed the appeal of the firm by asking it not to pay the damages on the ground that the NGO did not suffer any loss.
However, the apex consumer commission considered this as a material irregularity and said the State Commission has perhaps mistook this cost to have been awarded to the respondent which is not correct.

'Thums Up' fined Rs 12 lakhs for 'misbranding' in Madhya Pradesh

BHOPAL: Thums Up - a brand of Coca-Cola India, has been slapped with a consolidated fine of Rs 12 lakhs by a court in Madhya Pradesh for 'misbranding'.
Court of Additional district magistrate (ADM) and competent authority state's Guna district issued the orders on the basis of a government's laboratory report which said, "Common name of the artificial flavouring substance not mentioned on the liable" and it violates various sections of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Samples were collected by the food department from a retailers shop in Ruthiya village, Raghogarh area in 2015. According to come media reports, Thums Up ranked among India's top trusted brands in the Brand Trust Report 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Also the advertisement spending on this particular soft drink is considerably most among all other Coca Cola brands in India with brand endorsements by Bollywood's most costly stars like Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar.
Case was registered against Rajkumar Tinkar, nominee of Hindustan Coco Cola Beverage Pvt Ltd, Industrial area Rajgarh, Anit Pal - nominee - Hindustan Coco Cola Beverage Pvt Ltd, Govilej Gujarat, director transport Lucky Bagga Transport Company based at Indore and Anil Agrawal the proprietor of Anil Traders - shop located on AB Road Ruthiyayi.

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பிரசாதம் தயாரிக்க உணவு பாதுகாப்பு உரிமம் அவசியம்

சபரிமலை: 'சபரிமலையில் பிரசாதம் தயாரிக்க, உணவு பாதுகாப்பு உரிமம் பெற வேண்டும்' என, சபரிமலை நிர்வாக அதிகாரிக்கு, தேசிய உணவு பாதுகாப்பு மற்றும் தரக்கட்டுப்பாடு மண்டல அலுவலகத்தில் இருந்து, கடிதம் அனுப்பப்பட்டுள்ளது. சபரிமலையில் முக்கிய வழிபாட்டு பிரசாதம் அப்பம் மற்றும் அரவணை. இந்த பிரசாதம் தயாரிப்பின் ஒவ்வொரு கட்டத்திலும், மாநில உணவு தரக்கட்டுப்பாடு அதிகாரிகள், சோதனை நடத்துகின்றனர். கேரள உயர் நீதிமன்ற உத்தரவின் படி, இந்த பரிசோதனை, தயாரிப்புக்கு முன்பும், பிறகும் நடத்தப்படுகிறது. இந்நிலையில், தேசிய உணவு பாதுகாப்பு மற்றும் தரக்கட்டுப்பாட்டு துறையின், சென்னை மண்டல அலுவலகத்தில் இருந்து, சபரிமலை நிர்வாக அதிகாரிக்கு அனுப்பப்பட்டுள்ள கடிதத்தில், 'பிரசாதம் தயாரிக்க உரிமம் பெற வேண்டும்' என்றும், 'இது தொடர்பான முடிவை, நவ.,15-ம் தேதிக்குள் தெரிவிக்க வேண்டும்' என்றும் கூறப்பட்டுள்ளது.
தினமும் இரண்டு டன்னுக்கு அதிகமான உணவு தயாரித்தால், அதற்கான உரிமத்தை, மத்திய அரசிடம் இருந்து பெற வேண்டும் என, அந்த கடிதத்தில் தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.