Mar 1, 2018
State labs in poor condition, working to strengthen them: FSSAI
New Delhi, Feb 28 () Food safety regulator FSSAI CEO Pawan Kumar Agarwal today said food testing labs at state level are in poor condition and serious efforts are being made to strengthen them by providing financial help and capacity building training.
At present, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has total 62 labs spread across the country. Out of which, only 10 are accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories (NABL). The private sector has 150 labs which are all NABL accredited.
"Of course, we continue to face problems with the poor quality of state labs for good reasons perhaps. We are trying to improve these labs," Agarwal said after exchanging the memorandum of agreement (MoU) with AOAC International here.
As per the MoU, the AOAC International -- a globally recognised standards developing organisation -- will offer free access to the official method of analysis to the FSSAI. It will also support FSSAI in its capacity building programmes.
Sharing about the state labs, Agarwal said, "The condition of many of the government labs are not up to the mark as they are still working under transition position."
However, the regulator is closely working with state governments to ensure the labs are strengthened and they come up to the standards that the country deserves, he added.
The FSSAI has decided to strengthen 45 state government labs with financial and capacity building training.
"A significant headway has been made in that, though more rapid progress is required. We have already supported 22 labs and getting more states and more labs on board is now a challenge," he noted.
Since some of the states do not have private lab capacity, the FSSAI CEO said, "The lab capacity even in the private sector in most of North east, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttarkhand is very poor. That's why we are pursuing state governments to upgrade their labs."
The FSSAI is also pushing the balance 52 government labs to get the NABL accreditation in a year or so.
Besides strengthening primary testing labs, the FSSAI is making efforts to put in place a network of appellate labs or referral labs in the entire food testing ecosystem.
The referral labs are used for testing the samples in times of dispute. The regulator has supported providing equipment to six such labs and plans to support additional five labs, he said.
Also, the regulator has plans to put in place a dozen of them as national reference labs for doing proficiency testing and method development and validations. Basically, the reference labs would act as support structure.
"We have floated an expression of interest (EoI) calling both private and public labs. Over 30 labs have shown interest, we are in in the process of selecting them. May be 10-12 labs can be called as national reference labs."
The FSSAI is also encouraging mobile testing labs. Already 30 such labs are in the field. They do rapid testing and are creating awareness about food safety, he added.Agarwal said that a reasonable amount of work has been done in the area of food testing and analytics in the last one year despite limited human resources.
HC pulls up Govt for delaying appointment of food safety commissioner
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Wednesday pulled up State government for delaying the appointment of Commissioner, Food Safety Tribunal.
The state counsel, MI Dar submitted before the court that interim arrangement for the post of Commissioner has been made.
The division bench comprising Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey said that the reason given by the state is not acceptable behind the delay of the appointment.
“Posting of Food Safety Commissioner still appears to be a distant dream. For the last eight months nothing has been done except creation of post of commissioner,” the court said.
The court further granted three week time to the authorities to take all necessary steps for filling up of the post along with strength of staff.
For making the food testing laboratories fully operational, the court was informed that the laboratories have been equipped with required machinery and necessary equipments have also been installed in the labs.
For checking the food vendors, Assistant Commissioner Food Srinagar who was present before the court submitted that special squad has been constituted and action has been initiated against the units’ holders, shopkeepers as also against the vendors for preparing and selling adulterated and unhygienic food.
“The squad is facing certain security concern during checking as they are being attacked by the offenders,” said Assistant Commissioner.
The court directed the SSPs of concerned districts to provide all assistance from their concern police lines wherever they require protection.
Further, the court directed the copy of the order be sent of all SSPs for compliance.
Hoteliers sensitised to good practices
FSSAI coordinator Mansi Thaker conducted the eight-hour session during which she spoke about various aspects of ensuring food quality and hygiene at the hotels and restaurants. Tribune News ServiceAmritsar, February 28The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) organised a camp in association with the Amritsar Hotel and Restaurants Association (AHARA), Civil Lines, here today. Besides, issues such as best practices for cooking and food preservation were also discussed. She also discussed the issues of rodents and pests at the kitchen which is cause of concern from the hygiene point of view. The session was attended by representatives of around 40 well-known hotels and restaurants of the city.
Amritsar, February 28
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) organised a camp in association with the Amritsar Hotel and Restaurants Association (AHARA), Civil Lines, here today. FSSAI coordinator Mansi Thaker conducted the eight-hour session during which she spoke about various aspects of ensuring food quality and hygiene at the hotels and restaurants. She also discussed the issues of rodents and pests at the kitchen which is cause of concern from the hygiene point of view. Besides, issues such as best practices for cooking and food preservation were also discussed. The session was attended by representatives of around 40 well-known hotels and restaurants of the city. AP Singh Chatha, president, AHARA, said, “The session was very informative for the local food industry.” He said the city was fast developing as a tourist hub and as such demand for hygiene and quality food is ever high. “With over two lakh passengers coming at the international airport, the local food industry needs to give the best quality food to its national and international customers,” said Chatha, adding that the session would help hoteliers in tackling day to day issues related to food safety and standards.
Food safety offenders to be booked under IPC
The KMC health department on Thursday held meeting with state police and food safety officers in a bid to stop the vendors from selling spurious water in packages using labels of registered and widely known companies.
The civic body has decided to crack down against such vendors with the help of state police and Enforcement Branch. Criminal charges will be slapped against the offenders for violation of food safety guidelines and misusing brand names of other companies, said Mr Atin Ghosh, member mayor-in-council (MMIC), health.
Mr Ghosh speaking on the matter said, “We conducted a joint meeting on Thursday in the presence of DG Enforcement Branch (EB) West Bengal and DC, EB, Kolkata along with food safety officers to decide on measures that could be taken against unlicensed vendors violating food safety norms and misusing brand names of other companies.
“A decision has been made that KMC health department will from now on conduct food safety drives along with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) officials and the collected samples will have to be submitted to the chief municipal health officer along with the concerned food safety authorities.
“The reports of the samples tested in the laboratories will then be submitted to the EB. Following which, the chief municipal officer will request the EB to begin criminal proceedings against the offenders and crack down on their production units to seal them” “The EB will then begin criminal proceedings under IPC sections 272 and 273 against offenders who are selling spurious water in packages using brand names of reputed companies.
The food safety officers in parallel will file cases against the offenders under the FSSAI Act 2006.Regular reports will be submitted to EB concerning food or water adulteration, ” the MMIC said. In addition to these measures, Mr Ghosh added, “The DG enforcement branch has also officially asked us to check for Pollution Control Board (PCB) clearance license for setting up factories. In order to set-up any factory, the PCB clearance is mandatory but it has come to light that several factories are functioning in the city without the clearance which is an illegal act.”
KMC, EB to initiate legal action against adulterated water, food manufacturers
Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the Enforcement Branch have joined hands to act tough and crack the whip on spurious manufacturers and dealers of packaged water in the city and the state.
"The KMC is empowered to take action under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Act 2006 against those dealing with adulterated water and food. However, there are some limitations of the FSSAI Act. So in a stride towards overcoming the limitations, the civic body will urge the EB to start criminal proceedings under Section 272 and 273 of IPC against those who compromise with the safety standards of food and water," Member Mayor-in-Council (Health) Atin Ghosh said after holding a meeting with Director General of EB Vijay Kumar and Deputy Commissioner (EB) Kolkata Police Debasis Sarkar along with other senior officials at the KMC headquarters on Wednesday.
The Chief Municipal Officer of Health (CMOH) on behalf of the KMC's food safety unit will now share the findings of all drives related to water and food safety with the EB and will urge the latter to take legal action against those producing packaged water without maintaining proper rules and regulations or indulging in misbranding.
According to Ghosh, apart from the BSI, trade license, fire license and other necessary certificates a manufacturing unit in the city or in the state needs to have a mandatory clearance certificate from the state Pollution Control Board.
"During our checks at production units of food or water, we didn't check whether they had certificates from the PCB as we were not aware of this," Ghosh said.
"This came up for discussion in the meeting and from now on, we will also take this as an integral part of our drive," he added.
It has been decided in the meeting that the KMC food safety officers and EB will be conducting safety drives jointly from now on.
"Wherever we will find any unhealthy activities associated with food and water on the part of any person, we will urge the EB to start criminal proceedings. This will involve sealing of illegal units, seizure of spurious items and legal action as per Section 272 and 273 of IPC that may entail six months imprisonment or a fine of Rs 1,000 or both," Ghosh reiterated.
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