Oct 25, 2018
Festive season: Not so sweet?
FSSAI has directed food commissioners of all the States and UTs to keep a strong surveillance on milk and milk products.
HIGHLIGHTS
Delhi-based sweet shops are at the radar of the food safety department
The department has received serious complaints against leading sweet chains
Earlier, the department lifted 179 milk samples & 213 milk products samples
Top sweet shops which are based in Delhi and NCR are at the radar of the food safety department. Ahead of festival celebrations, the department has received serious complaints from public against leading sweet chains delivering sub-standard sweets.
It is for the first time, the Delhi government's department of food safety has started the special drive one month prior to the festival celebration for ensuring safe and quality milk and milk products during festival time.
"So far, food safety officers have picked up 80 Khoya samples and 200 milk based products quality check. The special drive is being conducted to make sure that no adulterated milk and milk based sweets reaches to the consumer," said a senior food safety official.
In the recent past, the department lifted 179 milk samples and 213 milk products samples respectively.
"Out of 179 milk samples, we found 33 samples sub-standard and 3 samples were misbranded. Among 213 milk products, 3 were found 'unsafe' and 40 sub-standard and 7 samples were misbranded," informed the official.
Meanwhile, the Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI), the apex food regulator has directed food commissioners of all the States and UTs to keep a strong surveillance on milk and milk products (specially products like Khoya, paneer, dahi, ghee etc) to check their microbiological quality and presence of adulterants.
"During festivals, the usage of milk and milk based products increases. These food products have low shelf life and tend to get spoil very fast if not stored properly. Previously, there have been many incidents of dairy businesses indulging in acts of adulteration. Sweets with microbial contamination can also pose to a serious threat to the health of consumers," Pawan Agarwal , CEO of FSSAI told Mail Today.
Moong and Masoor Dal May Be Poisonous to Health says FSSAI
For us Indians, a lunch or dinner cannot be considered healthy and wholesome without a serving of a comfort food like moong or masoor daal. If you cannot imagine going a day without having some daal, you should seriously rethink your decision as you might be consuming some harmful chemicals with your food.
New studies conducted by national food safety authorities have proved that the pulses getting imported in India from countries like Canada and Australia–where the production is at an all-time high–that find their way in our kitchen are seriously laced with toxic ingredients.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has warned the consumers to stop having these daals regularly as laboratory testing found high traces of chemicals in the final samples. It included herbicides like Glyphosate, which is a weed killer mostly used in the farming community to get rid of rodents and weeds.
Commenting on the issue, an FSSAI official said, “There is a possibility of higher levels of residues of the herbicide Glyphosate in pulses which could adversely affect the health of consumers here. Since the maximum residue limits (MRL) for Glyphosate in pulses has not been specified in the FSSAI regulations, we have asked the concerned officials to follow the Canadian standards for the herbicide as specified in the Codex standards.”
Commenting on the issue, an FSSAI official said, “There is a possibility of higher levels of residues of the herbicide Glyphosate in pulses which could adversely affect the health of consumers here. Since the maximum residue limits (MRL) for Glyphosate in pulses has not been specified in the FSSAI regulations, we have asked the concerned officials to follow the Canadian standards for the herbicide as specified in the Codex standards.”
This study was conducted after an activist raised concerned over the quality of lentils and found that the Indian diet may have been overly contaminated over the years without people knowing since India doesn’t have any standard quality index for Glyphosate on its own and hence, it passes through undetected.
The herbicide, Glyphosate was considered safe until some years back before WHO issued an advisory for people to stop consuming it, labelling it as a potential human carcinogen.
Glyphosate, a lethal weed killer can cause serious problems and damage the protein related functions in the body, attack the immunity system and stop the absorption of essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients. In some cases, exposure to glyphosate was also known to cause renal failure.
FSSAI claims your moong, masoor dal is poisonous! Here is the full report...
For us Indians, a lunch or dinner cannot be considered healthy and wholesome without a serving of a comfort food like moong or masoor daal. If you cannot imagine going a day without having some daal, you should seriously rethink your decision as you might be consuming some harmful chemicals with your food.
New studies conducted by national food safety authorities have proved that the pulses getting imported in India from countries like Canada and Australia--where the production is at an all-time high--that find their way in our kitchen are seriously laced with toxic ingredients.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has warned the consumers to stop having these daals regularly as laboratory testing found high traces of chemicals in the final samples. It included herbicides like Glyphosate, which is a weed killer mostly used in the farming community to get rid of rodents and weeds.
Commenting on the issue, an FSSAI official said, “There is a possibility of higher levels of residues of the herbicide Glyphosate in pulses which could adversely affect the health of consumers here. Since the maximum residue limits (MRL) for Glyphosate in pulses has not been specified in the FSSAI regulations, we have asked the concerned officials to follow the Canadian standards for the herbicide as specified in the Codex standards.”
In fact, tests conducted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on thousands of samples of lentils like moong daal produced by farmers in Canada and Australia found an average 282 parts per billion (PPB) and 1,000 parts per billion of glyphosate respectively, which is extremely high by any standards.
This study was conducted after an activist raised concerned over the quality of lentils and found that the Indian diet may have been overly contaminated over the years without people knowing since India doesn’t have any standard quality index for Glyphosate on its own and hence, it passes through undetected.
The herbicide, Glyphosate was considered safe until some years back before WHO issued an advisory for people to stop consuming it, labelling it as a potential human carcinogen.
Glyphosate, a lethal weed killer can cause serious problems and damage the protein related functions in the body, attack the immunity system and stop the absorption of essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients. In some cases, exposure to glyphosate was also known to cause renal failure.
Teachers sensitized on healthy eating, hygiene among kids
Trichy: About 60 teachers from corporation schools were sensitized on imparting knowledge about healthy eating and hygienic practices among children on Wednesday.
The school education department along with food safety and standards authority of India (FSSAI) is organising the four-day event.
The initiative is aimed at addressing the issue of malnourishment and school children being anaemic in government schools.
“Malnourished and anaemic children will not be able to concentre on their studies and unless this issue is sorted out, performance of students cannot be increased. Keeping this in mind, this initiative has been spearheaded by FSSAI,” said Asha Devi, headmaster of government middle school at Pirattiyur. She was one of the moderators at the event.
Devi said that one teacher from each school in the primary, middle, high and higher-secondary classes have been selected for the workshop. These teachers would take the message to the children and ensure that they follow it, she added.
Apart from the healthy food that must be consumed, teachers were educated on the right way of washing hands, brushing teeth, bathing and cutting nails.
“I didn’t know that there is a specific way to brush our teeth to keep them healthy. Besides, washing hands with soap instead of using hand wash was a tiny yet important thing that we learned from the workshop and we will take the message to the students,” said one of the teachers.
“Prevalence of junk food, which has steadily made inroads into our dining tables, has not spared even rural households. This has been one of the major causes of children not getting relevant nutrition,” said K Marudhanayagam, block education officer of Manikandam block . There is need for making healthy eating a habit among children and this workshop is aimed at doing it, he said.
Food safety dept to host Swasth Bharat Yatra
Madurai: The food safety officials of Madurai district will host a nation-wide programme aimed at promoting awareness on food safety, food adulteration and healthy food. Titled ‘Swasth Bharat Yatra’, the three-day event begins on Friday with the entry of eat right convoy from Virudhunagar district.
Food safety standards authority of India, which conducts the 100-day long event, has dispatched specially-designed eat right mobile units and food safety on wheels, the officials said.
The awareness programme had kicked off on the World Food Day simultaneously in Leh, Panaji, Thiruvananathapuram, Puducherrry , Ranchi and Agartala. From there, they will travel to the remote parts of the country.
Food safety officer M Somasundaram said that the convoy would have around 1,000 cyclists travelling to various parts of Madurai district, creating awareness all along. There would be a grand event on the last day in Madurai on October 28, which would see the performance of 50 folk artists. In all, 150 pigeons would be released to mark the 150th birth centennial year of Mahatma Gandhi.
A host of events like awareness exhibitions, rallies and street plays involving students are planned on the day. P Amudha, principal secretary to government and commissioner of food safety, visited Madurai a couple of weeks ago to check the preparation for the event. After 100 days of cycling covering around 2000 locations, the eat right convoys and cyclists will reach New Delhi in the last week of January.
Greedy traders resort to shortcuts to milk profits
When demand is more than supply, many use harmful adulterants to edible products to increase quantity.
Hyderabad: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has raised red flag on milk and milk-based products that are available in the market during the ongoing festival season.
The food regulatory body said that during festivals, when demand outstrip supply, unscrupulous elements take shortcuts by using harmful adulterants aimed at increasing quantity of milk and milk-based products at the cost of the health of customers.
The FSSAI said in addition to milk, milk-based products such as ‘khoa’, ‘paneer’, ‘dahi’ and ‘ghee’ get spoiled during festival seasons. Authorities said certain milk products such as ‘khoa’ were prepared months in advance of the season and stored in unhygienic conditions leading to poor microbial quality and in some instances, visible growth of fungus.
In an advisory to individual States, it said that to cut corners, merchants also transport bulk milk in rusted tin containers from places of production to distant markets leading to microbial contamination and deterioration during transit. The FSSAI had recently held consultations with State health authorities to identify some of the most common adulterants used in milk and milk products.
To increase the volume of Khoa, the most common adulterant used is cellulose, a non-digestable plant fibre and starch. To improve the consistency of curd, merchants tend to add a lot of blotting paper and Carboxy Methyl Cellulose (CMC), which has the potential to trigger rashes, eye irritation and allergies such as swelling of mouth, lips and tongue.
“Motivated adulteration of milk and its products not only cheat customers but also lead to a negative impact on health. Heavy microbial contamination and presence of microbial toxins in such products is risky for health of customers,” the advisory said.
According to authorities, most common adulterant used by merchants in ‘paneer’ is vegetable oils, which is a cheaper substitution to milk fat. Merchants also tend to use chemicals such as metanil yellow, malachite green, quinoline yellow and auramine, which are cheaper alternatives to permitted food colours.
The FSSAI has urged the State regulatory authorities to increase surveillance activities with adequate enforcement drive, especially during the ongoing festive season.
FDA suspends licenses of 33 fish traders
Traders fail to submit papers within stipulated time; Vijai, Vishwajit air opposing views in a tweet before matter is resolved
FDA ORDER
>> The Registration Certificate granted under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, issued to the 33 FBOs (list enclosed) are revoked forthwith
>> FBOs were issued a warning that they had not adhered to the October 15 deadline to furnish the municipality trade licenses to the FDA
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DENIAL & ACCEPTANCE
>> Vishwajit Rane initially denied any orders being issued to revoke the registration certificates
>> He also tweeted that a final decision would be taken within two days, after examining the file
>> He retracted his stand a few minutes later: "The FDA director has issued the order, so be it."
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PANAJI: The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) on Tuesday issued an order revoking registration certificates of 33 Food Business Operators (FBOs), all fish traders, as they failed to submit their municipality trade licenses within the October 17 deadline set by the Authority in the backdrop of the formalin-in-fish imbroglio.
The order issued by FDA Director Jyoti Sardesai, however, triggered a brief row a day later on Wednesday with two cabinet ministers - Health Minister Vishwajit Rane and TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai - took to social media to air diametrically opposing views on the issue.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Wednesday initially denied any orders revoking the registration certificates had been issued.
"I will take a decision only after I see the file, which has not yet come to me," he told the Goan when contacted.
He also tweeted that there is no revocation of 33 fish traders' licenses and a final decision will be taken within two days, after examining the file.
But, Rane retracted his 'no revocation' stand a few minutes later when in an audio posted on the WhatsApp group 'FDA' created to facilitate communication between the media, he said: "The FDA director has issued the order, so be it."
Vijai Sardessai meanwhile tweeted: " Technically this means fish imports from outside the State is stopped?....fish traders are accountable to strict regulations."
It was perhaps Vijai Sardesai's tweet that influenced Rane to quickly retract. The latter subsequently claimed in the audio post on the 'FDA' whatsapp group that he had spoken to the FDA director as well as Vijai Sardesai, who told him to take "firm and stringent measures."
"We cannot increase the timeline (given to the fish traders)," Rane said.
Meanwhile, the order issued by FDA director states: "The Registration Certificate granted under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, issued to the 33 FBOs (list enclosed) are revoked forthwith."
The order issued by Sardesai also states that the FBOs were issued a warning that they had not adhered to the October 15 deadline to furnish the municipality trade licenses to the FDA.The order has been addressed to the president/secretary of the Margao Wholesale Market Association and it notes that individual notices were sent to all the 33 FBOs.
The requirement for fish traders to get necessary registrations was set in motion by Rane, after the formalin-in-fish fiasco broke out on August 4 and after the brief ban on import of fish was revoked by the government.
The government had initially given traders 15 days to register but extended the deadline on multiple occasions. The final extension of this deadline, however, ended on October 15, following which the FDA director triggered the process to revoke the registrations and finally issued the order on Tuesday.
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