Dec 21, 2018
Restaurants found serving stale food
Vigilance teams examining the food the chicken used for cooking at a restaurant, in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
Vigilance teams collect samples
A team of officials of Vigilance and Enforcement Department and Food Safety Wing of the GVMC registered cases against two restaurants in the city on the charges of serving stale food to the customers and not maintaining hygiene on their premises.
The officials raided the restaurants on Beach Road and in Dabagardens area on Thursday and found that leftover food was being stored in refrigerators and served to the customers the next day. The kitchens were also reeked of poor sanitation, the officials said.
Acting on tip-offs, the three teams of officials led by vigilance SP D. Koteswara Rao conducted the raids. They said that huge quantities of leftover and stale food including biryani, white rice, chicken, fish, prawns and a few other dishes were found to be stored in refrigerators.
Poor sanitation
“Some dishes were found to be stored in freezers for more than three days. We also found rotten vegetables being used for cooking. Freezers and kitchens were badly maintained,” Vigilance & Enforcement Inspector R. Mallikarjuna Rao said.
The teams, he said, collected samples for further analysis and destroyed the stale food.
“Cases have been registered under the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act. The raids will continue,” Mr. Koteswara Rao said and asked all the restaurant owners to maitain sanitation.
Vigilance DSP P.M. Naidu, Inspectors N. Srinivasa Rao, B. Narimani, Food Safety Inspector G.V. Apparao took part in the raids.
FSSAI considering 1% as labelling requirement for genetically modified food items
In July, the food regulator had come under severe criticism from the environmental watchdog, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), after it detected the presence of GM content in nearly three in 10 (32%) packaged food samples that were randomly tested.
The apex food regulator framing guidelines for labelling of genetically modified (GM) food items for manufacture, sale and distribution in India is considering a threshold value of 1% as labelling requirement.
The apex food regulator framing guidelines for labelling of genetically modified (GM) food items for manufacture, sale and distribution in India is considering a threshold value of 1% as labelling requirement.
GM food items are those produced from genetically modified organisms or ingredients derived from them. Threshold level for labelling refers to the maximum permissible level of unintentional and technically unavoidable GM content in food that does not call for labelling.
While 5% was initially being considered for declaring the content on the lines of countries such as Japan, Canada, Thailand and Indonesia, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is, in a recent development, considering making it 1%, according to sources familiar with the matter. The European Union prescribes a threshold of 0.9%.
“Ideally, it should be 1% but since it is not easy — and very expensive — to quantify a smaller value, there was a suggestion to make it 5%, at least to begin with. However, after a lot of brainstorming, it was decided that 1% should be proposed, and the labs can get equipped for testing gradually,” said a source requesting anonymity.
In July, the food regulator had come under severe criticism from the environmental watchdog, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), after it detected the presence of GM content in nearly three in 10 (32%) packaged food samples that were randomly tested. The products found to be GM-positive included infant food, edible oil and packaged snacks.
In response, FSSAI released a statement saying it had started work on framing regulations that would lay down procedures for safety assessment and approval of food items. The draft regulations will, after formal approval from FSSAI’s scientific panel, scientific committee and the authority, be notified in the Gazette to elicit comments of various stakeholders. Later, the regulations will be finalised with the approval of the government.
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