Sep 12, 2019
Drive against single-use plastic to be intensified: Collector
District Collector A.Shanmuga Sundram issuing pamplets to raise awarness against single-use plastics at Nethaji market in Vellore on Wednesday.
Awareness campaign for vendors held at Nethaji market
The district administration of Vellore would intensify its drive against usage of single-use plastic items such as bags and cups, said Collector A. Shanmuga Sundram
While launching an awareness campaign on the ban on usage of such articles among the traders in Nethaji Flower, Vegetable and Fruit market in Vellore on Wednesday, the Collector announced that violators would be booked and maximum punishment would be meted out to them. He interacted with the fruit and flower vendors in the market, asking them to discourage the use of plastic bags, as they were dangerous to the environment.
He added that though action is being taken on the usage of banned plastic items, they were being smuggled into the State from neighbouring States where there is no ban on manufacturing or trading.
“We have instructed food safety officers and municipal officials to intensify their drive against the usage of plastics and reports of action taken are regularly sought from them ,” Mr. Shanmuga Sundram said.
He distributed cloth bags and pamphlets reading with messages on the ill-effects of using plastic items and urged them to use alternative materials as suggested in the manual. Vellore City Municipal Corporation Commissioner, S. Sivasubramanian,
DRDA Project Director P. Periasamy, Municipal Health Officer T. Manivannan and Sanitary Inspector Sivakumar participated in the campaign.
Throwaway plastics
Officials of Vellore City Municipal Corporation and Food Safety department have intensified the drive against 14 throwaway plastic items banned by the state government.
“Officials have been visiting shops and seizing banned plastic on a regular basis. The election work came in the way. But it was once again started vigorously. We are regularly sending reports on the plastic seizure,” said an official.
The ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims at accelerating the momentum of Swachh Bharat in the run-up to its 4th anniversary.
It also aims at laying down the foundation of sustainability, reinforcing the concept of “sanitation as everyone’s business”, and commencing Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth year celebrations with a nationwide campaign.
Kids at govt schools to enjoy nutritious milk from today
The nutritious powder will be mixed with milk given to kids twice a week under the Ksheera Bhagya scheme.
Over 42,000 children from government and aided schools will get to savour a flavoured and multivitamin ‘health drink’ from Thursday onwards, thanks
to two private trust introducing it.
Adamya Chetana Trust, in association with Sri Satya Sai Annapoorna Trust, based in Muddenahalli in Chikkaballapura district, is introducing a ‘Sai sure multivitamin micronutrition powder’, which will be mixed with the milk provided to the kids twice a week under Ksheera Bhagya scheme.
The scheme has already been introduced in few districts, including Chikkaballapura, Ramanagara, Mandya, Kalaburugi, Tumakuru and Bengaluru Rural.
In Bengaluru, the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education S Suresh Kumar will launch the scheme on Thursday.
“Following the positive result of the powder on children’s health, we submitted the post-health analysis report to the state department of primary and secondary education, which decided to extend the scheme further,” said Anand Kumar, general secretary of Sri Satya Sai Annapoorna Trust.
Choco, almond flavours
The scheme was first introduced in Chikkaballapura district on a pilot basis. After a year, the haemoglobin level in the kids saw an improvement. Encouraged by the development, the trust sought the education department’s permission to extend the scheme to other districts.
The powder comes in chocolate and almond flavours.
“It is just a powder, unlike any other health drink mix the kids consume at home. Here our partners will mix the powder with hot milk and supply it to schools directly,” said Kumar.
This nutritious powder has got the clearance from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). A group of 20 nutritionists and paediatricians also recommended some improvement to the powder. “Based on the suggestions, we prepared a formula,” Kumar added.
Meanwhile, Sri Satya Sai Annapoorna Trust has already implemented the scheme at schools in some parts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
FSSAI allows hotels to replace plastic drinking water bottles with glass bottles
The experts dealing with plastic-related issues in FSSAI examined the feasibility of the move, and gave the nod.
The food and consumer affairs ministry has also asked the packaged-water industry to come up with suggestions for alternatives to plastic bottles.
In a move aimed at reducing plastic waste, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), has said hotels can replace plastic bottles with paper-sealed glass bottles for in-house guests as long as water safety standards are met and the bottles are not sold, according to a circular issued by the food regulator.
The circular dated September 9, a copy of which has been seen by HT, was issued following a representation made by the hotels to the FSSAI a few weeks ago seeking permission to serve water in glass bottles to in-house guests.
“The Taj group of hotels approached us asking if they could serve their guests glass bottled water from their own plants instead of packaged plastic drinking water bottles. We accepted the request for consideration and asked our committee that already deals with issues related to plastics to look into it. The committee gave the go-ahead,” said Pawan Agarwal, chief executive officer, FSSAI.
The experts dealing with plastic-related issues in FSSAI examined the feasibility of the move, and gave the nod.
“…At present hotels across the country serve packaged drinking water in plastic bottles. The overall consumption of plastic bottles used in hotels results in considerable plastic wastage. Taking cognisance of this, it has been decided to allow to serve drinking water in paper sealed reusable glass bottles for captive use within the hotel premises…,” the FSSAI circular reads.
Agarwal says, “In the larger interest of the safety of our environment, we have allowed it not just for the Taj group of hotels [but also] other five or four-star hotels also who are willing, and prepared, to start making the transition. It’s just the beginning; gradually the practice would need to be followed by the entire industry including the caterers,” he added.
A Taj spokesperson confirmed they had approached FSSAI.
“The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) in its endeavour to address the growing plastic menace, pledged on the occasion of Earth Hour 2018 to phase out single-use plastics from all its hotels so as to play a significant role towards protecting the environment…,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“Sometime early this year we undertook to phasing out single use plastic in our rooms across the group. First phase of which included some of our hotels participating in a plastic elimination challenge — to give up plastic usage through innovative solutions. Many of our hotels have reduced usage of plastic by replacing wrapped dry amities in rooms, such as toothbrush, shaving kit etc. with eco-friendly substitutes.”
According to the circular, the hotels will need to set-up in-house drinking water bottling systems on their premises, and follow the sanitation and hygiene practices; the water served shall conform to BIS specifications for drinking water, and the bottles must not be for sale and served free to guests.
“Our inspectors will keep checking the bottling system to see if the water being served is safe to drink,” said Agarwal.
The food and consumer affairs ministry has also asked the packaged-water industry to come up with suggestions for alternatives to plastic bottles.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Monday reiterated India’s resolve to tackle the problem of plastic waste at the 14th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) at Greater Noida.
Chennai’s Murugan Idli Shop: Unhygienic kitchen lands popular restaurant chain in trouble
Officials from the Department of Food Safety and Drugs Administration have temporarily suspended the license of Murugan Idli Shop's central kitchen and issued a notice to the restaurant's Parrys Corner outlet.
Restaurant’s central kitchen had its license suspended on Tuesday for failing to comply with sanitation and hygiene standards.
The Murugan Idli Shop, a popular chain of vegetarian restaurants in Chennai found itself in a soup on Tuesday after the license of the restaurant’s central kitchen in Ambattur Industrial Estate was suspended over lax hygiene and sanitation.
Officials from the Tiruvallur division of the Department of Food Safety and Drugs Administration suspended the license of Murugan Idli’s central kitchen on September 10 after the restaurant had neglected to address several issues which had been raised under the Food Safety Act in the recent past.
“We had visited the kitchen around 40 days ago and raised red flags on the kitchen’s hygiene standards to the manager. We gave him time to rectify the same but he has not complied with the rules. We then issued a show-cause notice to the manager but he has not submitted any reports or taken any action. Based on this, we have suspended operations,” an official from the department’s Tiruvallur division told indianexpress.com.
The official elaborated that certain norms pertaining to hygiene and sanitation, such as periodical medical check-ups of the staff, distribution of caps and gloves to kitchen staff, pest control, white-washing of walls, repairing broken flooring, proper handling of items in storage and maintenance of dish-washer had not been followed at the kitchen.
While the license has been suspended temporarily, the official could not comment on the time period within which the suspension will be revoked.
Likewise, a Murugan Idli Shop outlet at Parry’s Corner was issued a notice by officials from the Chennai division of the Department of Food Safety and Drugs Administration based on a complaint filed by a customer after worms were discovered in the meal.
“We have issued a notice to the restaurant under Section 55 (failure to comply with directions of the food safety officer) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006,” said an officer from the Chennai division. “The main issue with the outlet is that pest control is not periodical and hygiene and sanitation is not up to the mark,” he added.
The officer said that if the restaurant failed to address the issue, the department will be forced to take action accordingly.
Customers of the food outlet were surprised upon hearing that the restaurant’s license had been suspended over poor hygiene in the central kitchen.
“Murugan Idli Shop has always been hygienic when compared to most places in the city. I am surprised that they were given such a notice”, Subbalakshmi, a regular at the restaurant said.
“As a consumer I feel slightly apprehensive but in the years that I have been there they have always been great. Not necessarily the most hygienic place but it is not going to be a dealbreaker – it is Murugan after all. Also depends on which outlet you go to, right? The T Nagar one is quite clean”, said Rahul Aripaka, another longtime customer of the restaurant.
Awareness campaign of safe food, healthy drives held
A one-day special awareness and IEC campaign on “safe food and healthy diets’ was held today at Tamenglong Bazaar.
The campaign was led by designated officer, Food Safety Administration, Tamenglong, Th. Sunilkumar Singh.
During the awareness campaign which was conducted in the midst of public cries of plastic eggs and rice in the district, spot testing of food were also conducted. And during one such visit to a tea hotel at Tamenglong bazaar run by a non-local, it was found that the hotel was under permissible hygienic standards. In regard to this, the Food safety department has issued a show cause notice that the hotel needs to be repaired as per the guidelines of food safety rules.
The Food safety department also conducted spot testing on eggs and fruit juices amongst others; and a huge number of people turned up for the testing. On visiting the women market at Tamenglong, some women were food selling yellow ginger powders without proper cover. The officials from the Food safety department instructed all women to properly cover or pack their wares properly.
Speaking to the media, Th. Sunilkumar Singh said that the awareness campaign will be conducted or reach out to all the sub- divisions of the district. “People of Tamenglong need to be aware that all shops selling consumable items are liable to maintain standards of hygiene and adulteration is an offence,” he added.
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