Sep 18, 2019
Check on adulterated palm jaggery
For long, a section of producers in Thoothukudi have been selling adulterated palm jaggery.
Norms laid down for manufacturers and traders
Following complaints regarding widespread adulteration of palm jaggery in the district, the Food Safety Department has planned to crack down on manufacturers making adulterated jaggery, as time sought by producers and traders to comply with the norms came to an end on September 15.
The adulteration affects consumers, many of whom suffer from various ailments like diabetes, who consider palm jaggery a healthy alternative to sugar. But sugar, which is a cheaper sweetener, found its way into palm jaggery as an adulterant.
“For long, a section of producers have been selling adulterated palm jaggery. Due to lack of labelling of ingredients in retail sale, there is no transparency,” says V. Gunaselan, a social activist in Udangudi, which is well known for its ‘panakarupatti.’ “While jaggery can be produced for a few months from March to August, those who adulterate the product continue to produce it round the year.”
It makes production of unadulterated palm jaggery unsustainable for producers. “The price of jaggery in the market suffers steep cut due to cheaper adulterated product,” says A. Ravi of Thoothukudi South District Vanigar Sangangalin Peravai, who also produces palm jaggery. “It has become more difficult to find palm tappers, who continue to leave the profession. As a result, migrant workers are brought from places like Nagercoil and wages go up making the business unsustainable,” he says.
Following an amendment to the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, standards for jaggery and cane jaggery were created. The norms have a clear distinction between jaggery, prepared from palmyra palm, date palm or coconut palm, and cane jaggery made by boiling or processing juice pressed from sugarcane.
In August, based on the instruction of the Collector after complaints, two meetings were held in Thoothukudi with producers and traders. “Only if jaggery is produced from pathaneer and not mixed with sugar, should it be labeled as panakarupatti (palm jaggery) or panakarkandu (palm candy or misri). Even if one % of sugar is mixed, it would be considered as adulterated, and the inventory will be seized,” officials told the stakeholders during the meeting.
Various other instructions including implementation of good hygienic practices in manufacturing, labelling clearly whether it is palm or cane jaggery, both in Tamil and English, installation of a pest control system were given to producers and retailers.
R. Karunakaran, Designated Officer for Food Safety, said only 27 out of about 180 manufacturers in the district have valid licences. “Some producers have started labelling their products in compliance with the norms,” he says.
He said the department would collect samples from producers, wholesale distributors and retail shops, who would be fined a minimum of ₹1 lakh, if found to be not complying with the norms.
Dr. Karunakaran has a few tips for consumers. “Unadulterated palm jaggery would not be very hard, and would be less sweet compared to adulterated one. On exposure to air, it would become sticky and will be medium brown in colour. As pathaneer has lime content, it would have a slight bitter taste,” he says.
Adulterated ghee seized in Tiruppur
B. Vijayalalithambigai (second left), Designated Officer, FSSAI, seizing the adulterated ghee at a house in Velliangadu, Tiruppur, on Sunday.
Sellers use palmolein oil and vanaspati to prepare the ghee
Nearly 500 litres of adulterated ghee was seized by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) officials from seven houses at Velliangadu in Tiruppur on Sunday.
A team led by B. Vijayalalithambigai, Designated Officer, FSSAI (Tiruppur), raided the houses following the seizure of 13 litres of adulterated ghee from a seller on a two-wheeler on Mangalam Road in Avinashi. The seven ghee sellers were from Sivaganga.
Dr. Vijayalalithambigai told The Hindu that the samples were sent to laboratories on Wednesday and further action would be taken based on the test results. Upon investigation, the officials discovered that the sellers used palmolein oil and vanaspati to prepare the ghee. For the colour, they had used certain seeds that imparted yellow colour and added artificial essence for aroma, she said.
“The ghee was being sold for ₹ 240 per litre, which is half the market price of pure ghee. Regular intake of adulterated ghee will harm the digestive system, particularly that of children,” Dr. Vijayalalithambigai said.
On September 7, the FSSAI officials seized 1,310 litres of palmolein oil from a company on Palladam Road for failing to meet the standards of Food Safety and Standards Act.
In a press release, Dr. Vijayalalithambigai warned public to avoid buying substandard ghee from those who sell it on two-wheelers. Anyone who finds sale of adulterated food may report it to FSSAI via WhatsApp at 94440 42322, the release said.
Beekeepers ‘stung’ by food safety watchdog’s amended rules
KOCHI: Honey, whose USP as a natural sweetener is nearly as long as mankind itself, has now left a bitter taste in beekeepers’ mouths following the amendment of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) quality parameters on moisture content in the natural produce. As per the FSSAI, the standard moisture content of honey should be below 20 per cent. However, honey produced by farmers in Kerala is found to have a moisture content of 20- 25 per cent.
So it is deemed lowquality and hence unsaleable. The beekepers have urged the government to take up the issue with FSSAI. They are also planning to seek legal recourse if indeed the attempts do not bear fruit. According to Sunil B, divisional engineer, Kerala Agro Industries Corporation and the implementing officer of the Centrally-sponsored beekeeping schemes, the Central authority set the parameter after taking into consideration the honey produced in northern India.
“The climatic conditions in north Indian states and Kerala couldn’t be anymore different. Also, the bees used to produce honey vary,” he said. “The sizzling climate of Kerala is the main reason for the high moisture content in the honey being produced here. Also, farmers in Kerala use Apis cerana indica or Indian honey bee while Italian bees are used up north,” said Sunil. And the honey produced by Indian bees has a higher moisture content compared to those from Italian bees. “Another factor which ought to be taken note of is the difficulty in using Italian bees at honey farms in Kerala.
They can’t survive in the Kerala climate,” he said. According to him, Agmark and other quality control agencies, both domestic and international, have taken into consideration all these factors while fixing the parameters. “Earlier, the parameters set by FSSAI were the same as that of the other quality control agencies,” said Sunil. Philip Mathew, a beekeeper, said the farmers are afraid to market their produce. “Recently, after the FSSAI amendment, samples were taken from various brands.
One brand sold by a beekeeper at Angamaly and Perumbavoor was found to have 21.3 per cent moisture. He was slapped with a `10 lakh fine,” said Philip. As of now, production of honey has fallen 60 per cent in the state. “If the state government doesn’t take steps to help out the farmers, Kerala honey, which is famous among domestic and international consumers, might disappear from the market forever,” he said. After the farmers and the organisations associated with honey production in the state approached the state government seeking help, Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar directed Kerala Agriculture University (KAU) to conduct a study and submit a report.
No more plastic: Hotels to serve drinking water in reusable glass bottles
The latest directions of FSSAI also specify that these glass bottles should not be kept for sale outside the hotel premises.
This move, issued in a notification of Food Safety and Standards Association of India (FSSAI) on September 9, comes after the authority found that packaged plastic bottles in hotels generated enormous plastic waste.
Soon, hotels across the country will have to replace plastic bottles completely and serve drinking water in reusable glass bottles with paper seals for free.
In June last year, Maharashtra had banned packaged drinking water below 200 ml, among other single-use plastic items. While many states have similar bans on plastic in place, the central government plans to do away with single-use plastic items including plastic bags, cutlery and packaging material, among others.
This move, issued in a notification of Food Safety and Standards Association of India (FSSAI) on September 9, comes after the authority found that packaged plastic bottles in hotels generated enormous plastic waste.
“The hotels will have to serve water to their guests in glass bottles, mentioning details of the hotel. For this, hotels will need to set up an in-house drinking water bottling system on its premise. All sanitation and hygienic conditions will need to be adhered to as per standard norms,” the notification stated.
The latest directions of FSSAI also specify that these glass bottles should not be kept for sale outside the hotel premises.
The bottle’s make, BIS specification of the drinking water and packaging standards will have to be adhered to as per the prescribed norms of IS 10500 : 2012 and FSS Act 2006 specifications, respectively.
Allow reuse of PET drinking water bottles: experts
India may consider making PET bottles reusable and allow them to be used for packaging water more than once if the government agrees to recommendations made by experts drawn from various departments and scientific institutions.
Currently, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) doesn’t allow the repeated use of PET drinking water bottles. On the contrary, the experts from various ministries as well as Bureau of Indian Standards, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Indian Institute of Packaging think that it should be allowed as the move may reduce the use of single-use plastics considerably.
This suggestion came up during a high-level meeting organised at the behest of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs on September 9, said V K Duindi, Deputy Director General (Policy Planning) at the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) here on Tuesday.
He said even though the BIS has a standard for compostable plastic (which is mainly plant-derived), but that cannot be used for packaging drinking water. The experts suggested that the bureau should come out with a new standard for compostable plastic suitable for packing liquids such as water.
Among other recommendations was that plastic layer used in paper-based packaging materials should be made of compostable plastic and so should be the case with multi-layer plastic.
Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister for Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs, during a press conference here, said that many States have already come out with orders that either prohibit or restrict the use of single-use plastics. In his latest Mann ki Baath programme last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to shun the use of single-use plastics and reduce its application to the minimum possible by October 2, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
However, Paswan also said that banning the use of single use plastics all at once is not a solution as other options available are expensive. The alternatives being proposed should meet at least three significant conditions: they should be affordable for people, good enough to win the trust of users as well as adequate transparent so that the consumers can see the content, he said.
While most departments and public sector units under the ministry have already stopped using single-use plastics, the Food Corporation of India (FCI), under the Department of Food and Public Distribution, is exploring ways to replace plastic bags used for storing food grains with those made of jute. “Already 85 per cent of bags FCI uses are made of jute, and only 15 per cent is plastic bags. We want to stop even that,” Paswan said adding that he was convening a meeting of FCI officials next week to prepare a timeline for this.
According to Paswan, India currently generates 95 lakh tonnes of plastic waster annually, of which 38 lakh tonnes are of single-use plastic. Every year, 6 lakh tonnes of plastic waste from India land up in oceans. If measures are not taken immediately, the amount of plastic waste generated will double by 2022, the minister said.
FSSAI issues notice to 75 educational institutions in Coimbatore for unhygienic environment, poor sanitation
Around 61 educational institutions and 14 institutions were issued notices under section 55 (the penalty for failure to comply with the directions of Food Safety Officer)
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have issued notices to 75 educational institutions in Coimbatore since last week for maintaining poor sanitation and unhygienic environment. The notices issued to the violators specify a time-bound of 14 days to rectify the issues. It was during the recent special drive the food safety officials found the hostels, mess, and canteens in both schools and colleges to be not following the rules. Some of the complaints raised by the officials during the drive were poor sanitation, poor hygiene, lack of personal hygiene and not displaying the food safety license to the public.
Out of the total 75 institutions that were issued notices, about 46 were colleges and the remaining were schools. Comparing to government institutions, the number of private educational institutions violating the food safety regulations were higher. Designated food safety officer K Tamil Selvan said, "During the drive, we found many failing to comply with the rules. There were some to be having their license expired but still operating without any problem. The violators were issued notices to rectify the issues."
Around 61 educational institutions and 14 institutions were issued notices under section 55 (the penalty for failure to comply with the directions of Food Safety Officer) and section 63 (Punishment for carrying out a business without a licence) respectively of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. The department is planning to intensify the drive in the upcoming days.
President of Association of Self Financing Arts, Science and Management Colleges of Tamil Nadu Ajeet Kumar Lal Mohan said they have informed all the colleges to have an FSSAI certificate. "The canteens at all colleges were asked to follow basic procedures according to the food safety guidelines. Similarly, the students could make use of the feedback mechanism at all the institutions in case of any suggestions or complaints."
When most students prefer private over government run institutions, the issue puts spotlight on the need to streamline private schools and colleges to serve hygienic food to the students.
'Street vendors need basic training on food safety'
Meghalaya Health & Family Welfare Minister, AL Hek has stressed the need for street vendors in Meghalaya to undergo training on food safety and hygiene.
“It is the right of every customer to have access to safe and hygienic food,” Hek said while addressing a one – day training programme for Street Food Vendors at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Indian Culture, Shillong on Tuesday.
Hek said that the vendors need to provide not only clean utensils and hygienic food, but also a positive attitude and mindset also needs to be incorporated by them in their day to day business.
Stressing on the popularity of street food around the world, Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya, Health & Family Welfare department, Pravin Bakshi said that the quality of food served attracts the customers to buy from the vendors. In this regard, he said that as the State is one of the favourite tourist destinations, it comes as a major boost for the vendors to grow their business and serve the best and hygienic food to the tourists.
During the programme which was organized by the Commissionerate of Food Safety, Meghalaya in collaboration with Nestle India Limited and National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), the Health Minister unveiled the Hygienic Kit and also distributed Certificates and Hygienic Kits to Street Food Vendors.
It may be noted here that ‘Project Serve Safe Food’ was launched in 2016 and contributes to enhancing the livelihoods of street food vendors by providing training on food safety and hygienic awareness. Since its inception, over 14,000 street food vendors have received training across 12 States through this programme. The project focuses on educating the street food vendors by training them on subjects such as health, hygiene, safe food handling, waste disposal and entrepreneurship. These trainings enable the street food vendors to undertake adequate precautions such as usage of disposable gloves, cart and personal hygiene that prevent the spread of food borne diseases.
Expanding ‘Project Serve Safe Food’ across India, Nestle India Limited in collaboration with the Commissionerate of Food Safety, Meghalaya and NASVI launched the initiative in Meghalaya to train 500 street food vendors. Apart from Shillong, the training will also be conducted at Sohra and Tura in September and November.
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