Mar 2, 2020
Punjab prohibits online supply of food from FBOs not possessing hygiene rating
Punjab government's Food and Drug Administration on Sunday said it has prohibited online supply of food from Food Business Operators (FBOs) not possessing hygiene rating.
Issuing the prohibition orders, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner K S Pannu said invoking provisions under the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006, keeping in view the interest of public health, the distribution/supply/sale of articles of food through Online Food Supply Aggregators (OFSAs) related to those FBOs who have not got their hygiene rating done has been prohibited.
"The orders also prohibit OFSAs from sourcing the food from FBOs which are not hygienically rated and also where such rating is less than three out of five," a Punjab government release said.
The prohibition orders would be effective for one year beginning April 30, 2020.
The orders state that in Punjab, information technology-driven OFSAs have been distributing/selling/ supplying food to the consumers after sourcing the same from FBOs.
"This food delivery through an IT based platform is a very recent phenomenon in which the direct and primary contact between the consumer of food articles and the manufacturers of food articles, especially the hot cooked food articles, has snapped.
"This mechanism of distribution/sale/supply of food by OFSAs has obliterated the system of responsibility of maintaining the quality of food, which till now was being directly verified by the consumers from the food business operators at his counter," the release said.
It further stated that with the introduction of OFSAs, it has become important to ensure that these aggregators supply only good quality and properly hygienic food articles to the consumers.
"Although, it is the moral responsibility of FBOs and OFSAs to ensure quality and hygiene of food delivered, the duty is also cast upon the State authorities to ensure safe food to public under the Section 18(1)(a) of food Safety and Standards Act, 2006," said Pannu.
He said that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued instructions vide which the system of hygiene rating of the food business operators has been introduced. FSSAI has empanelled various agencies to conduct the hygiene rating of the FBOs.
Pannu said the office of the Food and Drug Administration, Punjab had asked all the OFSAs to ensure that the FBOs from where they are sourcing food for distribution to consumers should get the hygiene rating of their business done.
The date of getting the hygiene rating of the FBOs done was earlier extended till October 31, 2019, Pannu said.
"However, it has been observed that even after creating awareness regarding the importance of hygiene rating, OFSAs have not taken the matter seriously, resulting in consumers continuously facing the potential of delivery of unsafe/unhygienic food..," he said.
Is your food actually gluten-free?
For those allergic or intolerant to gluten, not all food products and grains that claim to be free of gluten are devoid of the proteins.
In a first-of-its-kind pilot study, researchers at Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) affiliated National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, have found oats and flour processed from naturally gluten-free grains with gluten levels up to 90 times and 20 times the permissible limit set by the law indicating contamination in products that are sourced from local retailers and millers.
Gluten is a conglomeration of proteins found in wheat – a staple food for a large portion of the Indian population – rye and barley. Allergy to gluten expresses itself in two forms – celiac disease (CD), which is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disorder in which the lining of the small intestine’s inner wall is damaged owing to incomplete digestion of food made of any of the three cereals, and non-celiac gluten sensitivity.
NIN researchers collected samples of ready-to-eat food products, multigrain flour as wheat replacer, pulses and dals, millets, quinoa, buckwheat, oats and soy-based products available in online grocery shops, super markets and local markets. Individual grain flour ¬– rice, ragi, sorghum, gram – was sourced directly from mills. Samples were tested using the internationally prescribed ELISA kits for detecting gluten levels.
Of the 160 samples, nearly 36.7% products from the grains and 9.8% labelled as ‘gluten-free’ were found to contain gluten above the acceptable level of 20mg/kg. The 2011 rules of the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has stipulated that a product can be labelled as either gluten-free if the content is up to 20mg/kg only after the product is analysed for contamination by standard internationally accepted method.
Nearly 85% of oats products – permitted as part of a gluten-free diet by many countries – showed gluten levels with a concentration range between 23.78mg/kg and 1830.8mg/kg, while buckwheat, quinoa, pulses, millets and soy products showed no such cross-contamination.
“Although the sampled grains are inherently gluten-free, their products might become cross-contaminated at post harvesting or processing facilities,” S Devindra, co-author and assistant director, NIN. “These products therefore cannot be stated as gluten-free until confirmed by test procedures. Otherwise, it might be misleading and potentially harmful to celiac patients, who are on a strict dietary plan.”
Globally, 0.67% or one in 130 people suffer from CD. A pan-India by the Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) – it also the main centre of research in CD– found prevalence of the disease in 0.67% (4 to 6 million) with a high incidence in north India. “The (NIN) data is relevant because gluten-free diet is the only way of treating celiac patients and those who are intolerant or sensitive to gluten, and therefore cross-contamination of food products is a cause for concern. Even 5mg gluten, which is a chapati bite, can lead to persistence of the disease,” said Dr Govind Makharia, professor, department of gastroenterology and human nutrition, AIIMS, who has undertaken extensive research on the disease among Indians, and not involved in the study. “Cross-contamination can take place anywhere from the farm to the factory.” While studies over the past 15 years have shown the presence of gluten above the permissible limits in both labelled and naturally gluten-free food products available in US, Europe and Turkey, there is no India-specific data on gluten contamination.
Findings of the present assessment, published in this month’s issue of Food Additives and Contaminants: Part A, found gluten content in 35.9% unbranded flour samples from local markets and local mills in the range of 20–400mg/kg thereby breaching both FSSAI and the internationally laid out Codex safety levels.
Only 5 of the 51 samples from products labelled as gluten-free showed contamination above 20 mg/kg although levels were well within 100 mg/kg owing to well-adapted processing procedures and maintenance of individual mills for separate flours. Of all the regular grains, the highest amount of gluten – up to 400mg/kg – was present in sorghum samples, followed by rice (279mg/kg), gram (135.4mg/kg) and ragi (122.3mg/kg).
Researchers said while common flour mill and collecting bags for rice and wheat in many milling shops is likely to be responsible for cross-contamination in rice flour samples, the presence of gluten in ragi and sorghum can be attributed to the use of a common utility area and handling procedures.
“Common flour mills, collecting bags, or flour processing area for both gluten and naturally gluten-free cereal flours might be one of the major factors responsible for the high rate of gluten contamination in local flour mill samples,” said Devindra.
To address the issue of cross-contamination in gluten-free products, FSSAI in June last year reiterated that food with only 20mg/kg or less gluten content can be labelled as gluten-free, and released a guidance note on testing and labelling for food manufacturers and consumers. “Gluten intolerance is a new area of concern because its focus in India has been of recent origin owing to greater awareness today, and therefore the food system has to respond to it,” said Pawan Agarwal, secretary, consumer affairs department at the Centre.
The former FSSAI chief executive officer under whose tenure the guidance note was issued, Agarwal added, “Our department will have a meeting with FSSAI officials and other departments to see what can be done.”
“Firstly, it will help raise awareness and let consumers know that a product may be compromised. Secondly, it will help us advocate and push for better vigilance by government regulatory bodies,” said Dr Shweta Khandelwal, head of nutrition research, Public Health Foundation of India, who was not involved in the study. “Lastly, it will also warn businesses to be more stringent in quality checks.”
135 criminal cases against Andhra Pradesh Food Business Operators
Officials file 291 adjudication cases after testing food samples collected from 270 units
VIJAYAWADA: Cracking the whip on errant food business operators (FBOs), vigilance and enforcement (V&E) officials have filed as many as 135 criminal cases and 291 adjudication cases against them. The criminal and adjudication cases were filed for supplying unsafe food items, and possessing substandard and misbranded products, respectively.
Speaking to TNIE, V&E director general (DG) KRN Rajendranath Reddy expressed concern over the rising food adulteration menace in the state as it led to numerous harmful effects on human health. After testing 426 food samples collected from 270 FBOs across the state over the past three years, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and vigilance departments submitted a detailed report to the government and filed cases against the establishments as per the instructions. Samples of sweets, toned milk and dairy products, edible oil, ghee, meat products, tea powder, soft drinks and ice cream were sent to the state food laboratory in Hyderabad for testing.
Penalties for offences under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006
Section 51 up to Rs 5 lakh
Section 52 up to Rs 3 lakh
Section 57
For processing adulterant not injurious to health: up to Rs 2 lakh
In other case, up to Rs 10 lakh
Section 63 Imprisonment up to six months and fine up to Rs 5 lakh
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