Jan 10, 2012

Hygiene for kitchens: Canteen staff at St Xavier’s vow to implement food safety rules


Canteen and mess hygiene has turned out to be the most talked about issue last year after The Food Safety & Standards Rules, 2011 was introduced from August 6, 2011. The move drove city campuses to start practising food safety and hygiene norms.
Following this trend, St Xavier’s college recently organised a training session for its 39 canteen staff.
A professor told DNA, “The responsibility to ensure food safety now falls on the entire food supply chain — production, processing, distribution and marketing, and not just the food inspector who nabs the food vendor. As this becomes mandatory for college canteens, we organised a training programme on December 21 for the whole canteen staff.”
Asha Shridhar, head, food safety, at TUV India was invited as guest lecturer. She provided tips in both Hindi and English. One of the SYBSc students also presented a lecture titled “How safe is our food”.
The staff was told about the physical, chemical and biological hazards commonly present in unsafe foods, the common source of contamination and hygienic practices. Some of the canteen staff said that they were following many of these measures but agreed that now they would implement these safety standards immediately.
The staff were also told about HACCP (hazard analysis critical control points) principles which were conceived five decades ago when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States asked a company to prepare safe food for astronauts. Since then, HACCP has been recognised internationally as a scientific food safety system.
Dr Frazer Mascarenhas, principal, St Xavier’s College, said, “We are committed to using science to ensure food safety on campus and creating a culture of cleanliness.”

Health Min, DMS to meet over milk adulteration

 
Health Min, DMS to meet over milk adulteration 

New Delhi: Alarmed by the shocking revelation that around 70% milk supplied across the country is adulterated, the Health Ministry has called for an urgent meeting over the issue. Officials from the Health Ministry, Delhi Milk Scheme (DMS) and milk producer Mother Dairy will participate in the meeting scheduled tomorrow (January 11).

Earlier, a test conducted by a government agency revealed that nearly 70% of the milk supplied in the national capital Delhi and across the country is adulterated.

The Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) randomly carried out tests in 33 states and Union Territories only to discover that milk is being spiked with detergents, fat and even urea besides the traditional dilution with water.

Out of 71 samples lifted from Delhi, 50 carried contaminants varying from glucose to skimmed milk powder which is generally added to milk to enhance volume. Across the country 68.4% samples were found to be contaminated.

Pune and Goa made into the list as the exceptions with 100 % samples conforming to the required standards. On the opposite poles were West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Mizoram where not a single sample met the norms.

Fssai Building healthy India with safe food


Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 has established Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) under administrative control of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. It is a single reference point for all matters relating to food safety and standards, by moving from multi-level, multi-departmental control to a single line of command. FSSAI has been established for laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate theirmanufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India