JMC conducts drive against polythene

JAMMU: Under instructions from K.L Khajuria, Commissioner Municipal Corporation Jammu, while continuing drive against the use of polythene carry bags, the Enforcement staff led by the Chief Enforcement Officer alongwith police from District Police Lines inspected the shops and other outlets in the areas of Gandhi Nagar, Rail Head Complex, Trikuta Nagar Extension etc. During the inspection the team seized about 35 Kgs of polythene carry bags from the shopkeepers, vendors and others outlets in these areas. An amount of Rs. 10,100 was realised as compounding fee from 41 defaulters on the spot.

The team also made the people aware of the ban imposed by the State Government on the use of polythene carry bags and they were requested to discard its use and adopt alternate arrangement available in the market to carry their commodities from the shops / other outlets.

Besides this, the Health Officer (Designated Officer) of JMC alongwith team of Food Safety Officers conducted a drive against adulteration of food items in various areas of JMC and checked 80 food establishments. During the inspection of these food establishments 26 defaulters were booked and an amount of Rs. 2,600 was charged as fine. The team also seized 20 Kgs of polythene carry bags and destroyed 30 Kgs of stale cooked food, bakery items found under unhygienic conditions.

Further, all the food establishment owners including milk sellers dealing in sale of fresh milk and packed milk, restaurant owners were instructed to adhere to the norms / provisions of Food Safety and  Standard Act, 2006 and keep their premises neat and clean for ensuring supply of pure and good quality of food items and also not to use polythene carry bags which are very injurious to health and are banned by the government.

FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS ACT Funds come in way of implementation : SOLAN

The implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, has been hit with no independent budgetary provision or separate staff available.
The Centre had replaced the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act with the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and notified its nationwide implementation from August 5, 2011.
Though the state government, too, had notified this Act last year, with no new staff to ensure its proper implementation, the Act has failed to achieve its purpose of increased surveillance and speedy prosecution of erring manufactures and sellers.
Officials said a district-level food safety official was now supposed to perform various functions like granting food licences right till the block level, thus adding considerably to the workload.
Little has been done to upgrade the food laboratory where the seized item is supposed to be tested within 15 days.
The state has a lone composite testing laboratory at Kandaghat and it has been battling with staff shortage for years now.
Field officials said in the absence of any uniform format, they had not been able to send adequate samples for testing.
The directorate has made the required format available and the staff has been asked to take at least 10 samples in a month.
While this will greatly increase the workload of the laboratory, meeting the 15-day deadline will be an arduous task for the staff.
With no legal adviser yet having been made available to officials, they have little help in pleading their cases before the designated courts.
Director, Health and Safety Regulation, Rajesh Sharma said they were in the process of implementing all provisions of the Act and they had sought a separate budget from the state as well as the Union Government.
He said uniform formats had been made available to the field officials and regular training programmes were being organised to educate them about the provisions of the Act.

Our codes already go hand in hand with the FSSA

Advertisements are playing an important role today as more and more companies are coming up with new products to meet growing demands of consumers. But in the process, they tend to deviate from ethics and fall under the “misleading ads” category, which has shaken the industry.
Archana Aroor, in conversation with Allan Collaco, secretary-general, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), a self-regulation mechanism body, explores more on the topic
The Union government is looking to set up a separate inter-ministerial committee for checking misleading ads? As a council member what would you suggest?
Yes, ASCI’s suggestion is that we have been self-regulating on ads, since 26 years. We are willing to work with the government to ensure that consumers’ interests are protected completely. For this, we have held a conference in New Delhi on Nov 17, 2011, to discuss the various issues and to look at the major challenges faced. What is being conveyed to us from the conference was that ASCI needed to look into the speed that it takes for checking misleading ads.

Food joints told to get registered by March 31

Amritsar, March 1
The health authorities have issued directions to the food joints in the city to get registered and obtain licenses under the Food Safety Act by March 31. Instructions have been issued under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, which was implemented in the state from August 8, 2011.

District Health Officer Dr Pradeep Singh Kahlon said all food businesses, including temporary stalls and karyana stores selling food ingredients are required to get registered. “The food businesses with an annual turnover of up to Rs 12 lakh are required to register while those establishments with annual turnover exceeding Rs 12 lakh are required to obtain a license,” said Kahlon.
The guidelines are also binding on those distributing foods at religious or social gatherings. However, a clear picture regarding the food distributed at religious gatherings is yet to emerge. Even those engaged in the activities related to manufacture, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, distribution, import, catering are required to get registered or obtain licenses as per the procedure.
In the present scenario, the licenses are granted by the Municipal Corporations wherever applicable. Shift of powers from the Municipal Corporation to the health department is expected to result in an improvement in the quality of food and hygiene.
Kahlon said, “The waiters and cooks working at all these eateries will also be asked to submit their medical examination reports. This is in view of the several diseases that might be transmitted to the people eating at these places.”
In the absence of any registration at present, the authorities are unable to figure out the total number of all eateries in city. However, the number is estimated to be 2,000 to 2,500. The number of karyana shops is much more. Kahlon said applications of obtaining licenses or registration can been obtained from the office of the district health officer on any working day.
In a recent action, the district health authorities had conducted inspection of many famous eating joints in city and collected samples of food served to the customers.

Later inspecting the condition of hygiene and safety measures at these joints, the Municipal Corporation had suspended licenses of six famous food joints for three days.

Apex food regulatory body mandates fitness test for food-handlers

Food-handlers in India will now have to undergo a mandatory medical examination for ratifying their physical fitness in order to pursue their businesses.

In this regard, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a proforma for medical fitness certificate for the food-handlers to the registered medical practitioner and civil servant.

It is now mandatory for the food-handlers to undergo an eye test, skin examination, physical examination and get their vaccine shots against enteric group of diseases at set schedules.
They would also need to undergo any test needed to confirm any communicable or infectious disease that they are suspected to be suffering from on clinical examination.

"This proforma has been issued by the FSSAI to comply with Schedule 4 of the Regulation as a pre-requisite for obtaining a trade license," Prabodh Halde, head - product integrity, technology, Marico Industries, informed FnB News in chat over telephone.

Schedule 4 of the Food Safety and Standards Regulation, 2011, calls for making arrangements to get the food-handlers and employees of any food set-up medically examined once a year to ensure that they are free from any infectious, contagious and other communicable diseases.

A record of these examinations will be signed by the registered medical practitioner and maintained for inspection