MINUTES OF THE 7TH CAC MEETING OF FSSAI

 

'Companies' claims about food products in ads to be regulated'

In a bid to restrict deceptive advertisements, particularly with regards to food articles such as weight-loss or weight-gain drinks, the Food Standards and Safety Authority of India (FSSAI) is going to make it mandatory for the manufacturers to display scientific evidence on the package.
According to the Director of the National Institute of Nutrition and Chairman of Scientific panel on Food Labelling, B Sesikeran, said the panel recommendations will be notified in a month time and after that it will seek public opinion before amending the existing Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011.
"New food labelling regulation will have a lot of things such as if a health drink claims that children will grow taller with the drink then they will have produce evidence to prove their claim", Sesikeran told reporters on the sidelines of 'Technology as Driver of Growth: Ensuring Farm Productivity' a panel discussion organised by IndoAsiancommodities.Com.
"We are going to regulate advertisements also. They cannot make claim unless the company does study and generate adequately valid scientific data. Otherwise, claims have to be removed from the advertisement", he added.
He said there is also a proposal to display nutritional values on the hotel menu cards.
Though it is not mandatory for the hotels initially it may become a rule after three years, Sesikeran explained.
"Particularly salt, sugar, iron and fat values should be displayed against each food item the hotel offers. Initially, we will ask them to do it voluntarily", he said.

Food and Drugs Administration seizes 500 kg mangoes being artificially ripened

PUNE: The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) officials seized 500 kg mangoes worth Rs 25,000 that were being ripened with the use of a chemical called calcium carbide during a raid at a shop of a mango trader in Shukrawar Peth on Tuesday.
The seized mangoes were destroyed at a dumping ground, while the chemical samples were sent to a city-based public health laboratory for further investigations.
Pradnya Surse, food safety officer, FDA, who was part of the team of four FDA officials conducting the raid, said, "The trader was using the chemical to ripen mangoes. Calcium carbide is banned because it is detrimental to health if consumed in a large quantity. It is said to affect the eyes and cause cancer."
She said the team recovered three small pouches of the chemical (approximately weighing 20 gm each) from the spot. "Such pouches are usually kept with raw mangoes to ripen the fruits. The FDA conducts such raids every mango season," she added.
Chandrashekhar Salunke, joint commissioner (food), FDA, said, "Artificial ripening by using carbide is banned under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA). The chemical, if consumed in large quantities, damages internal organs. Legal action will be taken against the defaulter once the lab results are out. The maximum fine in case of compounding is Rs 1 lakh, while that in case of adjudication is Rs 10 lakh."
D P Nerkar, a food technologist, said, "Calcium carbide and its crystals are toxic and are banned by the government, because poisonous chemicals should not be used around food. Calcium carbide reacts with the moisture in the air and produces acetylene which is similar to ethylene used for ripening mangoes."
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India says on its website, "Chemicals like calcium carbide/ ethephon and oxytocin are reportedly being used in fruit and vegetable 'mandis'/ farms for artificial ripening of fruits and for increasing the size of fruits and vegetables. Calcium carbide, more commonly known as 'masala', is a carcinogenic agent and banned under Rule 44-AA of PFA Rules, 1955."

New Delhi to host CAIT's national trade leaders' meet, starting May 10

A delegation of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) met the chairman (K Chandramouli); chief executive officer (Satya N Mohanty) and members of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to discuss the controversial Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006, and submit an exhaustive memorandum.

The CAIT delegation (led by B C Bhartia, national president; Mahendra Shah, chairman, and Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary, and comprising senior trade leaders from Delhi and other states) registered its strong resentment and protest against the provisions of the Act and its Rules and Regulations, which are tilting in favour of big companies, while ignoring the ground realities of the Indian food business.

The government has already enforced the Act with effect from August 5, 2011. The CAIT has convened a two-day National Conference of trade leaders of different states on May 11 and 12, 2012 at New Delhi to deliberate the issue.

While addressing the delegation, Chandramaouli said that impracticable and unwarranted provisions in the FS&S Rules and Regulations will be removed by issuing necessary advisories. He stressed that the Act needs to be implemented in its spirit and efforts will be made to ensure that traders are not be harassed, but at the same time the availability of quality food under good standards must also be ensured. It was also agreed that regular follow-up meetings will be held between the traders and the authorities to sort out the area of differences.

Paying heed to CAIT's demand, he assured that necessary advisories will be issued to officials of the department prohibiting them from implementing the Act in a harsh manner, whereas joint workshops and seminars will be organised across the country to conduct an awareness drive.

CAIT said that the stringent and highly draconian provisions will open a Pandora's box of harassment and victimisation of a large number of local food processors at the hands of inspectors. The Act has tried to define misbranded food, focusing mainly on misleading or deceptive claims printed on the package or label. However, there is no mention about adulterated food.

The lawmakers have failed to consider the climatic conditions, soil type, agricultural practices and nature of agricultural producer, application of fertilisers and pesticide, economic condition and lifestyles of people. All these have direct impact on the raw material or agricultural produce, which in turn becomes the raw material for food processing or trade. The quality and standard of food products solely depend upon the agricultural inputs and for which the manufacturer cannot be responsible and liable for the same.

The Act is not just a threat to traders and food processors but it is clearly a threat to producers (farmers). Presence of chemicals due to use of fertilisers and pesticides in raw material will mean rejection of the entire produce. This will lead to poverty and shall also increase much distress amongst farmers.

SC order on sale of safe milk sought

Five months after India’s food regulator exposed widespread adulteration of milk all over the country, a group of citizens have approached the Supreme Court seeking direction to ensure sale of safe and healthy milk to millions of Indians.

Referring to a recent survey  by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on adulteration of milk, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the court’s intervention to secure supply of healthy, hygienic and natural milk for the citizens, including babies, diseased and the elderly, who depend on milk as their main source of nutrition.

The FSSAI survey revealed that out of 1,791 milk samples collected on random basis from different cities spread across 33 states, 1,226 were found to be unfit for human consumption. In other words, almost 68 per cent milk samples were found adulterated.

Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand accounted for 88 per cent of adulterated milk samples.
Alarmingly, the menace has  spread far and wide as the authority found adulterated milk in almost all the states and union territories. In seven states and union territories, not a single sample matched the regulatory standards.

Skimmed milk powder, glucose, fat, solid-not-fats and water were the common adulteration agents though presence of starch, urea, detergents and formalin were also noticed.

Addition of water, however, was the most common form of adulteration, reducing not only the nutritional value of the milk but also posing health risk to consumers if the water is contaminated.

Acting on a petition filed by Swami Achyutanand Tirth and seven others claiming serious health hazard from adulterated milk, a bench comprising  Chief Justice S H Kapadia and justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar issued notices to Central government as well as Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Rajasthan governments for their response.

“Various studies show that urea, detergent and caustic soda used in preparing the synthetic milk are dangerous to human life. Synthetic milk is also termed as white poison and in the opinion of doctors, it can cause serious diseases like cancer,” the petition contended.

“The milk is the only source of nourishment for infants and one of the major diets for growing children in tender age. The havoc which can be created in the health of children by drinking synthetic milk is really terrifying,” the PIL added. It also wanted the apex court to issue direction to rule out sale of ghee, mawa and cheese prepared with harmful materials.

The FSSAI survey further showed that majority of milk samples collected from 19 states and UTs did not conform to the food safety standards “However, it does not mean they are unsafe and dangerous to drink,” FSSAI chief executive officer V N Gaur had stated after releasing the survey in January this year.

While four large southern states – Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu – together with Madhya Pradesh and Chandigarh were better performers, rest of the country projected a dismal picture.

As much as 14 per cent samples were found to have been contaminated with detergents, which might be coming through poor cleaning of milk containers. Detergent-laden milk samples were reported from Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Bengal.

Other states with very high level of milk adulteration include Gujarat, Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana and Maharashtra.