Cooking a controversy

The delicacies at several swanky city restaurants are not as healthy as their ambience. The eateries' employees cook and serve delicious dishes flouting the norms set by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.
Bypassing the rules, cooks prepare food without sporting caps and gloves with brazen support from the restaurant owners or the managements. Serving with hands is more of a rule in the city eateries than an exception. (See graphic)
According to the norms of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, cooking food without wearing caps and gloves is a strict no-no. Wearing gloves while serving is mandatory. Packaged drinking water should be used for cooking and drinking purposes. The penalty for flouting the norms is Rs 2 lakh, life imprisonment or both.
The state eateries came under the purview of the norms on October 1, 2011. The officials of State Food Safety Authority collected 1,230 samples of food in the city. Of them, almost a third ' 380 samples to be precise ' were substandard. None of the eateries serving unhygienic food has been taken to task yet.
Ashish Kumar, the designated officer of the State Food Safety Authority, said: "Around 3 months ago the judicial panel was set up. Checking the status of trials is not a part of my duty."
Taking advantage of the callousness of the authorities concerned, most the eateries are minting money at the cost of the citizens' health. The Telegraph spotted unhygienic practices in the kitchens of some leading food joints. But their managers and owners brazenly claimed that only the footfall matters to them, not the health of the clientele.
Bipin Kumar, the manager of Banjara Fast Food at Mauryalok Complex, said: "Using gloves doesn't signify hygiene. If the government officers come, we will pay the fine."
Indradev Kumar, the owner of Blue Moon, echoed Bipin. He said: "Taste matters to customers, not the use of gloves or caps. If we use gloves, will there be a rise in the number of customers?"
Caps and gloves are still "strangers" at Banjara Fast Food and Blue Moon. A peek into the kitchen of Kaveri Restaurant at Mauryalok Complex gave The Telegraph a shock. A youth was spotted dressing a chicken placing it under his foot with hands.
When the incident was brought to the notice of the restaurant's manager, he refused to speak.
The ignorance of the customers has made the job of the food joint owners easier. Hardly anybody challenges them.
A teacher, requesting anonymity, said: "I didn't know that cooks of food joints should wear caps and gloves while making food. Nor did I know, gloves are mandatory while serving."
Rakesh Kumar, an engineer, said: "People should be made aware of the standard norms."

Need to prescribe limit for iron filings in tea: UPASI

Coonoor, Sept 28:  United Planters’ Association of Southern India said on Friday said there is an urgent need in prescribing the limit for iron filings in tea to avoid unwanted harassment faced by the trade and industry.
As per the Food Safety and Standard Act of India (FSSAI) regulations, there is no permissible limits prescribed for iron filings in tea, which has resulted in considerable hardship to the members, UPASI President D Hegde said at the 119th Annual Conference of Association.
Stating that the iron filings in tea is not an adulteration but an inevitable manufacturing problem, he said the Centre had earlier issued a circular prescribing the maximum limit of 250 parts per million (ppm) or iron particles in tea, which was subsequently withdrawn.
Hegde also felt the need for revamping some of the legislations, which were archaic to suit the current situation, including amendments made to the Employees Provident Fund Scheme which makes it mandatory to deduct PF for an employee employed even for a day.
He also requested the Centre that Chairmen of UPASI’s coffee, rubber and spices committees be nominated to the respective boards, like in Tea.

Survey finds substandard food items

NEW DELHI: Next time you decide to buy your favourite sweets like boondi ka laddoo or ras bari be sure that they are safely prepared. A recent survey by the food safety department of the Delhi government has found that many of these food items contain sub-standard, extraneous matter or are mis-branded. They pose serious health risks too.

"Eight out of 48 samples lifted by the department were found to unsafe — one sample each was sub-standard and misbranded whereas two samples contained extraneous matter," said a senior official.

He said that four samples of 'boondi ki laddoo' were found to have synthetic colour beyond the permissible limit."One sample of red chilli powder contained more colouring matter than allowed. A sample of sweetened carbonated water contained microbial contamination. A sample of kebab roll also had more synthetic colour. A sample each of kaju roll and ras bari was found to have extraneous matter," the official added.

Sources said challans have been issued to all food operators. Delhi health minister A K Walia, who held a review meeting with top officials of the food safety department, has asked officials to step-up strict prosecution action against the violators in view of the recent findings.

FDA to offer tips on healthy cooking to street food sellers

MUMBAI: Street food will soon don the "healthy" tag with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) planning to hold training sessions for vendors and give them lessons on how to cook and serve hygienic fare. The pilot project will include vendors at Nariman Point, Girgaum chowpatty, Juhu chowpatty and Khau Galli at Marine Lines.

FDA commissioner Mahesh Zagade said the plan was aimed at sensitizing street food hawkers about the health hazards that unhygienic cooking might cause. The department will start with registering eating joints and then holding workshops and seminars for the sellers. "They will be taught to use fresh raw material, wear caps while preparing food and put on gloves while serving food," Zagade said. The project will also be held in Pune, Nagpur, Kolhapur and Nashik.

The FDA on Thursday announced how it has cracked down on food and drug adulteration a year after the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, came into effect. Zagade attributed their "triumph" to increased raids and checks. Food inspectors across the state have been carrying test kids and conducting on-the-spot checks to see if the food and medicine samples complied with the safety standards. In the festive season, Zagade said, the checks would be intensified.

Since the beginning of September, the FDA collected 62 samples of mawa and 47 of sweets to check their quality; following a test, the officials seized both the items, collectively worth Rs 3.28 lakh, for poor quality.

Zagade said efforts to curb milk adulteration, too, seemed to have yielded results. Of the 944 milk samples tested in the state, 690 conformed to set standards. "While 226 samples were substandard, meaning they had less fat content, only 1.8% was found to be unfit for consumption," he said. Unsafe milk powder, worth Rs 49 lakh, was seized and destroyed immediately.

Adulteration has been found to be less in medicines manufactured in the state. This was revealed by 20,833 samples of drugs brought from other states in three years; of them 1,488 or 7.14% tested below standard. Among the 9,148 samples of state-manufactured drugs tested, only 2.67% was of poor quality.

FDA to check sale of impure food products

Sirsa, September 27
With the festival season drawing closer, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has drawn a strategy to check the sale of substandard and adulterated food products in Haryana.
GL Singal, joint director, FDA, was in Sirsa and Fatehabad recently to interact with officials of the Health Department in this regard. “After the implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, in Haryana earlier this year, the enforcement measures in the food items have witnessed a number of changes,” said Singal while talking to The Tribune. “Earlier, only the government food inspector (GFI), now rechristened as food safety officer (FSA), was authorised to take samples of food product. Now, medical officers working at primary health centres, senior medical officers, working at community health centres and general hospitals and deputy civil surgeons (health) working at the district level have been notified as FDAs by the government,” he said.
While earlier one FSA worked for two to three districts due to several vacancies in their cadre, now the FDA has 20 to 25 FSAs in each district, depending upon the numbers of PHCs, CHCs and GHs there, he added. As an earlier practice, under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, all cases where samples taken by the GFI failed to comply with the standards, complaint cases were filed in the courts where these dragged for years due to heavy rush of work on an average 400 to 500 cases went to courts every year in Haryana.
Later, these cases went to the district courts and the high court. Now, with the implementation of the new Act, the cases are filed before the Additional Deputy Commissioners, who have been notified as adjudicating officers under the FSSA-2006 and the cases are disposed of in a few months by imposing fine as prescribed under the law. ADC Rajiv Rattan in Fatehabad has become the first adjudicating officer to decide a first lot of five cases, filed before him in April this year, in a period less than five months.
Only those cases in which the food item is found injurious to health are filed in special courts notified under the new Act.

FSSAI CEO Mohanty emphasises on risk-based approach to food regulation

Food regulation is not a one-sided affair, and it is imperative to migrate from a hazard-based system to a risk-based system, according to S N Mohanty, chief executive officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Mohanty was delivering the keynote address on Thursday at the two-day Federation of Indian Chambers of Chambers and Industry (FICCI) Food World India 2012, the sixth global convention for food business and industry.

"When a risk-based approach is adopted, inspection will become prioritised. To put it simply, the regulatory authorities across India urge food business operators (FBOs) all over the country - estimated to be about 5 crore now and likely to double in the next two or three years - to up their guard. There is no dichotomy between the regulators and the FBOs. Co-production will be the keyword. Both will have to be on the same page. The onus of self-regulation and compliance will now be on the FBO," he said.

He further said, "It wouldn't be possible to migrate seamlessly to the risk-based approach without making sure that the FBOs have noted that it applies to both products seeking import clearance and those which will be sold in the domestic market, and risks are of two types, namely inherent risks and controllable risks."

Uniformity in licensing is another aspect the chief of the country's apex food regulator dwelled upon. He said, "Bundled licensing software, which enables the process and the product to be along the same lines, is being rolled out for each state, because it would be impossible to streamline the process without computerising it. The data available online is inadequate, and that has held the sector back for a long time. Moreover, the ability to create standards is also limited. With the passage of time, all the provisions of the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954, will be repealed, so the inadequacies will be ironed out, and import control will also become smooth."

Product approval has not been clearly defined under Section 22 of the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006 and Regulations, 2011, which came into effect on August 5 last year. Genetically-modified foods await notification. The onus for food safety is not on the FSSAI but on the FBO, according to Mohanty.

"Obtaining a no-objection certificate may take some time because the product available in the market is not necessarily safe and may have to undergo preliminary scrutiny. Certain minimum checks are mandatory," Mohanty said, adding that the nutritional matrices will be taken into consideration while determining the type of scrutiny. Some foods may just have a quick pass-through, while closer scrutiny will become mandatory for others.

He spoke about proprietary foods, a term rapidly gaining currency now, but from the perspective of the apparent ambiguities. It encompasses novel food, food additives, and functional foods. As for traditional foods, he said, "In India, the main issue hindering their approval is inadequate resources, including manpower."

Since it is a science-based process, an obvious drawback is the fact that there isn't enough laboratory infrastructure. "There are 60 National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)-accredited labs, and another 55 are being set up currently. By the end of the Twelfth Plan, there will be about 200 labs. In addition, there will be 70 intermediate labs, and 30 referral labs."

Among the proposed scientific panels, according to Mohanty, are panels dedicated to fisheries and spices (the latter being a category in which there is immense potential for export growth). There is a proposal to set up a national food science body, whose primary objective is risk analysis. "The licensing regime, the food safety management system (FSMS) plan and safety audit are interlinked," he said.

"There is a huge communication gap. The modernisation and strengthening of laboratories is the need of the hour, and the Centre has earmarked funds for this purpose. There should be an orientation programme for the industry by the industry," Mohanty concluded.

The second half of the session was a panel discussion on the industry's expectations of the Act. The panelists were M M Chitale, vice-president, Association of Food Scientists and Technologists (India) [AFST(I)]; Raji P Srivastava, food safety commissioner, Punjab, who spoke about the implementation of the Act and the industry's expectations; A S Upadhyay, joint director, export inspection agency, ministry of commerce and industry, Government of India, whose topic was quality control and food safety audits under FSSAI for domestic and international trade; J Padmaja, member, scientific panel for methods of analysis and sampling and assistant director, National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, who spoke about how FSSA encourages safety and innovation; and S N Bhat, food regulatory affairs manager, Nestle Pvt. Ltd, who spoke about the approval of additives (drawing pointers from the Food Code).