HOW TO BUY GOOD MUTTON?

G.O.Ms.No.362 dt.5.10.12 - ENHANCED D.A

Food poisoning: 15 nursing students hospitalised

As many as 15 students of a nursing college run by a private hospital at Killipalam here were hospitalised on Thursday for food poisoning after they reportedly had food from their hostel mess.  The students have been admitted to the same hospital and the condition of at least 10 is said to be slightly serious.
According to sources, the students had lunch from the mess of the ladies hostel at Uppalam Road on Wednesday. They were later admitted to the same hospital after they complained of vomiting and uneasiness.  The hospital authorities, however, claimed that it was not the food served at the mess but the food brought by a student from her house which caused the illness.
On being informed about the incident,  Food Safety officials visited the hostel kitchen and collected food samples.

Ban on tobacco, just for namesake

The Delhi Government banned manufacturing, distribution, storage and sale of tobacco in the city. However, its implementation is not quite visible in most areas of Delhi.
The ban was raised on September third week and a special district magistrate has also been appointed for this purpose. However, selling of tobacco and gutka is visible in south Delhi mostly at Okhla and Mehrauli where tobacco is available on whole sale prices.
After giving a verbal undertaking to the Delhi High Court, the government got the clearance of ban from lieutenant-governor. The health minister assured that a blanket ban will be put on tobacco but it seems all the assurances have turned to be futile.
In Mehrauli market, Cityplus saw whole sale shops of tobacco selling gutka and pan masala openly. When we enquired that why were they selling these products despite government ban, the shopkeepers said that it is still in demand and they have been selling it for years.
"We are not retailers; we have raw and pure tobacco, pan masala and other items. We are selling these things to earn money, it is the only source of income for us," said a shopkeeper on condition of anonymity.
Sources in the health department confirmed that a complete blanket ban on gutka would be implemented by next week. When contacted, health minister A K Walia said, "We are strongly in favour of banning tobacco and all areas and concern departments have been informed. Delhi government is working on this project seriously, whatever product contains tobacco or nicotine will be banned completely in Delhi."
In several other markets of south Delhi, tobacco products are still visible. Small vendors are selling these items openly. These markets are Kalkaji, Okhla, Malviya Nagar, Mehrauli and Govindpuri. The RWAs and market associations are aware of this and they have even sent letters to the ministry of health, Delhi government.
Residents of different areas believe that this decision can't hamper sale of tobacco until a strict code of conduct comes in to existence.
A resident of Malviya Nagar and social activist MK Mishra said, "This order reflects the failure of Delhi Government. They just issued an order but did not bother to check its implementation. At many places one can see pouches of gutka and tobacco in vendor shops. I have sent a written letter to our health minister stated that several vendors and shops are violating the act and there is no check on them."
In a media report on July 31, in which the Delhi health minister had said the government should ban sale of tobacco products, the bench of high court asked the state to consider the plea as a representation and decide the same in two weeks. The petitioner had claimed that eight states, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Haryana, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Goa  have already banned gutka and its products but Delhi government is still to take any action.
Under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, the Centre framed a regulation in 2011 empowering the state's Food Safety Commissioner to ban tobacco products. According to the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011, gutka and other forms of chewing tobacco products such as zarda, pan masala, gul and bajjar which are toxic and addictive, should be banned from being sold in the state.

Food Safety Act
•    Food Safety and Standards Act. 2006 says that violators can be punished with imprisonment up to 7 years or penalty of Rs 10 lakhs or both.
•    Each district will have special district magistrate to implement and enforce the act.
•    Area food safety inspectors can visit markets and issue challans to violators.
•    Apart from sale, production, distribution, promotion, storage and display will be banned in Delhi.

FDA raids Parle plant after Nanded kids suffer food poisoning

Nashik, Oct 5: 

A Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) team raided Parle Biscuits Pvt Ltd on the night of October 3 and seized raw material worth Rs 54.73 lakh, used to make a sugar-boiled confectionery product called ‘Kaccha Mango Bite’, after kids in Nanded suffered food poisoning.

Since the FDA team found that ‘Kaccha Mango Bite’ was being manufactured using lactic acid during inspection, whose use is illegal for manufacturing edible and eatable products, as per the Food Safety & Standard Act 2006, it also seized lactic acid worth Rs 6 lakh, FDA sources told PTI here on Friday.

Situated at Gondegaon’s Maharashtra Industrial Development Development Corporation (MIDC) industrial estate near Vadivarhe on the Mumbai-Agra national highway, in the Igatpuri tehsil, around 22 kms from Nashik, the plant was raided after some children in Nanded district of Maharashtra suffered food poisoning after consuming the company’s products.

The FDA sealed the company’s godown after impounding raw material, lactic acid stock and stocks of ‘Kaccha Mango Bites’, whose samples have been sent to Pune for examination, officials said.

FDA seizes confectioneries worth 60L

NASHIK: The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday raided the Vadivarhe-based Parle Biscuits Pvt Ltd and confiscated sugar boiled confectionery products 'Mango Bite' worth Rs 60 lakh, which was being manufactured with the use of lactic acid that is prohibited under the food safety and standard act.
Acting on information, a team of FDA officials raided the manufacturing unit of the Parle Biscuits Pvt Ltd in Gonde in Igatpuri tehsil and inspected the products being manufactured. During inspection, the FDA team found that 'Mango Bite' was being manufactured with using lactic acid. which has been prohibited in the food products as per the Food Safety & Standard Act 2006.
The team confiscated all the manufactured products of Mango bites worth Rs 54 lakh and the storage of lactic acid worth Rs six lakh. Total good worth Rs. 60 lakh were confiscated from the company's manufacturing unit.
The samples of Mangobites and lactic acids have been sent to the government laboratory for further testing and its report is awaited.
In 2008, Parle had commissioned the state-of-the-art manufacturing unit at Vadivarhe, 22 kms from Nashik. The company manufactures cookies and confectionery, including toffees, candies, savouries and mints.
The FDA team, which raided the company under the guidance of the joint commissioner (Food), FDA Chandrakant Pawar, and food safety officers Sulindra Kshirsagar, Vivek Patil, Nilesh Khose and Manish Sanap.

DINAMALAR NEWS

Expired food products of 60 brands seized

  The Chennai Corporation and the Food Safety Department found the products on sale in departmental stores. Photo: R. Ravindran 

Raid conducted in several areas based on residents’ complaints; rotten meat also found
Expired food products of more than 60 brands were seized on Thursday, by the Chennai Corporation and the Food Safety Department.
Samples of the products have been sent to a laboratory for testing, and notices will be issued to the food-business operators based on the reports.
The seized products were on sale in shops that were raided in areas such as Purasawalkam and Chintadripet.
Some of the spoilt food products include branded biscuits, sweets, dates, oats, packed wheat flour, semolina, health mixes, baking powder, herbal mixes, chola masala, pepper sauce, garam masala, chilli sauce, asafoetida, packed natural fruit juice, appam powder, rasam powder and sambar powder.
“The raids were conducted based on complaints from people who had gone shopping. Many of the products were mislabelled. We have also warned several shop owners,” said S. Lakshmi Narayan, Chennai’s district food safety officer.
Over two tonnes of meat sourced from rotting carcasses were also seized in Chintadripet.
The Corporation has registered a complaint with the police against the shop owners who are continuing to sell rotten meat despite a city-wide crackdown. The civic body also sealed the shops.
According to officials who conducted the raids, more than half of the food products in a departmental store in Purasawalkam did not even have a batch number.
Also, the shop owner had not registered under the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 that came into force on August 5, 2011.
Licenses issued to traders under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act of 1954 expired in March last year, but many businesses are still not aware that they need to acquire fresh licenses under the new Act.
The Corporation issues trade licences to such food-business operators, while their registration is carried out by the food safety department.
All food-business operators have been asked to get a licence from the food safety department by February 4, 2013, an extension from the earlier deadline of August 4, 2012.
However, many of the 12,500 operators in the city are yet to obtain licences.
Similarly, a chunk of the 7,500 small food-business operators do not have registration certificates.
Complaints pertaining to unhygienic food products can be made to the Food Safety Department through the Corporation’s toll-free helpline, 1913.