Festive Season’s Bitter ‘Sweet’ Truth

CHANDIGARH: By the time you get to know if the sweets you savoured were adulterated, the festive season might be over. Instead of confiscating stocks that appear to be stale, the UT administration is treading with caution this time -- limiting its surprise raids on sweet shops to taking samples alone, reports of which are out after seven to 10 days.

This is in sharp contrast to the drive in 2010 when the administration had played to the gallery by confiscating and destroying tonnes of raw material and ready-to-serve sweets in an extended drive.

Justifying the move, ADC Mahavir Kaushik said samples were being taken from different areas of the city, but destroying the sweets on the spot would be considered only if a manufacturing unit did not conform to the hygiene standards.

Welcoming it, N K Singhania, general secretary of Chandigarh Sweet Shop Owners' Association, said most of the sweet manufacturing units in the city have drastically improved their hygiene standards over the past two years and there was no question of contamination. "Checking adulteration levels by taking samples is the process as per the book. The sweet shop owners were against the practice of largescale destruction of sweets without even waiting for the lab reports," he added.

Though the administration had come up with a set of new guidelines for sweet manufacturing units like installation of six feet high tiles and proper ventilation in the kitchen, no drive was conducted to check compliance last year.

Most of the old sweet factories located in periphery have kucha floors, with poor drainage and no tiles in cooking areas. The administration has got more teeth with the recently-notified Food Safety and Standard Act that authorizes it to take strict action against sweet shop and restaurant owners.

FDA raids shops, collects khoya samples in Katra

ALLAHABAD: As part of the ongoing drive against adulteration in food products during the festive period, officials of Food and Drug Authority (FDA) led by additional city magistrate (ACM) I and chief food inspector (CFI) conducted raids in Katra locality on Wednesday and took khoya samples from two reputed sweet shops and chhena (cottage cheese) sample from another shop on Kutchery Road. The samples would be sent to the state laboratory for examination after which necessary action would be taken.

CFI, Harimohan Srivastava said the team also raided shops in Phaphamau area and inspected khoya mandi where several dealers fled from the spot leaving behind their stock. The team seized around 1.5 quintal of khoya from the spot which would be sent for examination.

At a shop in Phaphamau area the team took samples of curd and gazak while a dairy operating without a license was challaned. In Soraon area the team served notice to a cold storage functioning without license.

At Karchana in trans-Yamuna area, the team was led by SDM, Karchana and 50 kg besan (gram flour) was seized from a shop and sample sent for examination.

Srivastava said the drive would continue till Deepawali and warned shopkeepers to refrain from selling adulterated food items or else face the music.

Beware of spiked edibles this Diwali: FDA

ALLAHABAD: Diwali is just a fortnight away. It is the festival of lights and sweets. So, being an active an aware citizen, people of Sangam city are approaching officials of the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) in a large number to learn simple methods useful in detecting adulteration. Most of the inquires pouring in are to ascertain purity of food and milk products as also asking about availability of instant kits that have already gained popularity in metropolitan cities.
FDA officials feel it's a good beginning and citizens are taking initiative to acquaint themselves with simple methods. Dr Sarita Pandey says "If we know simple methods to detect adulteration, we can save our family from impure and stale products". She added "Awareness must be spread among consumers". If you want to check if the khoya you are buying or have bought is adulterated, a few drops of tincture of iodine will make it turn bluish if adulterated. Another method is using sulphuric acid.
Adulteration is an unethical practice, as it poses serious risk to human health. Presence of harmful starch, urea-mixed milk, caustic soda, ararot, artificial sweetening chemicals, non-approved colored sweets (like heavy metals incorporated malachite green, etc) and unhygienic conditions may lead to acute gastritis, diarrhoea, dysentery, dehydration, kidney inflammation, etc.
Housewife Aditi says "Keeping an eye on the forthcoming festival, consumers must be aware of simple methods to detect adulteration".
Chief food safety officer H K Srivastava told TOI "We are promoting awareness about easy methods to detect adulteration in food products, without the need to send them to a laboratory.

Ahead of Diwali, adulteration fears keep FDA on toes

MUMBAI: The state government has instructed the food and drug administration (FDA) to collect random samples from sweet manufacturing units and shops to check adulteration and use of banned substances. The department has also warned of initiating action against those officials who fail to implement the food safety act effectively in the state.
With less then 15 days left for Diwali festive season, minister of state for FDA Satej Patil held a meeting with officials at his Vidhan Bhavan office on Thursday to review measures taken by the department to clamp down on supply of adulterated sweets and food items in the market, especially during the festive season.
"Instead of waiting for complaints from citizens and then initiating actions, I have asked officials to collect random samples of sweets and other eatables from manufacturing units and retails shops. These samples will be sent to the laboratory for testing. If any kind of adulteration is found or the sample is found to be of substandard quality, then action will be initiated against the erring person," Patil said.
FDA commissioner Mahesh Zagade said that besides initiating action against erring manufacturers, the responsibility of implementing rules and regulation will be fixed on department officials. "It is the duty of the officials to find out whether food manufacturers are complying with the norms laid down in the food safety act. Punitive action will be initiated against the officials who fail to perform their duty," Zagade said, adding, "Action against manufacturers indulging in malpractices and errant officials will help in effective implementation of rules."
Patil urged citizens to buy sweets and other food products from shops that have proper registration and necessary licences. Cautioning people against purchasing uncovered sweets, the minister said, "FDA's action along with public awareness will help in curbing malpractices in the sector."

Drive fails to yield results

JAIPUR: It seems that the much-hyped campaign of 'Shudh Ke Liye Yudh' by the medical and health department is not giving the desired results. Though the officials of the medical and health department have begun collecting samples from various sweet shops, ration shops and ghee manufacturing units, the problem with the campaign is that it will take a fortnight to get the sample results and the festival of Diwali will be over by then.

On Monday the team found adulterated mawa and later destroyed it, but the campaign so far has proved to be a futile exercise.

"We cannot do much about it before the reports come. Only the reports will confirm if there is an adulteration and if so then up to what extent. We can only take necessary action till then. But the good news is that we have been able to expose several factories involved in making adulterated ghee," said a senior officer of the medical and health department.

O P Thankan, chief medical and health officer Jaipur 1 said, "In this procedure our job is to collect samples and send them to the lab. Since January 2012 we have sent at least 400 samples to the lab out of which in many cases we received negative reports while many reports are still awaited."

Officials added that they will present challans against the defaulters in court even after Diwali once they get the reports confirming adulteration in the products.

Saras mawa out in the market now

Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federation (RCDF) on Monday added mawa to its bouquet of products under the brand name of Saras. RCDF had to enter the mawa market after adulterated mawa was found in the market.

The products will be available in 500 gram, 1 kg and 5 kg. The price has been fixed at Rs. 200 per kg. Apart from main Saras parlour at JLN Marg, 50 other outlets have been selected where mawa will be available. Along with the launch of Saras mawa, RCDF has also removed the cap of 5 kg limit for free home delivery.

Now the facility will be available on placing an order of even 1 kg.

It’s ‘sweet’ switchover this Diwali

ALLAHABAD: This Diwali the city is switching over to dry fruits and chocolates instead of sweets. In a drift from the tradition of offering and exchanging sweets to friends and guests, people are showing preference for dry fruits and chocolates despite the soaring prices of dry fruits. The sale of dry-fruits has, in fact, gone up by 30% compared to previous years.

The companies too are making most the changing trend and have come up with attractive gift hampers of chocolates and dry fruits. One of the reasons behind this new trend is growing cases of adulteration in sweets and milk, especially during festivals.

Traders, however, claim that some customers are opting for packed sweets like 'kaju katri' and 'rasgulla' from branded companies.

Nitin Mehrotra, a shopkeeper, said: "Youngsters are preferring dry fruits and chocolates over sweet boxes". "I used to distribute sweets made out of maawa among families and friends till two years back. But after growing incidents of adulterated sweets, I have started giving dry fruits and chocolates" said Rohit Shukla, an entrepreneur.

Dhananjay Singh, an entrepreneur, said, "Dry fruits and chocolates are best options available in markets. We cannot risk anyone's health on such a happy occasion." He added that the trend is now shifting from sweets to dry fruits as it is more convenient and also good for health. Even cooperates and businessmen too gift their employees dry fruits and cookies. On other hand, there is a section of people which believes in sticking to the tradition of distributing sweets. Many sweet-meat shops in the city are also offering homemade sweets.

A trader in Civil Lines said, "Undoubtedly, people have started gifting dry fruits more but the famous sweets shops too are doing brisk business. Scared of adulteration people now buy sweets from only famous and trusted shops."

Ahmedabad civic body cracks the whip on adulterators, 2 get jail term

With Diwali approaching, purchase of milk products and masalas has risen. So has adulteration of these items creating a health hazard for consumers.
To deter vendors from adulterating products, the health department of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) began a strict check on Thursday across the city. The civic body found three units selling adulterated products.
Grocery and sweet shops were checked by a squad of food inspectors. During the check in Navrangpura, food inspector SS Makwan found one shop where the vendor was selling sealed packets of fennel seeds without brand name or label. “It is mandatory for the manufacturer or vendor to sell edible products with proper label having brand name, batch number, manufacturing date, expiry date and other details,” said a health official.The vendor was penalised with three months of imprisonment.
Similarly, during the check in Sardarnagar, food inspector MR Mahajan found that one vendor was selling packaged drinking water bottles with particles inside. Since the water was contaminated, the vendor was punished with imprisonment of six months and Rs1, 000 as fine.
While checking in Isanpur, food inspector AR Patel and his team came upon a shop which was selling 500 gm red chilli powder packet withoutAgmark logo (the symbol of purity). For this, the vendor, Ramesh Talati, was fined Rs500.

Food department collects samples, destroys spurious edibles

ALLAHABAD: Samples were collected and stocks of spurious edibles destroyed during raids carried out at various locations in the city by three separate teams of the department of food safety and drug administration and some rural segments of the districts, on Thursday. While two teams raided markets of Koran and Phulpur areas, the main team raided different shops and malls in the city.
The team led by ACM-II Nagendra Singh and chief food safety officer Hari Mohan Srivastava raided a restaurant in a mall in Civil Lines and collected samples of food items like samosa, namkeen and sandwich.
"We have collected a sample of sandwich from one of the cinema halls in the mall wherein the date of packaging was written by pen and not printed", said Srivastava. The team also raided Guru Nanak Cold storage of Civil Lines and found about 50 kilogram pomegranates not fit for consumption and the team destroyed the entire lot. Apart from these locations, the team also inspected items at two eminent sweet shops of the Civil Lines market.
Srivastava said the team sent to Phulpur destroyed about 50 kg of khoya at Babuganj market. Likewise, sample of kalakand (a sweet prepared with khoya) was collected from a shop in Sahason, informed the officer. Besides, 5 kg of spices were destroyed in the same market, he added. But the team found markets of Koroan and Phulpur (main) closed and hence no raided could be conducted.

Shop owners without licence to be nailed

Imphal, November 08 2012: Come January next year, owners of shops and other business establishment selling eatable items and those companies manufacturing food items without registration card or license issued by the Food Safety and Authority of India would have to face the music.

In accordance to the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006, which is implemented in the State since 2011, owners of shops and other business establishments selling eatable items as well as companies manufacturing food items should posses the required registration card or license given by the Food and Safety Authority of India by August 2011.However, as the owners of most shops/business establishments and companies are unaware of the provisions of the Act, the Govt of Manipur has extended the deadline for acquiring the registration card and license till January 2013 .

business establishment selling eatable items

According to the guidelines of the Act, if an individual is running a shop selling eatables with a business turnover of Rs 10 lakh, he or she should get registered with the Food Safety and Authority of India and all those shops/ establishments and companies selling and producing food items with a business turnover of above Rs 12 lakhs should posses license from the Food Safety and Authority of India.

Though the steps taken up by the Food Safety and Authority of India to provide safe food stuffs to the general public is praiseworthy, yet the people of the state in general and the owners of shops and establishments and companies selling and producing food items in particular do not understand the Act entirety.

Over and above, all the individuals who have registered and possessed license do not seem to bother about the Act.

In this regard, Hueiyen Lanpao interacted with some Food Safety Officers of certain districts of the State, who maintained that there have been publicity campaigns carried out by the Health department telling the owners of all shops and establishments selling eatable items and those companies producing food items to get the required registration card or license.

However, lack of awareness regarding the Act has led to the total neglect of the importance of possessing the registration card and the license.

Nonetheless, the Health department has made a final appeal to all owners of all shops and establishments selling eatable items and those companies manufacturing food items to get themselves registered and possess the required license from the Food Safety and Authority of India by January next year, failing which legal actions will be taken up and get them arrested.

In addition to this, they would be banned from continuing their business.

The Food Safety Officer informed that shop owners and proprietors of industries not following the guidelines of the Food Safety and Standard Act could be fined Rs 2 lakhs.

They could also be fined Rs 5 lakhs if the food items being sold or produced lead to the death of consumers after consumption.

Chicken shop fined

 

A Yass café has been outed on the NSW Food Authority’s name and shame register this week.
King Charcoal Chicken in Comur Street was fined $440 for failing to comply with food safety standards.
The authority said a food handler had been caught smoking in a food handling area on July 19 this year, despite being warned about it previously.
The café was added to the public name and shame register on Tuesday.
Owner Georgina Karadonis declined to comment.
Authorities said smoking cigarettes within a food preparation area was unacceptable.
“Smoking in food preparation areas is a serious breach of food safety standards and the business concerned has been penalised accordingly, which is consistent with how these types of matters are dealt with by councils under the Food Act 2003 throughout NSW,” a NSW Food Authority spokesperson said.
Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson is on medical leave and could not comment.
It is the seventh restaurant or café within the Yass Valley shire to be named and shamed during the past year.