Adulterated Pongal items on sale across Madurai

Sub-standard rice, ghee, milk, dhal and jaggery being sold

The Pongal festival was over on Monday, but the sweet and delicious pongal which was cooked and eaten at many a home might have contained adulterated ingredients.

Some hard facts have come to light about the materials sold for preparing pongal as random purchases across shops in the city on Sunday by a special vigilant team, on the eve of Pongal, have revealed that the items were highly adulterated. The quality of essentials required to cook sweet pongal — rice, milk, dhal, ghee and jaggery— were bought by a team from the Tamil Nadu Chapter of Indian Public Health Association (IPHA) and Consumers Federation, and the samples tested.

S. Elango, State president, IPHA, who led the drive on Sunday, told The Hindu that the team members tested samples taken from shops in South Gate, Amman Sannidhi, Yanaikkal, Anna Nagar, K. K. Nagar and Tirupparankundram among other places. “We bought them, posing ourselves as customers, from retail shops and roadside vendors. Our findings reveal that more than 50 per cent of the samples were highly sub-standard. The adulteration was high in milk, rice and ghee,” he said.

According to him, the findings are shocking since they were unfit for human consumption. Lactometer test was done on 25 samples of milk and nearly 80 per cent of them were adulterated as it was more of water.

Doubts were also raised regarding weights and measurements in some shops as stones were found in rice and jaggery.

“Our team bought the pongal items because shopkeepers won’t allow us to do any sort of inspection. We bought them in quantities of 100 gm and 250 gm. Ghee sold in busy market areas in Madurai was definitely not of good quality,” Dr.Elango said on Tuesday.

The jaggery had sand particles and stones thereby putting the consumers’ health at high risk. “It is time the food safety regulations were implemented strictly. Inspections must be conducted on a regular basis,” he added.

Dr. Elango, retired Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine of Government of Tamil Nadu, has said that people must take samples and go for tests if they have any suspicion. “We are going to have further analysis of the samples in food testing laboratories. IPHA and consumers’ federation will come out with more findings after carrying out checks for one more month in Madurai and Dindigul districts. The interests of consumers should be protected,” he said.

The team has called upon the Food Safety Officers to create larger public awareness about adulteration and implement the Food Safety and Standards Act without any dilution. Similar purchases and tests were also done in Dindigul bazaar area on the Pongal eve.

Tamil Murasu & Maalai Malar

Food companies try to meet safety norms

NEW DELHI: Food retail outlets and restaurants are busy revisiting their working models with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) cracking the whip to ensure stricter food safety measures in the sector. While large chains claim to have ensured adherence to the new norms already, small-to-mid level restaurant chains are gearing up to avoid being penalized after the February 4 deadline this year.

FSSAI had mandated in August 2011 that all eateries in the country, which includes multinationals such as KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonalds and domestic restaurant chains, canteens and cafeterias will need a 'food business operator' licence from the authority.

The organization had also come up with a list of stringent hygiene measures to be practiced at these outlets. Failure to ensure compliance with these measures would subject companies to "heavy fine", an FSSAI official said. The norms, which were to be implemented from August 2012, were postponed by six months to allow more time to companies. FSSAI has a wide range of measures to ensure food safety at eateries, but officials said until now food companies could voluntarily approach the authority in case of any safety related issues. Under the new norms, FSSAI will randomly conduct checks at these outlets as well as increase the frequency of such inspections.

A large number of food business units yet to register under Food Safety Act

Only 5,500 units have complied with the requirement so far

Even as the February 4 deadline for food business units to register themselves under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 is fast approaching, just about 5,500 units have complied with the requirement in the district so far. According to estimates, about 14,000 units are engaged in the food sector in the district. Of these, about 4,000 would require licence and the rest would have to be registered.
All food business operators with a turnover of Rs.12 lakh should obtain licence from the designated officer and those with turnover of below Rs.12 lakh should register themselves with the respective food safety officer as per the provisions of the Act. Apart from hotels and restaurants, roadside eateries, grocers and departmental stores selling food products, and meat stalls would have to register or obtain licence depending on the turnover.
The State government has established Tamil Nadu Safety and Drug Administration Department to enforce the Act. A district-level designated officer and 22 food safety officers have been appointed for Tiruchi district. Five food safety officers have been appointed within the Tiruchi Corporation limits and one each for the three municipalities and 14 blocks of the district.
When contacted, A.Ramakrishnan, designated officer for the district, TN Food Safety and Drug Administration (Food Wing), said about 5,000 units have been registered and another 489 issued licence so far.
The functions of the department would include taking steps to ensure that food supplied to people was safe, issuing licence to micro and small traders and other commercial establishments engaged in food business, preventing sale of food products hazardous to public health, creating awareness of food safety, and conducting surveillance
With just about 20 days left for the registration, traders’ organisations have been calling upon the government to defer the enforcement of the Act and sought further time to register or obtain licence.
On Wednesday, Tiruchi District Bakery Owners Association held a meeting to discuss the issue and urged the government to defer the enforcement of the Act. “There is still not much awareness of the Act among bakers and we need more time to register or obtain licence,” said B.Sundararajan, president (in-charge) of the association. Mr.Sundararajan also felt that it would not be practical to conform to several provisions of the Act.
However, district officials said that a series of meetings have been conducted at the district and block levels to sensitise traders to the provisions of the Act. The fears of traders, the officials said, were exaggerated. In fact, the Act would prove to be advantageous to traders. The do’s and don’ts are clearly laid down in the Act unlike the previous acts. Traders are not treated as accused under the Act and the District Revenue Officer will be the adjudicating officer and pass orders on the reports sent in by the designated officer.

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District-level designated officer and 22 food safety officers appointed for Tiruchi district

Traders urge the government to defer the enforcement of the Act; seek more time