Sale of Synthetic Milk

In the National Survey on Milk Adulteration 2011 (snap shot survey) conducted by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to ascertain the quality of milk and to identify different types of adulteration in the liquid milk throughout the country, 68.4% samples were found to be non-conforming to Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011.

The survey also indicated the presence of detergent in some cases. Major reasons for non-conformities to the prescribed Standards included addition of water in milk, deviation on account of Fat and Solid Non Fat, and presence of skim milk powder and glucose.

The implementation of Food Safety Standards Act and Rules & Regulations made there under primarily rests with State/UTs Government. The Commissioners of Food Safety in States / Union Territories are empowered to take remedial measures under Food Safety & Standards Act and Rules & Regulations made there under. FSSAI has already issued advisory to Food Safety Commissioners of States/ UTs to maintain standards of milk. The Commissioners of Food Safety in States and Union Territories have also been advised to take appropriate measures under the Food Safety Standards Act and Rules & Regulations made there under. Further, random samples of various food samples including milk are drawn regularly by State/U.T Governments and action is taken against the offenders, in case samples are found to be not conforming to the provisions of the FSS Act and Regulations made there under.

This information was given by Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare Shri Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

Complete Ban of Tobacco Products

The Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011 dated 1st August 2011, issued under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, lays down that tobacco and nicotine shall not be used as ingredients in any food products.

Currently, 28 States/UT’s have issued orders for implementation of the Food Safety Regulations banning manufacture, sale and storage of Gutka and Pan Masala containing tobacco or nicotine. (Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Chandigarh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland, Andaman & Nicobar, Daman & Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Sikkim, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, J&K and Assam). Other forms of tobacco including cigarette and bidi etc. are regulated by the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act,” (COTPA), which regulates consumption, production, supply and distribution of tobacco products, by imposing restrictions on advertisement, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products; prohibiting smoking in public places; prohibiting sale to and by minors, prohibiting sale within a radius of 100 yards of educational institutions and through mandatory depiction of specified pictorial health warnings on all tobacco product packs.

It is a fact that cancer related diseases are increasing day-by-day due to excessive use of tobacco. As per the data collected by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) through National Cancer Registry Programme the number of cancers of mouth, tongue and pharynx during the year 2008, 2009 and 2010 was 66,129; 68,160 & 170,261 respectively.

The Food Safety & Standards Act 2006 and the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011 dated 1st August 2011 issued thereunder, imposing a ban on food products containing tobacco or nicotine, are central enactments. Enforcement and implementation of this regulation, however, lies with the Commissioners of Food Safety under the state governments, as per the provisions of Food Safety & Standards Act 2006.

The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act,” (COTPA), is also a central enactment. Enforcement of the provisions thereof lies with the officers authorized for this purpose by the Central Government as well as State Governments.

This information was given by Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

Workshop on Food Safety held

 

The Citizen Consumer Club was started by the college to educate and spread awareness among students on consumer rights and responsibilities. Students attending the workshop will be trained by the students of other colleges in the city, who were originally trained under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

The workshop was conducted by the students of Ethiraj College.Megha, a second year B Com (CS) student of Ethiraj College, said “Through the Consumer Club of our college, we were selected to undergo a four-day residential camp organised by FSSAI last year. FSSAI gave us an insight into Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. At the four-day camp, we learnt a lot of things about identifying adulterated foods, significant things we should look out for before buying, consumer rights among others. After the camp, we also did projects on the theme of food safety. We went to other colleges in the city to share our knowledge with other college students. We use short films, radio jingles, powerpoints and street plays to pass on the informations”.

Poonkodi, coordinator of the Citizen Consumer Club, GSSJCW, said, “Through our club we conduct many programmes related to consumers. This is one such programme, where our students will also benefit.”

Food for thought

The Food Safety Act has received a mixed response. Officials have been told not to insist on licenses or impose heavy penalties on violators as there are apprehensions about the legislation.

The Act has been brought under review in view of representations made by various stakeholders in the food business.

To create public awareness, a Food Safety Express is coming to Madurai district on March 20 and it will go across the district to sensitise stakeholders on the importance of the Act.

A lorry remodelled as Awareness Express will provide information on do’s and don’ts, food sample tests, role of consumers, label/packaging requirements. It will be in the district for 20 days and cover urban and rural areas.

R. Srinivasan, State secretary, Tamil Nadu Hotels Association, says that the Food Business Operators have in principle welcomed the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. However, there are certain inconsistencies which have to be addressed.

“We welcome the Act because it provides for self-declaration by Food Business Operators. But there is no clarity on the penalty clauses. The drastic changes that took place in agriculture, fertilisers and pesticides too need to be taken into account when you talk of food safety,” he says.

Mr. Srinivasan said that various associations represented to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India that the Act is not easy to implement.

“On February 18, it was notified that sub-committees will be formed to review the Act. A review is needed for vendors and small traders to safeguard themselves. Foreign influence in preparing this Act is not acceptable to us and we should have a law that suits the ground reality in India,” he says.

Consumer activists S. Arunkumar and A. Ravindran, who attended a training programme on the implementation of Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 at Chennai from March 6 to 9, have welcomed the food safety legislation.

“We were told that the fine will be very nominal. The campaign through Food Safety Express will clear apprehensions and ensure compliance,” Mr. Arunkumar said.

Over 2,200 dead pigs found in river supplying Shanghai’s drinking water

  

In this photo taken on March 7, 2013 and made available on March 10, 2013, dead pigs are strewn along the riverbanks of Songjiang district in Shanghai, China.

The discovery of at least 2,800 dead pigs in a major Shanghai river that is one of the city’s main water sources has alarmed residents and triggered fresh public health concerns in China amid an on-going debate about food and water safety.
Authorities said on Monday they had found a pig virus (porcine circovirus) in water samples in the Huangpu river, adding that the thousands of carcasses had likely been dumped from villages upstream where farmers were thought to be grappling with an epidemic in recent weeks.
Photographs of carcasses of the more than 2,800 dead pigs were shared widely on social media sites over the weekend, triggering alarm among residents of China’s financial centre.
"This is the water we drink! Animals' dead bodies could easily be seen in the water conservation area and it stinks!," one blogger who posted one of the first photographs of eight dead pigs floating in the river was quoted as saying by the Shanghai Daily.
Authorities sought to calm the safety fears on Monday, saying that all tests for pig-borne diseases such as foot and mouth, cholera and epidemic diarrhoea had returned negative results. The Shanghai Animal Diseases Control and Prevention Centre said the pig virus that it had found in some of the samples would not have any affect on humans.
The Shanghai government in a statement said the city's tap water was still safe to drink. While the government stressed that water quality around the water plant had not been affected as the polluted stream did not directly run through it, many residents did not appear to share the government's belief in the quality of the water. "It seems incredible to suggest water quality is normal when 3,000 dead pigs are floating in a river!," said one journalist with a local newspaper.
But as details emerged on Monday of a possible pig epidemic that had been unreported for weeks – some reports online suggested tens of thousands of pigs had died in January and February in nearby Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces – some online voices hit out at the government for not sharing information quickly enough. Bloggers pointed out that the government had responded and released information only after photographs had appeared online.
Officials fear further public outcry as the number of dead pigs is set to increase in coming days as authorities continue removing carcasses. “The number is expected to rise as there are still six barges that have not returned from collecting carcasses,” Xu Rong, director of Shanghai Songjiang District Environmental Protection Bureau, told the Global Times. “We have to act quickly to remove them all for fear of causing water pollution”.
China’s pollution problem has been at the centre of attention in recent months, with the new government that will take over this week promising to firmly deal with food, water and air pollution issues.
Only on Sunday, a major government restructuring plan announced at the on-going session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) or Parliament, which will formalise the leadership transition, proposed raising the status of the State Food and Drug Administration to a ministry-level general administration that will have more teeth to supervise food safety across the supply chain, from production to consumption.
“Overlapping of supervision from different departments and some supervision blind spots are weak links of the current food safety supervision system,” the State Council, or Cabinet, acknowledged in the plan.
The plan also specifically mentioned safety fears from pig slaughtering, underscoring the scale of the problem in China. Responsibility to ensure authorised slaughtering has been transferred from the control of the Commerce Ministry to the Agriculture Ministry, according to the plan. Supervising slaughtering has emerged as a difficult challenge for authorities. While farmers are allowed to slaugther pigs only in regulated and designated areas, supervision remains lax, as evident in the recent mass dumping of carcasses into local water bodies.

Are you buying safe food

CHECKING:Food safety officials raiding a departmental store in Madurai

Colourful racks can take you for a ride

On March 9, a team of food safety officials conducted a surprise inspection at a popular departmental store near Viswanathapuram on Old Natham Road.
What was supposed to be a casual check of food items turned out to be a major catch for the Food Safety Officers who were startled by the gross violations.
While the customers were picking up their choice of items off the shelf, the inspection team was pulling out eatables and food products which were past expiry date.
The enforcement wing of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 is cracking a whip on Food Business Operators who are taking customers for a ride by selling sub-standard/ misbranded food products either intentionally or unintentionally.
For instance, the raid at this particular departmental store brought to light how children’s favourite snack items were still being sold even weeks after the expiry date. The ‘karachevu’ packets of Rs.45 each for which the date was over on February 28 were still there on the racks on March 9. For butter biscuits, there was no packaged date at all. Colourful biscuit packets carrying expiry date of January 22 on the labels, flour packets with no address where it was prepared and snacks which should have been removed from the racks after expiry date were seized by the Food Safety Officers and the store owner was warned.
“Our objective is not to penalise vendors and shopkeepers. The Act is for public health. Unsafe food products should not be sold and consumers should not be cheated,” says J.Suguna, Designated Officer for Food Safety, Madurai district.
The Act empowers the enforcement authorities to look into manufacturing, processing, packaging, storage, transportation and sale of food or food ingredients.
Given the apprehensions among traders and vendors, the officials are conducting awareness programmes in urban and rural areas. Simultaneously, they are also conducting surprise checks to nab all those involved in adulteration.
All Food Business Operators come under the purview of the Act. Government-run Fair Price Shops, civil supplies godowns, TASMAC bars, HR&CE temples’ annadhanam scheme, restaurants/hotels, Adi Dravida and Tribal hostels, college hostels, noon meal centres, departmental stores, retail shops, road side eateries, canteens and dhabas come under the scanner.
L.K.Muralidharan, Food Safety Officer (Madurai East), says that license or registration certificate is a must to run any type of food business depending on the annual turnover. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has extended the deadline to February 2014 to obtain the license.
There are 18,463 food business units in Madurai district of which 4,688 are uner the Government and the remaining 13,775 are private. As per the registration and licensing status up to February this year, only 6,929 units (5,409 private and 1,520 Government) have completed the mandatory formalities.
According to K.Saravanan, Food Safety Officer (North), more awareness programmes have been planned with the support of Self-Help Groups, voluntary organisations and associations to give a push to food safety license.
He says that shortage of manpower is a constraint in carrying out extensive checks. “If we conduct raid in a particular business premises, it takes at least two hours to seize the materials and seal the shop. We made a representation asking for appointment of office attendants who can be used during raids. If we go as a group, then shopkeepers will have some fear,” he says.
In Madurai district, there are 26 Food Safety Officers posted in urban and rural areas. But they have a grievance that there is no proper office for food safety team in rural areas whereas their urban counterparts manage with support from the Corporation.Officials say that major violations were found in sales of edible oil, bread and snacks. “During our raids in the city and in Thirumangalam, we found that non-edible oil meant for lamp lighting (pooja purpose) was being sold. We seized the oil and dumped it,” says Mr.Saravanan.
Awareness meetings about quality consciousness are being conducted for small and big units but what is worrying the food safety wing is the negligence on the part of popular stores too. They are keeping a check on ‘idli and dosa’ flour, gravy and other pre-packed items.
Recently, marriage halls too have been asked to engage only those catering units and food contractors who have food safety registration certificate.
Right now, the officials are not keen on imposing fine or penalty because they are hoping that the Chambers of commerce, public, businessmen and shops will take food safety issue as food for thought in a gradual manner.

Food safety campaign vehicle rolls into city

Raring to go:Collector Jayashree Muralidharan flagging off Food Safety Express in Tiruchi on Monday

Skits and rallies planned as part of the 18-day programme

An 18-day awareness campaign on food safety organised jointly by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and Consumer Association of India commenced here on Monday.
Collector Jayashree Muralidharan flagged of the campaign vehicle which would visit schools and colleges, bus stands and railway stations besides places in the district where people assembled in large numbers, and create awareness among public of various aspects, including benefits of food safety, hazards of consuming unsafe foods and the ways to identify adulterated food items.
The campaign would be held in the first phase up to March 20 and from April 9 to 16 the second phase.
Handbooks distribution
Awareness would be created by organising skits and rallies, and distribution of handbooks to people.
District Revenue Officer T. Thiagarajan was present, an official press release said.

Seafood industry carries food safety concerns on its shoulders

US Food and Drug Administration officials address MPEDA meet

In the backdrop of the chemical and microbiological hazards, many new challenges are cropping up nowadays with regard to food safety concerns. In view of this, all precautions and preventive measures are being taken by the seafood industry with the help of experts and trainers having world class exposure.
As part of this, the officials of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), US, imparted training to the representatives of the industry at a five-day ‘Train the Trainer’ programme organised jointly by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
It was inaugurated at Hotel Leo here on Monday.
Speaking after inaugurating the programme, MPEDA joint director K.N. Vimal Kumar said that the training programmes were being conducted all over the country as part of the MPEDA’s efforts towards ensuring food safety.
He asserted that the MPEDA did pioneering work in the implementation of HACCP in Indian seafood industry way back in 1996 itself.
Action plan
As the development and promotional agency for export of marine products under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, the MPEDA has been implementing various action plans for the overall development of the seafood industry, particularly for the export sector.
The action plan includes capacity building in various fields of the authority’s activities.
Those who took part in the training programme were different stakeholders of the seafood industry in the west and east coasts.
They included the seafood processors, aquaculture extension officers, officials of regulatory authorities like MPEDA, EIA and so on.
Dr. Brett Koonse of US FDA, who is an aquaculture food safety expert, Dr. Thomas Rippen, a seafood technology specialist, and others spoke on the occasion.

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‘Train the Trainer’ programme organised to emphasise the need for ensuring food safety

‘MPEDA has done pioneering work in the implementation of HACCP in seafood industry’

Buyer beware – water can be contaminated

They should check for packing details

The next time you purchase a 20-litre can of drinking water, it will be a wise to ascertain if the cap, which should be wrapped with a printed paper, displays the brand name, the batch number, and the date of packing.
For, Food Safety authorities say that compared to sachets or one or two-litre bottles, the spurious drinking water is sold mainly through 20 litre cans.
The can that you return after use might not always end up at the manufacturers’ place.
Many unscrupulous operators get hold of these cans, fill untreated water, and push them to market through small stores.
And owners of such stores are only willing to sell these products because of the higher margins these operators offer.
These cans will not have the mandatory details on the cap, simply because even the caps are spurious.
You, as a customer, can beat this practice by doing just a few basic checks, says R. Kathiravan, Designated Officer, Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department (Food Safety Wing).
All the packaged water manufacturing companies had been instructed to affix their brand seal on the caps of 20-litre cans and wrap it with a cover, he told The Hindu . It was only in the interest of these companies to follow the norms.
As the original cap affixed by the water company gets destroyed when customers open it, the cap placed by these operators would not have any details, including the batch number.
All customers must insist upon their supplier providing only those cans that had these basic details.
Ambiguity
Many water manufacturing units had mushroomed in the city of late and were making capital out of the ambiguity in Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
The Act, he said, set stringent standards for ‘mineral’ and ‘packaged’ water, both of which must have the ISI accreditation given by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
There were no mineral water manufacturing units in Coimbatore, he said. The district, however, had 60 packaged water manufacturing units.
The Nilgiris, Tirupur, and Erode districts together had around 30 such units.
Dr. Kathiravan said that it was mandatory for all of these packaged water manufacturing units, regardless of company’s size or market share, to put in place an intensive filtration process for the water and should also be equipped with a laboratory staffed by a certified micro-biologist.
These norms were enforced by the BIS, which had its own surveillance mechanism independent of the State authorities.
After the water was packaged, it is kept in the company for several hours after which it was tested for growth of micro-organisms.
Only after it was ascertained that there was no growth of biological substances in this duration would the product be distributed.
Herbal/flavoured water
There were no such norms for ‘herbal’ or ‘flavoured’ water under any Union or State legislation.
Coimbatore district alone had a total of 30 herbal and flavoured water manufacturing units.
“Many units are simply avoiding the use of these to get around the ISI accreditation. These units do not standards set for them and are a cause for major concern as the public remain unaware of these intricacies. They just look at the packaging of the bottle and buy it,” he added.

Definition of claim in amendments to FSS Act linked to quality of food

Among the definitions in Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, the word “claim” has a link with quality of food article.

In Chapter 1 Preliminary Section 3(d) of the Act, “claim” is defined as any representation which states, suggests or implies that a food has particular qualities relating to its origin, nutritional properties, nature, processing, composition or otherwise. That means, question of quality of food article arises when a claim, health or nutrition, is made by FBO. In Section 3(q) the word “food safety” has a link with intended use. It is defined as assurance that food is acceptable for human consumption according to its intended use. Question arises whether FBOs are fully authorised to decide intended use of their products, particularly proprietary, when decades long span of people’s faith regarding the product does exist. If yes, the question intensifies how the quality of food may be assured to people, particularly when intended use of food article is so twisted by FBO that it is contradictory to people’s faith or consumer perception.

Baked food and fried food, for example, are perceived by people as beneficial and injurious respectively for health. The bakery products, particularly bread and biscuits, are suggested by physicians to patients.

Namkeen
Meanwhile, fried foods – namkeen, bhujia, samosa, kachori etc. – are medically prohibited. People believe that intended use of the former is quite different than that of the latter. Health- conscious people prefer baked foods while fried foods are purchased for tongue–taste only. But as per definition of food safety in the Act, both the baked and fried products irrespective of consumer perception are equally acceptable for human consumption according to intended use. A fried food manufacturer can make a nutrition claim; for example, with added vitamins “fortified namkeen” might be claimed. Obviously such a claim will mislead a consumer, because in want of vitamins he or she may consume high amount of salt and fat via consumption of “fortified namkeen.” Such a claim does not represent a statement or suggestion or meaning that the food has particular qualities relating to its origin, nutritional properties, nature, processing and composition or otherwise. It is a true statement that “fortified namkeen” contains added vitamins. But originally namkeen is a high salt, high fat food article by composition. It is a fried product by processing which may be injurious to health. Therefore addition of vitamins to namkeen cannot transform it from non-nutritive to nutritive product category.


Exemption
Despite non-nutritive nature of high fat, high salt, high sugar processed food articles like namkeen, bhujia, sweets etc. those are not exempted from printing nutritional information on label. Only two such processed food articles viz. pickles and papad are exempted from printing nutritional information vide FSSR 2011 : 2.2.2. labelling of pre-packaged foods(3) nutritional information(v) (i). Nutritional data like fat, sugar and salt contents are misleading, if printed on labels of food products having imbalanced diet leading nature. A finger rule can be made for evaluating the imbalanced diet nature of a food product. A food product, 100 gm of which provide more than 20 gm of fats or 3 gm of common salt or 18 gm of sugar, meets out more than 50 per cent of Daily Values of these ingredients in 2000 Kcal diet. While making this finger rule, the Daily Value for fat is taken as 18 per cent of total calorie intake, since World Health Organisation (WHO) intake guidelines of dietary constituents for prevention of chronic diseases in adults suggests fat intake limit to be 15 to 30 per cent and lower side of this limit is safer for sedant work. In context of quality assurance to consumer, a food product which crosses the fat, salt and sugar limits does not deserve for printing nutritional information. It really deserves for statutory warning or any risk representative mark. In other words, any kind of nutrition or health claim including nutritional information on label of a non-nutritive product like namkeen, bhujia, sweets etc. is contrary to principle of quality assurance.

QA principle
Similarly quality assurance principle is also violated when nutritive products of wide public faith like bread, biscuit, and rusk are legally allowed to use harmful additives for functional improvement in colour, texture etc. For example, FSSR 2011 : 2.4.5. specific labelling requirements(16) allows sale of maida treated with improver or bleaching agents (including the oxidant benzoyl peroxide) if its bag carries the declaration – Wheat flour treated with improver/bleaching agents, to be used by bakeries only.

A consumer considers bread and biscuit quite safe and physicians also suggest these food articles to patients. Therefore the law should allow harmful additives in bakery products like bread and biscuits for any kind of functionalism with mention of statutory warning or risk representative mark only. The breads and biscuits are preferred by health-conscious people on the basis of processing i.e. baking which is considered to be quite safer as compared to frying process. If bakery industries are allowed to use harmful additives without mention of statutory warning or risk representative mark, consumers are betrayed and quality assurance principle is violated.

Risk analysis
“Risk” in relation to food article is defined in the Act (Chapter 1, 3(1) zm) as probability of an adverse effect on the health of consumers and the severity of that effect consequential to a food hazard. As per 1, 3(1) zn, “risk analysis” is made by assessing, communicating and managing it. There is made provision of issuing prohibition orders under section 33 of Act, if the health risk exists (1, 3(1) zl), which empowers the court to issue prohibition orders in cases where the food business operator is convicted of an offence under the Act. Under Section 35 of the Act the Food Authority is required to notify registered medical practitioners carrying on their profession in any local area specified in the notification, to report all occurrences of food poisoning coming to their notice to such officer as may be specified. In fact microbial food hazard results in a fast food poisoning for which physicians are expected to be well aware. But pesticides-insecticides, artificial colours & flavours, functional additives, antioxidants and preservatives, even used in prescribed limits in the food articles, might give rise to slow poisoning resulting into serious diseases in due course of time. Therefore the Food Authority is also required to evaluate the packaged food-borne diseases or slow poisoning symptoms in populace. The clinical trials on people’s proneness to food-borne diseases can basically provide rationale to estimation of how fast non-organic intensive farming practices, deforestation and artificial additives-based food processing be ceased in the country.

Imbalance
Unfortunately Indian people have been suffering from micro-nutrient mineral imbalance caused diseases due to deforestation, soil erosion and intensive non-organic farming, what Itspossible Nutraceuticals perhaps truly states in the publicity literature of its dietary mineral supplement CMD (Concentrated Mineral Drops) which is a packaged concentrated Utah Lake (an American lake containing full spectrum of minerals due to good soil conservation as a result of dense forestation) water.

To define “intended use” in terms of both FBO’s outlook and people’s faith, to exempt from printing of nutritional information on the labels of non-nutritive food articles, to make provisions of statutory warning or risk representative mark on labels of non-nutritive and harmful additives containing food articles and to evaluate the packaged food-borne diseases and slow poisoning symptoms in populace might be a few amendments in FSS Act which can strengthen quality assurance system. Nowadays quality control activities are not limited to laboratory work only. Its field is widened to extreme boundaries of all management disciplines including ecology of country. After a few surveys on food-borne diseases, FSSAI soon can accurately argue on why to go ahead for land reform, dense forestation and organic farming practices. Quality is not just matching the product characteristics with standard specifications. In fact, quality is delivered value to consumer.

Centre to set up autonomous body to tackle risk to farms from alien pests, weeds

New Delhi, March 11:  

To tackle the increased risk to agriculture from ‘exotic’ foreign pests and weeds, the Government proposes to integrate plant and animal quarantine services by creating an autonomous authority.

The proposed move would ensure a tighter quarantine regime, an official statement said.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Monday introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha that seeks to set up an autonomous authority – with adequate powers – for prevention, control, eradication and management of pests and diseases of plants and animals and unwanted organisms for ensuring agri bio-security.

The inflow of pests and diseases of plants and animals into countries through imports is considered one of the biggest threats to diversity, leading to huge economic losses.

For example, weeds such as Parthenium, Phalaris minor and Lanatana camara have already got established in the country.

Besides, the recent emergence and spread of transboundary diseases, such as avian influenza and the Ug-99, wheat stem rust fungus pose a threat not only to animal and plant safety, but human beings, too.

The Agricultural Bio-security Bill 2013 provides for modernising the legal framework to regulate safe movement of plants and animals within the country and international trade.

Safe movement

The Bill, when enacted into law, would also help India meet the international obligations for facilitating imports and exports of plants, plant products, animals, animal products, aquatic organisms and regulation of agriculturally important micro organisms.

The proposed authority - on the lines of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, would help administer agri-bio-security. When implemented, India would join the league of Australia, New Zealand and the US, which follow the integrated bio-security model.

The authority’s mandate will cover the four sectors of agricultural bio-security, - plant health, animal health, living aquatic resources (fisheries) and agriculturally important micro-organisms.

The proposed authority would also improve safety, efficiency, transparency and compliance of quarantine and pest management regulations and respond swiftly to contain emergent bio-security problems.