Seminar held for mid-day meal officials

BANGALORE: What can and can't the mid-day meal officials do when it comes to the food provided from Akshaya Patra was the theme for the day-long seminar held recently at the ISKCON premise. Around 170 mid-day meal officials from all over Karnataka participated in the seminar that was organized by the Akshaya Patra Foundation in association with the Department of Public Education.

"The seminar has been organized to educate the officials at taluk and district level about the hygiene and other factors they should take into consideration, when it comes to mid day meal that reaches them. We are also educating them about implications of ignorance under the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA)," said Vinay N Kumar, general manager (operations), Akshaya Patra.

The seminar, titled 'Suraksha', focused on FSSA, the implications for the midday meal scheme and the challenges in implementation. "Although the act has been in place since the year 2006, there is not much awareness among the stakeholders. There is no clarity on how can it be used as a consumer. But it strictly talks about implications that one might have to face as a food establishment in case of any injury," said Mamatha Mishra, chief executive officer, Health First, a service providing organization, which is looking into the mid-day meal process to make it time, health and cost effecting through automation.

The mid-day meal quality manual that was launched at the seminar will be distributed to all the government schools which receive mid-day meals from the foundation. The quality manual has guidelines for the teachers and other implementing authorities on precautionary methods to be adopted, safety procedures to be followed while handling a mid-day meal and the necessary actions to be taken during an emergency.

Frame guidelines to check pesticides: HC

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed a court-appointed experts committee headed by eminent agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan to frame guidelines to check the presence of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables sold in markets in the city.

The high court has set May 15 as the deadline to frame the guidelines.

The direction came after Delhi government counsel Meera Bhatia said that the draft guidelines were ready and it awaited approval by Swaminathan, entrusted the task by the court.

The court also accepted a plea of pesticide manufacturers seeking a direction to the panel to consider their suggestions while framing the guidelines.

The court had in May 2012 formed a committee headed by union agriculture ministry’s joint director Sarita Bhalla and comprising Sandhya Kulshreshta, secretary of the Central Insecticide Board, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India director Dhir Singh, scientist NK Sharma, Delhi government’s food analyst SM Bhardwaj and Union agriculture ministry official Vipin Bhatnagar.

The move came after some NGOs submitted survey reports that vegetables and fruits sold in the city’s markets contain poisons capable of causing cancer and harming the nervous system and liver.

Later, a court-ordered survey and surprise checks on traders too found that 35 types of vegetables and fruits sold in various wholesale and retail markets in the city contained pesticides beyond permissible limits.

NGO Consumer Voice, one of the petitioners in court said the amount of pesticides in fruits and vegetables in India, was as much as 750 times the European standards.

The NGO claimed that of the five internationally banned pesticides, four were found to be common in India.

Maharashtra offer incentives to set up nutraceutical units

Mumbai, Mar 13 (PTI) The Maharashtra overnment today invited industries to set up manufacturing and R&D plants in the area of nutraceuticals and functional foods and offered incentives. "Considering the relevance of nutraceuticals, we invite all industries interested in setting up manufacturing and R&D plants in the area of nutraceuticals and functional foods.
We are allotting land near Chiplun (in Konkan region) to parties interested in setting up nutra manufacturing or research plants," Satej Patil, Minister of State for Food and Drug Administration, said on sidelines of a conference here. He requested the organisers of the conference, 8th Nutra India Summit, to submit to him details of deliberations at the event. Patil askdd K Chandramouli, Chairperson, Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), who was at the meet, to ensure that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Act is soon converted into law.
The law will ensure that structured guidelines are laid down for easy operations, decisiveness and quality of the food and related industry, the Minister said. Maharashtra is the largest consumer for nutraceuticals (food/food products that provide health and medical benefits) in the country, Patil said. Speaking at the conference, Samir K Brahmachari Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR), observed that India, with its research strengths, will witness great innovation in the areas like nutrition, nutraceuticals and nutrigenomics. He predicted that by 2030, people's consumption of chemicals will become negligible and it will be taken over by consumption of natural, organic foods, nutraceuticals and functional foods. Chandramouli said it was still being debated whether nutraceuticals are to be included in pharma or food.

Food Adulteration: HC seeks timeframe from Govt to implement FSSA in J&K

Srinagar: The J&K High Court on Wednesday directed government about the time to be taken by it for finalization of “comprehensive proposal” for making the provisions of the Food Safety and Standard Act 2006 (FSSA) “effective and visible on the ground.”
The directions were passed by a division bench of the court comprising Justices Mohammad Yaqoob Mir and Janak Raj Kotwal while hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by a lawyer Sheikh Ayoub, seeking implementation of the FSSA in the state.
The directions followed the submission by Food Commissioner— Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, who is also Secretary Health and Medical Education Department, that a comprehensive proposal is under the “active” consideration of the Government for the implementation of Act, aimed to control the menace of the food adulteration in the state.
Dwivedi’s submissions were in compliance with the previous court directions, asking government to make available staff “to constitute service in terms of the Act, so as to avoid any confusion in (its) implementation.”
The court once again asked authorities to take samples on weekly basis from all factories and industrial units which manufacture and produce spices of all kinds.
“The authorities are directed to submit the report in a tabulated form so as to indicate as to how many items of each type have been taken and results thereof.”
The direction by the court followed the perusal of the report filed by the concerned authorities which it “found nothing but an eye wash.”
The court also did not appreciate compliance report filed by authorities regarding the test the milk which is sold in the open market.
“Throughout the state, small number of samples has been taken, which can be termed as pick and choose. To say that the (previous) direction has been compiled with, we don’t appreciate it.”
The court directed concerned authorities to show their “commitment” and asked them to carry milk testing on weekly basis.
“The concerned agency shall submit the report through District Head wherein it shall be clearly indicated as to how many times in a week they have the milk as sold in the market and result of the tests shall also be indicated therein clearly.”
The Court also directed Municipal Corporation to constitute a special task force area-wise to strictly monitor, on weekly basis, the supply and sale of food articles.   
 The court also directed all District Magistrates in the state to closely monitor functioning of the authorities responsible for maintaining food standards in their respective districts.
The court once again directed the magistrates to convene fortnightly meetings with all the officers for the purpose and file compliance report by the end of this month.
“In this behalf, all the district magistrates shall submit their compliance report by or before next date (of hearing on 1st April.”
The court also asked government to suggest whether process for establishing Food Safety Appellate Tribunal has been initiated.

Panel to suggest ways for supply of quality mutton in absence of abattoir

Srinagar: With no slaughter house in Kashmir, J&K High Court has asked government to constitute an expert committee to suggest how standard quality mutton can be supplied to people until required abattoirs are established in the Valley.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation, a division bench of the court comprising Justices Mohammad Yaqoob Mir and Janak Raj Kotwal said that committee shall include the “appropriate authorities of Municipal Corporation.”
Besides suggesting how quality mutton can be supplied to people, the court said the committee shall propose measures for controlling the activities of the butchers and dealers in selling the quality meat to the public at the rates fixed by the government.
“The committee as shall be constituted shall submit its report within two weeks,” the bench said.
The directions by the court followed submission by the SMC that process for the construction of an abattoir at the cost of 37 crores at Tengpora here was under progress.
Earlier Commissioner Secretary submitted that there was no slaughter house functional in Kashmir division while there six abattoirs were functioning in Jammu division (three in Jammu district and as many as Ramban district). The government also informed that all of them were in hygienic condition.
The court was hearing a PIL—Sheikh Ayoub Vs State— seeking implementation of Food Safety and Standard Act 2006 (FSSA) to check food adulteration in the state.

Constitute task force to monitor sale, supply of food items: HC tells SMC

Constitute task force to monitor sale, supply of food items

‘EC will suggest measures to check prices, butcher activities’
Srinagar, Mar 13: High Court has directed Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) to constitute a special task force to strictly monitor supply and sale of food items in different markets of City.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), a division bench comprising of Justices Mohammad Yaqoob Mir and Janak Raj Kotwal directed SMC to strictly monitor the supply on weekly basis.
The bench also directed that the task force should file a compliance report indicating how many samples have been taken in a week and against how many violators action has been taken.

In another direction the court directed concerned authorities under Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, to carry out milk testing process on weekly basis.
“The concerned field agency shall submit the report through district head, where it shall be clearly indicated as to how many times in a week they have tested food items being sold in markets,” HC directed.
The court also directed all district Magistrates to meet twice in a month to ensure strict monitoring and implementation of the provisions of FSSI Act 2006.
“All district Magistrates shall submit their compliance report by or before the next date of hearing,” the court said.
The court also directed State as well municipal authorities to make suggestions about their future policy for establishment of slaughter houses.
In addition the High Court asked the State government to constitute an expert committee, which shall come out with the suggestions as how standard quality mutton can be supplied to public and what measures shall be necessary for controlling the activities of butchers and dealers in selling the quality meat to public at fixed rates.
The court asked the committee to file compliance report within two weeks.
In another direction the court asked concerned authorities in all the districts of the State to take samples on weekly basis from all factories /industrial units which manufacture and produce spices of all kinds.
The court also asked the authorities to submit report about the samples taken from the factories in a tabulated form so as to indicate how many items of each type of eatables/food items have been taken.
Previously, court directed the government to take steps for making provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 effective on ground and asked Commissioner Food Safety Jammu and Kashmir to take steps to implement the provisions of the said Act.
The district authorities have been asked to take samples on weekly basis from all factories, industrial units which manufacture and produce species of all kinds. In an earlier direction HC said the samples shall be sent to concerned authorities in accordance with the mandate contained in the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 and rules and regulations made under the Act.

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