Water, water everywhere, but how many brands are safe to drink?

Areas abutting the city are increasingly dotted with packaged drinking water industrial units. A minimum of 30 plants have come up over the last year in the neighbouring districts. The rising demand for water this summer has also paved the way for the sale of sub-standard quality of water and operation of unauthorised units.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Southern Region, cancelled the licences of 15 industrial units in and around the city in the past one year. The units lost their licenses for either not meeting the quality standard, unsatisfactory operation or misuse of the ISI mark.

Over the past decade, packaged drinking water has become an indispensable part of urban life. Even as Chennai Metrowater has stepped up its daily water supply to 830 million litres a day, packaged drinking water still continues to capture a large market. According to statistics of Tamil Nadu Packaged Drinking Water Manufacturers Association, the city and suburbs consume not less than 70 lakh litres of packaged water daily, which is 15 per cent more than last year's sales.

While some residents say that they prefer packaged drinking water for its quality, those in the fringes of the city deem it a boon as they are yet to be covered with piped water supply. At present, there are nearly 290 licensed industrial units functioning in localities rich in groundwater resources in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts. Last year alone, the BIS sanctioned licences to 150 units, which is 35 more than the number of applications approved every year.

The growing demand for water has led to mushrooming of unauthorised units around the city, point out members of the Association.

While the BIS-approved units have to follow stringent norms to avoid cancellation of licence, those functioning without a licence do not have to spend on an elaborate filtration process or testing facilities, they added, alleging that there are about 100 such units operating in the city. “They function like a cottage industry and follow basic filtration process. They brand it as herbal or flavoured water to escape the purview of the BIS,” said A. Shakespeare, the association's general secretary.

Members also point out that unauthorised unit holders often fill water obtained from private tankers and sell them in the bubble-top 20-litre containers of popular brands. They take advantage of the system of reusing the containers after sterilisation in the industry. “We found several such containers bearing popular brand names, ready for despatch at Puzhal recently. The unit holder had obtained the containers through some retailers,” said Mr. Shakespeare.

Members said that most of them were BIS licensees who lost the licence for operation for not maintaining standards. V. Murali, patron of the association, said that the business of herbal water is growing as there is no specification or monitoring by government agencies. “People must also check for ISI mark. When they find difference in taste or distorted labels, they may contact the manufacturer,” he said.

BIS, Southern Region's deputy director general, K. Anbarasu said in the last one year, 52 industrial units have been warned for supplying low quality water as the random samples taken from them failed to meet the standards. Of this, 15 were in and around Chennai.

“We can only monitor those who have licenses. The containers are also checked for quality. However, there is no specified standard for herbal water,” he said.

Bottled water that claims to have added minerals and proprietary food are controlled by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, a newly established department in the city, he added. Officials of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India said that they were awaiting formulation of standards for flavoured water by the Central government.

HC suggests framing separate FSSA rules for restaurants

The Bombay High Court today suggested the Maharashtra government to frame separate rules and regulations under the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) for food service providers like hotels and restaurants.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha was hearing a petition filed by the Association of Indian Hotels and Restaurants (AHAR), which has over 6000 members, challenging the constitutional validity of FSSA 2006 and the Rules and Regulations framed under the Act in 2011.

According to the petitioner association, the provisions of FSSA are not applicable to food service providers like hotels and restaurants as they do not manufacture food.

"The Act deals only with manufacturing of food articles and are mainly and substantially for manufacturing units. In hotels and restaurants food is cooked and served to customers. Cooking of food is not manufacturing," the petition states.

The petition further claims that the FSSA and its rules are ex-facie, ambiguous and unconstitutional and should be declared null and void. The association has sought direction to the government to create separate rules for food service providers and also declare that the FSSA is applicable to manufacturing units.

The bench while issuing notices to the union government, state government and Food Safety and Standards Authority suggested the Maharashtra government to frame new rules for hotels and restaurants.

Eateries raided, goods worth Rs 10,000 seized

Officials attached to the Food Safety and Drug Administration department conducted a surprise raid in bakeries and  roadside eateries located on the busy Gandhi Road, on Thursday. Water cans, bottles and packets of bread worth around Rs 10,000 were seized and destroyed, during the raid.
Officer of the Food Safety Wing, Vellore, Sampathkumar, said, “As many as three sacks of water packets, 20 water cans, each 25-litre capacity, and water bottles were seized and destroyed.” On the water cans that were seized, he said, they should be refilled with water only 40 times. However, the cans that were seized on Thursday had been used more than 40 times and the date of expiry was also not mentioned on them, he said. There was no date of expiry on the water bottles and water packets as well. A few packets of bread and chips, which did not bear the expiry dates, were also seized.
The officials of the department destroyed the food items that were cooked in the open, on the roadside.
Further Sampathkumar said, the public could complain about adulteration of food items by calling him at 9698938880.

One lakh fine imposed on Shimla sweetmeat seller

April 26 (IANS) A sweetmeat seller was fined Rs.one lakh, the highest ever penalty in the state, by a designated officer for selling sweets that failed to comply with the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006, an official said Friday.
Shimla Municipal Corporation health official Omesh Bharti fined the shopkeeper Thursday, after the samples of the sweets seized from his shop were found to be adulterated.
Government sources said the state government had recently delegated powers to all health officers under the food safety act to impose fines on vendors if food samples failed to meet standards set by law.

Misleading Advertisements of Tobacco Products

 Section 5 of “The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003” (COTPA 2003) prohibits all forms of advertisements (direct/indirect) of tobacco products including gutka, except at the points of sale or on the tobacco product packs. Moreover, under Food Safety Regulations, the production, sale, distribution and storage of food items such as gutka and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine is prohibited. Litigation on these issues are pending before Hon’ble Supreme Court.

The advertisement of pan masala (without tobacco or nicotine) is regulated by the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011, dated 1st August, 2011, notified by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Under sections 30 & 31 of this regulation, pan masala can be advertised subject to the condition that every package of Pan Masala and advertisement relating thereto, shall carry the warning, “Chewing of Pan Masala or Supari is injurious to health”.

In recent past, a few advertisements were published in leading national and regional dailies by a body named Smokeless Tobacco Association, raising questions on whether Gutkha was a food product and also implying that Gutkha was less harmful than smoking forms of tobacco and that Food Safety Regulations were discriminatory in nature. To counter the misinformation, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare published a public notice highlighting the medical and legal facts, the harmful effects of all forms of tobacco use and the desirability of quitting tobacco use for a healthy and long life.

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

Clean season fruit of our efforts, say traders

  

Fruits on sale at a shop in Kochi on Thursday. Photo: H. Vibhu

Mango continues to rule Kerala’s fruit market and as the season for the local varieties draws to a close and the flow from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu begins, the question being raised is whether the flourishing market here is going through a cleaning up act.
The question comes up in what fruit sellers have claimed was a squeaky clean season during which no major cases of chemical or pathogenic contamination of fruits were registered. All Kerala Fruit Merchants’ Association claimed on Thursday that it was backing a State-wide campaign to educate sellers to ensure food safety and not to support wrong-doers.
The campaign has been on for two years, says P. V. Hamsa, president of the association. A conscientious effort is being made to ensure that buyers get what they want and not what harms their health, he says.
A food safety officer attributed the near-incident-free season to a general drive last year to detect contamination of fruits, especially of mangoes ripened using dangerous substances.
The fact remains that with the country’s food safety regime in a transitory phase, statutory samples are not being tested. However, random checks that do not enjoy legal backing are on as usual.
A food safety official says that only if statutory samples are collected, tested at public analysts’ laboratories and found wanting in any area, can cases be registered and action against erring vendors be taken.
The Food Safety and Standards Regulations 2011 under Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, which replaced a bunch of Acts such as Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954 and Fruit Products Order 1955, among others, is in its takeoff mode.
An entirely new system to ensure food safety is being established and it will take time to have a full fledged system in place, says food safety commissioner Biju Prabhakar. Meanwhile, random checks are being carried out, says the food safety officer, while pointing out that the mango season has been quiet, with no reports of contamination.
Questions have been raised about wax coating on apples, especially those imported from the United States. Food safety officers have said that wax coating is permitted. They have issued a warning against using stickers on the fruits, a practice that continues in the retail market.
A spokesman for the association of fruit sellers says that apple exporters have testified that the wax used on apples is natural and harmless. A similar claim has been made on the use of stickers, the spokesman adds.
Mr. Hamsa claims that the association has taken on the responsibility of checking the quality of fruits and the last two years have yielded good results on this front. He feels that consumers in Kerala are aware of the quality of the produce they buy and selling bad quality fruits is not a paying proposition for a vendor.

Eating at roadside food stalls could be a risky affair

INDORE: Student Ayush Jain, along with friends, tried a glass of fruit juice to beat the scorching summer heat at a shop at Janzeerwala crossing recently. One glass each of mango juice had them stay in bed for the next three days because of food poisoning. Since then, they eat only at proper restaurants with proper hygiene and environment.

You might get tempted to visit that roadside chat centre everytime you cross a particular street but chances are high that with palate tickling food, you are also served germs free of cost. A number of chat centres, juice shops and other roadside eateries in city are running without any valid licence or permission. Also they are hardly supervised by the officials concerned thus increasing the chances of sale of substandard food and risk to our health.

Raj Thakur owns a tea stall in Vijay Nagar where he also sells snacks and juice. When asked if he had to get a licence or permission for the stall, he said, "I have been running the shop for the past two years and no one ever enquired about the licence or permission. We pay Indore municipal corporation (IMC) a monthly amount of 3,000 with a receipt in return. That is all the documentation we go through. We make sales worth Rs 3,000 everyday."

Owner of another juice centre without licence at Rasoma Crossing , Rakesh Kumar said, "I am from Banaras and for past few years I have been coming to Indore in summers to set up a shop. None ever came to inspect the quality of food or check the availability of licence. We never faced any complication except that we have to pay a nominal fee to municipal corporation staff."

Although registration fee is nominal (Rs100) for registering such small food joints, ignorance about the procedure has led to such a scenario.

Food and drug safety officer, Indore, Manish Swamy said "These small food vendors are put in the category of petty vendors by the government; however the food quality standard guidelines are the same for them. Although we only have 4,000 registered petty vendors in the city, the total number of such food joints might exceed 15,000. Though running such a setup without licence is a punishable offence."

Designated officer, food and drug administration, Dr Ashok Dagaria said "Our department runs continuous checks regularly in different zones across the city. With summers approaching, we will be running thorough inspections around the city to have the situation under control."

Finally, state orders ban on gutka

KOLKATA: In a bid to cut down on the consumption of food products containing tobacco or nicotine in the state, the office of the commissioner of food safety under the state health and family welfare department has issued a notification, prohibiting manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of gutka, pan masala and other products containing tobacco or nicotine as ingredients for a period of one year with effect from May 1.

Ironically, just a day after the notification, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday announced a 10% tax hike on cigarettes and asked people to smoke more so that more revenue is generated and the state is able to compensate the small and medium investors.

Minister of state for health, Chandrima Bhattacharya, however, later said that the prohibition was made only on gutka and pan masala and not on cigarettes.

The notification that was issued on Tuesday says that in "pursuance of regulation 2, 3, and 4 of the Food Safety and Standards (prohibition and restriction on sales) Regulations, 2011, the manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco and nicotine as ingredients, by whatsoever name it is available in the market, is hereby prohibited for a period of one year with effect from the 1st day of May in the state of West Bengal in the interest of public health".

It was in September last year that a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed before the Calcutta high court by an NGO of doctors, seeking a ban on gutka and pan masala. The state government had been mulling the plea for the past seven months.

However, it is yet to be seen how effectively the ban is implemented. Earlier, the state had prohibited smoking in public places and an order was issued stating that anybody who is caught redhanded will be fined. However, the law enforcement has been very weak as so far not a single person in the city has been fined. Moreover, people can be regularly spotted smoking in areas that qualify as public places.

In an attempt to curb down the use of food products that contains tobacco or nicotine as its ingredient, the office of the commissioner of food safety under the state health and family welfare department has issued a notification, prohibiting manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of gutkha and panmasala containing tobacco or nicotine as ingredients for a period of one year with effect from May 1 in the state.

Ironically just a day after the notification, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced a 10% tax hike on cigarettes and asked people to smoke more to generate revenue to compensate the small and medium investors. Minister of state for health Chandrima Bhattacharya however later said that the prohibition was made on gutkha and pan masala only and not on cigarettes.

The state government was pondering to come out with the decision to probihit sale of food which has tobacco or nicotine as their ingredient for quite some time. A few other states have already prohibited tobacco produst like gutkha or pan masala from being sold and used.

The notification that was issued on Tuesday says that in pursuance of regulation 2, 3, and 4 of the Food Safety and Standards (prohibition and restriction on sales) Regulations, 2011, the manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of gutkha and panmasala containing tobacco and nicotine as ingredients, by whatsoever name it is available in the market, is hereby prohibited for a period of one year with effect from the 1st day of May in the state of West Bengal in the interest of public health.

It was September last year that a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed before the Calcutta High Court by an NGO of doctors, seeking a ban on and pan masala.

It is however very much in doubt how much effective the government's effort to curb down use of tobacco products like gutkha or pan masala as the government had earlier come up with the ban of smoking in public places and an order was issued that anybody who would be caught red handed will be fined. However, the law enforcement have been very weak as so far not a single fine have been made in the city as people are seen to smoke everywhere which are termed as public places.

Panel to examine suggestions on sale of quality mutton in JK

Srinagar:The government on Thursday constituted a six-member committee to examine suggestions on slaughtering of animals and sale of quality mutton by the butchers in the Kashmir Valley.
The committee comprising Commissioner, Food Safety as its convener has also been tasked to consider setting up of livestock check posts at Lakhanpur, Lower Munda and Hirpora Shopian in state.
The members of the committee include administrative Secretaries of CAPD and Animal & Sheep Husbandry Department besides Special/Additional Secretary Finance Department (Incharge of taxation), Health Officers of Jammu and Srinagar Municipal Corporations.
“The Committee shall submit its report to the Health and Medical Education Department within a week’s time,” the government said.
The decision was taken apropos to the directions by a division bench of court comprising Justices Mohammad Yaqoob Mir and Janak Raj Kotwal last month.
The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation, seeking effective implementation of Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
The court had observed that there is deficient mechanism in place to check slaughtering of animals and sale of quality mutton by the butchers in the Valley.
Subsequently, the bench had asked advocate B A Khan, standing counsel Srinagar Municipal Corporation, about it.
The latter had produced a copy of suggestions as formulated by the Municipal Veterinary Officer, SMC, regarding the issue and court put it on record while terming it as apposite.
Accordingly, the court had directed Chief Secretary to constitute relevant committee, who shall examine the suggestions and asked the top bureaucrat of the state to file compliance by or before next date of the hearing.

Re-launch of pepper futures likely

Pepper futures contracts on commodity exchanges might be re-launched soon when the controversial mineral oil issue is resolved.

The issue had rocked the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and led to sealing of 8,000 tonnes of the commodity in Kochi and suspension of trade in December 2012. The Forward Markets Commission (FMC) had asked the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) to resolve the issue before granting permission to re-launch the contracts, temporarily suspended a few months ago.

Following this, NCDEX released the payment for testing the samples of pepper sealed by FSSAI, applying for new contracts afresh. As FMC didn't mention mineral oil testing in the contract, it chose to suspend the contract to avoid controversy. Meanwhile, the mineral oil issue related to the pepper stocks sealed by FSSAI in Kochi has gradually lost relevance.

Used to polish sub-standard pepper, mineral oil evaporates after three months. That FSSAI is in no hurry to release the sealed pepper is evident from the fact that a random check of two lots (of nine tonnes and 24 tonnes) in February found no trace of mineral oil.

The two lots were found deposited by farmers who, according to experts, did not have adequate resources and skill for mineral oil polishing.

However, now, FSSAI has changed the evaluation method. Against random checks earlier, it is now evaluating the stocks through the cleansing method---samples from all packets are taken for testing in an independent laboratory. "We are aware of the fact that pepper absorbs mineral oil and chances are the traces of mineral oil, if any, would evaporate over time.

Hence, instead of random checks earlier, we are carrying out the cleansing method of sampling, which would necessarily call for samples from every pack," said Anil Kumar, joint commissioner of FSSAI, Thiruvananthapuram.

FSSAI's Kerala unit had, on December 18, sealed about 8,000 tonnes of pepper, worth Rs 300 crore, in various warehouses registered with NCDEX.

Experts at the Spices Board have already started issuing the analytical report. "As soon as we get the analytical report from the Spices Board, we would release the quantity," said Kumar.

Mineral oil is banned in India, and it isn't used with edible commodities.

ஏற்காட்டில் உள்ள கடைகளில் உணவு பாதுகாப்பு குழு ஆய்வு

ஏற்காடு: ஏற்காட்டில், ஒண்டிக்கடை, ஏரி பகுதியில் உள்ள கடைகளில், உணவு பாதுகாப்பு குழுவினர், நேற்று ஆய்வு மேற்கொண்டனர்.சேலம் மாவட்டத்தில், காலாவதியான உணவுப் பொருட்கள் அதிகளவில் விற்கப்படுகிறது. பொதுமக்களும், அவற்றில் அக்கறை கொள்ளாமல், பொருட்களை வாங்கிச் செல்கின்றனர். இதனால், உடல் உபாதைக்கு ஆளாகி மருத்துவ சிகிச்சை பெறும் நிலை உள்ளது.மாவட்ட உணவு பாதுகாப்பு நியமன அலுவலர் அனுராதா தலைமையில் உணவு பாதுகாப்பு குழு, சேலம் மாவட்ட பகுதிகளில், தொடர்ந்து ஆய்வு மேற்கொண்டு வருகின்றனர்.நேற்று, ஏற்காட்டில் உள்ள கடைகளில் ஆய்வு செய்தனர். ஏரியை சுற்றிலும் உள்ள கடைகளில், காலாவதியான குளிர்பானங்கள், உணவு பொருட்கள் இருப்பில் இருந்தது தெரியவந்தது. அவற்றை பறிமுதல் செய்தனர். 60க்கும் மேற்பட்ட கடைகளில் ஆய்வு மேற்கொள்ளப்பட்டது.மேலும், ஸ்டெர்லிங் ஹோட்டலில் ஆய்வு நடத்தியபோது, இறைச்சியையும், ஐஸ்கிரீமையும் ஒரே பிரீஸரில் வைத்து இருந்ததும், காய்கறிகள் அனைத்தும் பூஞ்சை காளான் படர்ந்து இருந்ததும் தெரியவந்தது. அதையடுத்து, சம்மந்தப்பட்ட ஹோட்டல் நிர்வாகத்துக்கு எச்சரிக்கை விடுக்கப்பட்டது.ஒரு வாரத்துக்குள், சுகாதாரமான முறையில் ஹோட்டலை அமைக்க வேண்டும் என உத்தரவிடப்பட்டது. ஆய்வில், உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அலுவலர்கள் சரவணன், சிவானந்தன், சிரஞ்சீவி, ஆறுச்சாமி, ரவி உள்ளிட்டோர் பங்கேற்றனர்.