May 11, 2013
FDA raids 6 shops, adulterated oil worth Rs 8.54 lakh seized
PUNE: In six separate
raids, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials seized edible
oil of a particular brand worth Rs 8.54 lakh, from six traders, on
suspicion of adulteration, on Thursday. Five traders were from Pune and
one was from Chinchwad.
"Our vigilance department in Mumbai informed us about the adulteration, following which our food safety officials seized stock of refined edible oil from six traders in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. The seized oil stock is worth Rs 8.54 lakh. We have drawn 10 samples and sent them for tests to our laboratory in Mumbai. Further action will be initiated based on the report, which is expected in the next 15 days," said Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner (food), FDA, Pune.
"The primary report we received was about blending of cheap form of edible oil with sunflower and soybean oil. Hence, we directed our officials to raid the shops of oil distributors in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad," Kekare added.
Food safety officials K B Jadhav, Parag Nalawade, Prashant Gunjal, Vijay Unawane, Avinash Dabhade and Uday Lohakare conducted the raids.
Edible oil is a major source of fat, where the quality of the oil cannot be compromised. As the demand increases, adulteration of edible oil with cheaper oil is also prevalent.
The vigilance department recently raided several oil mills, took samples and found packets of sunflower, soybean, groundnut oil, refilled with cotton seed oil. "There are instances where miscreants remove oil from tins of reputed brands and mix it with ordinary palm oil or any other cheap variety of oil or a cheap form of oil blended with a good quality one. Adulteration of oil has become rampant," said Dipak Sangat, assistant commissioner (food), FDA, Pune.
At present, 80% of edible oil in the country is sold in loose form, which according to trade sources, is in the blended form. For example, refined sunflower oil or soybean oil in loose form is a blend of the respective oil and palm oil in a ratio of 65:35.
According to experts, such impurities are difficult to identify, as the blending of palm oil does not change the physical property or taste of the product.
But it changes the chemical property, which affects the consumers' health in the long run. Selling of loose edible oil is not permitted in developed countries.
"Our vigilance department in Mumbai informed us about the adulteration, following which our food safety officials seized stock of refined edible oil from six traders in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. The seized oil stock is worth Rs 8.54 lakh. We have drawn 10 samples and sent them for tests to our laboratory in Mumbai. Further action will be initiated based on the report, which is expected in the next 15 days," said Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner (food), FDA, Pune.
"The primary report we received was about blending of cheap form of edible oil with sunflower and soybean oil. Hence, we directed our officials to raid the shops of oil distributors in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad," Kekare added.
Food safety officials K B Jadhav, Parag Nalawade, Prashant Gunjal, Vijay Unawane, Avinash Dabhade and Uday Lohakare conducted the raids.
Edible oil is a major source of fat, where the quality of the oil cannot be compromised. As the demand increases, adulteration of edible oil with cheaper oil is also prevalent.
The vigilance department recently raided several oil mills, took samples and found packets of sunflower, soybean, groundnut oil, refilled with cotton seed oil. "There are instances where miscreants remove oil from tins of reputed brands and mix it with ordinary palm oil or any other cheap variety of oil or a cheap form of oil blended with a good quality one. Adulteration of oil has become rampant," said Dipak Sangat, assistant commissioner (food), FDA, Pune.
At present, 80% of edible oil in the country is sold in loose form, which according to trade sources, is in the blended form. For example, refined sunflower oil or soybean oil in loose form is a blend of the respective oil and palm oil in a ratio of 65:35.
According to experts, such impurities are difficult to identify, as the blending of palm oil does not change the physical property or taste of the product.
But it changes the chemical property, which affects the consumers' health in the long run. Selling of loose edible oil is not permitted in developed countries.
Sale of sip-ups, ice in shops banned in Kollam
District Collector P.G. Thomas has issued orders banning the production
and sale of sip-ups (a form of ice-cream packed in plastic tubes) and
use of ice in shops selling fruit juices in the district for a period of
three weeks.
The order, issued under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,
comes into force with immediate effect, and has been issued in the wake
of a hepatitis A threat looming large in Kollam.
Report
The Collector issued the orders while acting upon an alert sounded in a
report submitted by epidemiologist Rakesh P.S. attached to the
Integrated Disease Surveillance Project, Kollam, through the District
Medical Officer on Friday.
The report says that ice used for edible purposes and sip-ups is made from water of “terribly poor” quality.
In the order banning these two products, the Collector said the quality
of these two products provided sufficient ground for banning their sale
to prevent the spread of hepatitis A.
The report says that ice for edible purpose is largely drawn from
streams and ponds that contain water unfit for drinking. Such ice is
manufactured under licence for the fishing industry, but it is also sold
for edible purposes.
Contact numbers
The Collector has directed the District Food Safety Officer to strictly enforce the order with the help of the police.
Complaints or information on sale of the banned products can be passed
on to the food safety officer on phone number 0474 2766950.
Any shops using ice should ensure that it is made from water that is safe for drinking.
The report has also expressed concern over the quality of drinking water supplied in tanker lorries and other vehicles.
Supply, a business
Since the supply has become a business, even water of poor quality is
being sold to people. The report calls for strict regulations in this
supply.
In tanker lorries
In view of this observation, the Collector has issued an order that
water should be purchased only from those persons who have the permit
issued by the Food Safety Officer, and the licence should be displayed.
All vehicles engaged in distributing drinking water should prominently display that it is for drinking water purpose.
When not for drinking
If the water is transported for any other purpose, the vehicle should display “not for drinking water purpose” signs.
This is mainly because water meant for construction purposes is also sold as drinking water.
The inner portion of the tanks carrying drinking water should be coated with permitted coating material.
U.S. report quantifies risk of listeria in deli foods
(Reuters) - Some simple safety techniques for food handling and preparation could help delicatessens and other food stores cut the risk of customers developing the potentially deadly foodborne illness of listeriosis, according to a U.S. government report released on Friday.
The report by the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration, recommended strict control of temperature during refrigeration, better cleaning and sanitizing of food contact surfaces and wearing gloves while serving customers.
The report analyzed the risk of illness associated with listeria monocytogenes, or L. monocytogenes pathogen, from food prepared and sold in delicatessens and other retail food stores.
L. monocytogenes is a pathogen that has long been of concern to public health officials. The CDC estimates that it causes about 1,600 illnesses, 1,500 hospitalizations, and 260 deaths a year. Though relatively rare compared with other major foodborne illnesses, it has a fatality rate of about 16 percent, compared with just 0.5 percent for Salmonella or Escherichia coli.
Investigators simulated the retail deli environment and evaluated how certain sanitary and food handling practices could influence the risk of developing listeriosis from ready-to-eat foods that are sliced, prepared or packaged in retail grocery delis.
They found that employing basic practices that prevent growth of the bacteria dramatically reduced the predicted risk of listeriosis.
Some of the main sources of L. monocytogenes are the slicer for deli meats and cheeses and salad utensils for the deli salads. These can lead to cross-contamination of other foods. Controlling cross-contamination at these points reduced the predicted risk of listeriosis, according to the report.
The study "improves our understanding of L. monocytogenes in the retail deli and should encourage improvements to retail food safety practices and mitigation strategies," the report notes, adding that additional data would be useful to further explore how more specific retail practices and conditions such as equipment design, impact the risk of listeriosis.
Azad writes to food regulator on bottled water safety
Press Trust of India | 11-May 03:56 AM
New Delhi: After complaints about safety of bottled water sold in the national capital, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has written to the food regulator to check the bottling plants supplying such drinking water in Delhi and their water sources. The minister has also written to the Food Safety and Standards Association (FSSA) to check the chemical contents in the water bottles sold in and around Delhi and whether they are fit for human consumption.In a letter to FSSAI, which is responsible for maintaining standards of quality in anything consumed by people, Azad on Friday asked the food regulator to depute teams to check water samples of all water sources and test the plants of bottling companies. Health Ministry sources said Azad's letters follows numerous complaints received by him about poor quality of bottled water sold in the open market.
The Minister asked the regulator to check the contents of chemicals and ascertain their permissible limits to check if the bottling companies are using proper purification systems. Sources say the complaints refer to certain water sources from where the bottling plants are getting raw water and allege that the companies are using chemicals above the permissible limits to purify the water. Sources said the water samples of all brands, including those manufactured by top MNCs and government-run companies, would be taken.
Watch out for those bright colours in your food; they are banned
A study, conducted on milk-based sweets consumed in India showed that
nearly 60% of food colours used in Indian sweets are well above legal
limits and as much as 16.4% are non-permitted colours.
A study by Sumita Dixit—a researcher at the Indian Institute of
Toxicology Research, Food, Drug and Chemical Toxicology Research Area
(IITR)—published by the Journal of Food Science has come to the
startling conclusion that Indian sweet makers go overboard with
artificial colouring. While this is evident in the pink and green
sweets, yellow and orange jelebis that we consumer with relish, there is
not a scientific study that
establishes the danger. Ms Dixit's study analyzed 2,409 samples of
milk-based sweets, cereal-based sweets and savoury products. Of this
sample, 83.6% contained permitted colours, but 58% of these were over
the maximum allowable concentration limit of 100 mg/kg and the remaining
16.4% contained dangerous non-permitted colours. This has bought the
total number of adulterated products in India to 64.8%.
The study showed that Rhodamine B, followed by Orange II and Metanil
Yellow, were the two most common non-permitted or banned colours that
were used. It is important to note that Rhodamine B is a cancer causing
colouring agent that gives a pink colour but is actually meant for use
in the plastics and textile industry. It gives a pink colour to sweets
and is also used by shrimp paste makers to give it a fresh it a reddish
brown hue. In many countries the use of Rhodamine B has been banned for
50 years and attracts a jail term, if used. Metanil yellow, which is
widely used, is also banned and a study on rats showed that it affects
the brain.
Another research was conducted to assess how often Indian consumers ate
colour-containing products at a national level. The study found that
children and adolescents had higher average daily consumption of such
foods than adults, potentially posing a health risk.
The researchers said, “On the basis of average consumption of food
commodities and average levels of detected colours, the intake of Sunset
Yellow FCF saturates the acceptable daily intake limit to a maximum of
47.8% in children, which is a cause of concern”. Sunset Yellow has
previously been linked to hyperactivity in children and Tartrazine, a
lemon yellow colour, was the most common permitted colour. An earlier
study found ADI limits were exceeded in 36% of food use in India.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India permits eight
synthetic colours in specified foods at a uniform level of 100 mg/kg,
while the acceptable daily intake ADI for food colours varies from 0.1
to 25 mg/kg body weight per day. The researchers said that these rules
needed to be reviewed. The rule relating to the uniform maximum
permissible limit of synthetic colours should be governed by
technological necessity and the consumption profiles of the food
commodities, in order to prevent people from unnecessarily getting
exposed to excessive amounts of synthetic colours which can risk their
health. Also the saturation of ADI limits in the commodities which is up to 48% is a cause of concern.
Quality of packaged water under FSSAI scrutiny
Waking up to a spate of complaints from various quarters about quality of packaged water, Union Health Ministry has asked the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to probe the matter and submit a report within a month.
In his order, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has suggested the FSSAI to pick random samples from the bottled water being sold in the market as well as look into the procedure being adopted by the water bottling plants.
He has also asked if the water units are following the specifications laid by the Indian Standards as formulated by the BIS. The move follows concerns that the water being sold in the bottles is not up to the mark and could result into various waterborne diseases.
However, in the wake of Azad's order while the FSSAI is likely to ask the State Food Departments to collect the samples, it is a known fact that many small water manufacturing units across the country are either misusing the ISI mark or using the fake mark to cash in on the rising demand for the bottled water from health conscious consumers, including foreigners.
For instance, in a recent raid in Chennai, the CBI and BIS sleuths found that a majority of the 300-odd packaged drinking water plants from where samples were taken up for analysis did not have a laboratory or microbiologist, mandatory for assessing and certifying the quality of the water.
In fact, a large number of packaged drinking water units are operating across the country without a licence or a BIS standard mark, as the same is not mandatory under the laws.
Moreover, the BIS, which is a national body for certification of standards, and the food departments in the States keep shifting the liability on each other.
While the BIS has been arguing that it could not haul up offenders because the certification was not a legal requirement, the State Food Departments stand is that unless the product displayed a label stating "packaged drinking water" and was sold with a sealed cap, no action could be taken under the related Rules.
The sources said that going by the number of existing licences, the total size of the bottled water market is above Rs2,500 crore.
Is bottled water in the market fit for consumption, asks Azad
Health Minister asks Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to conduct tests on market samples
Concerned about the quality of bottled water being
supplied to the general public, the Union Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare has asked the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to
collect water samples from across the country and test “whether the
bottled water available to the common man in the market is fit for human
consumption”.
According to a senior official in the
Ministry, the Ministry received several complaints from various sources
pointing to the compromised water quality and purification methods.
On
Friday, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad
noted that bottled water being supplied to the general public needed to
be tested to ensure that allegations about contamination and companies
not maintaining adequate quality checks were being looked into on a
priority basis.
“The Ministry has received many
complaints about companies using contaminated ground water and not
cleaning the water adequately, and worse, using chemicals which are
harmful for human consumption,” said a senior official at the Ministry.
The
official said the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India had been
asked to look into the purification process and ensure that chemicals
used were within the permissible limits and not harmful to human beings:
“The Authority is required to submit its report within a month.”
Ensure chemicals used are within permissible limits, safe, FSSAI told
There have been allegations of contamination, inadequate quality checks
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