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TNFS Dept. - Sivagangai Dist. News

Eateries near hospitals serve low quality food

KOZHIKODE: Be more cautious while eating out at hotels and restaurants operating near hospitals, bus stands and railway stations.
According to the food safety department, hotels targeting the floating population are least concerned about the quality and hygiene aspects.
A 'hot spot list' of hotels was prepared as part of the on-going monsoon special food safety drives in the district following the special directive issued by the food safety commissioner.
The list was prepared after collecting information on the operation of hotels. "Most of the hotels listed fall in the regions near bus stands, hospitals and railway station," said Muhammed Rafi, designated officer Kozhikode.
The eateries near hospital and bus stands show lapse in keeping hygiene as they do not depend on regular customers for their business, he added.
The food safety officials had listed more than 50 hotels in the list. According to officials not less than 70 per cent of the hotels in the list were found violating food safety norms. Eateries near education institutions also are included in the list, according to officials.
The special squad started the raids in the district on June 25 and have completed the inspection of over 30 hotels in the list.
Of the total number of inspected hotels 18 were found violating food safety standards.
Attesting the opinion, a food safety official said that hotels operating in rural areas are more conscious of customer satisfaction and health as they would lose their business if some health problems are caused. The hotels near hospitals are exploiting the hapless patients and bystanders by providing low quality food, he added.
While five hotels, two at Moffussil Bus Stand, Canteen at Kozhikode Medical College and two hotels at Cheruvannoor were asked to close down.
The hotels can resume operation only after re-inspection by the officials with the food safety authority, said the designated officer.
Besides, 12 hotels were served notice by the department officials citing lapses on maintaining hygiene. "In most of the cases the serving boys, cooks and other staff of the hotel were not having medical certificates to prove their fitness," said food safety official.
Preservation of cooked and raw meet in the same refrigerator, which would cause cross contamination, absence of lids for cooked food, use of polluted water for cooking were found in hotels those were served notice.
"We have also charged fine on some hotels on reviewing the gravity of their offences," said Muhammed Rafi.The raids will continue in the coming days and all hotels will be inspected, he added.

Pizza, delivered with a side of attempted rape

There’s one thing that an Indian household has always had: trustworthy strangers. Home delivery may be a modern term, but it’s been part of the average Indian home for decades. Thanks to people like the vegetable and fruit seller, the person who brings the ironed clothes and the domestic help, an Indian household is an ecosystem composed partially of strangers. In it, the food delivery man is a recent entrant, but he has quickly become entrenched in the daily routine of urban Indian households. Especially the pizza delivery boy.

According to a report by the National Restaurant Association of India, around 80% of consumers order in food at least twice a month at the minimum. Italian cuisine — which in home delivery terms consists mainly of pizza – is the most popular cuisine to be ‘ordered in’ in India. The pizza delivery boy is someone most people wait for anxiously and greet with a grin. He isn’t someone from whom we expect to need protection.

It’s this assumption that led to a young woman being assaulted and almost raped by a pizza delivery boy. A 17-year-old delivery boy returned after making an initial delivery on some pretext, and after attempting to rape the woman, bashed her head in, and then ran away.

Turns out, there is no official vetting process to decide delivery boys. Amar Jhunjhunwala, 46, who owns a fast food joint in Chembur that enjoys enthusiastic patronage from families in the neighbourhood, said, “I’ve never done a background check on a delivery boy, I have to admit. Why would I feel the need? And none of the other restaurant managers I know have done it either. It’s the most basic function of a restaurant.”

But can’t delivery boys at least be vetted as those who have been in the restaurant’s employ for a while? “It actually works the other way,” says Jhunjhunwala, who ran a burger joint in Andheri (East) for five years before starting his second restaurant in Chembur. “Boys work in delivery, and slowly make their way up to the kitchen and managerial roles. Of course, with this incident, I’m sure all restaurant owners are going to be very careful.”

Someone who won’t have a chance to be careful is the owner of Chovisum, the outlet whose delivery boy is guilty of assault and attempted rape. The owner, Swapnil Parab, has seen his business disappear since the incident. “The boy was a dropout who usually never makes deliveries,” Parab insisted in media reports in the Mumbai Mirror and the Hindustan Times. “It was just this time…he’s ruined my business.”

Is there any hope for a regulatory process to be enforced in the restaurant delivery business? According to a member of the National Restaurant Association of India, who spoke to us on the condition of anonymity, it’s almost impossible. “There are many neighbourhood restaurants which are not accounted for by us,” he said. But he admitted that more can be done to ensure a consumer’s safety. “An in-house vetting process should be non-negotiable.”

At present, the Food Safety and Standards regulations are the only rules by which Indian restaurants have to abide. These regulations cover aspects like salary and training of restaurant employees, but do not touch upon home deliveries, which are an increasingly important part of the Indian food industry.

Till then? Recently, after reading the report of the 25-year-old woman being assaulted by the Chovisum employee, a friend of mine and I tried to reconfigure the logistics of accepting home delivery.

“Should we keep the door-chain latched and pass the money through it?” she suggested.

“But a pizza won’t fit through the chain-gap,” I pointed out.

“I guess we could ask them to leave it outside, and take it when the delivery guy is done,” she said triumphantly.

So this could soon be the new guideline to prevent rape: skulk behind your door when receiving a delivery, wait till the sound of steps has faded away, then dart out quickly, grab your food and run back in.

FDA extends ban on Chinese milk products

PUNE: Extending the ban on Chinese milk products by a year, the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) on Friday said that they would initiate strict action against those found selling them in and around Pune.
The ban on import of milk and milk products, including chocolate products, candies, confectionery and food preparations having milk as an ingredient, from China has been extended from June 23.
"Import of milk and milk products from China has been banned in the country as melamine, an industrial chemical which could prove to be harmful if consumed, was found in some dairy products imported from China. The ban has been in force since 2008 and was extended periodically. An extension in ban of one more year from June 23 has now been granted," said Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner (food), FDA, Pune division.
Melamine is described as being harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Chronic exposure may cause cancer or reproductive damage.
The Food Safety and Standard Authority of India held consultation with the concerned departments and ministries to review the ban on June 6, based on which, the ban has been extended. The ban on Chinese milk products has been extended at least five times since 2008.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade had first banned import of Chinese milk products in September 2008 after reports suggested that they contained melamine, which damages kidneys in the long run.
"Chinese dairy farmers were using this chemical to increase their profit margins. First, they diluted milk by 30% and to show it has good protein content, they added melamine which is rich in nitrogen the way proteins are. A quality control equipment is designed to detect nitrogen and not melamine," said another official.
"Most of the chocolates were passed off as good by the quality control system after the equipment detected required nitrogen content in milk products," the official said.
The ban has also been extended as doubts lingered about any improvement in the quality of milk from China.

TNFS Dept. - Salem Dist. News

41 குடிநீர் நிறுவனங்களின் தர பரிசோதனை முடிந்தது: ஜூலை 2ல் அறிக்கை தாக்கல்

சென்னையில் செயல்படும், குடிநீர் தயாரிப்பு நிறுவனங்களில் இருந்து, விற்பனைக்கு அனுப்பப்படும் குடிநீர், பாதுகாப்பற்றதாக இருப்பது ஆய்வில் தெரிய வந்ததால், தேசிய பசுமை தீர்ப்பாயம் (தென் மண்டலம்) தானாக முன் வந்து, வழக்கு பதிந்து விசாரித்து வருகிறது.

சென்னை, காஞ்சிபுரம், திருவள்ளூர் மாவட்டங்களில், அனுமதியின்றி செயல்பட்ட, 92 குடிநீர் நிறுவனங்கள் மூடப்பட்டன. இதில், 85 நிறுவனங்களின் குடிநீர் மாதிரி எடுத்து பரிசோதித்ததில், தர பரிசோதனையில் தேறிய, 51 நிறுவனங்கள் மீண்டும் செயல்பட அனுமதிக்கப்பட்டன. பசுமைத் தீர்ப்பாயம் உத்தரவின்படி, மீதமுள்ள, 41 நிறுவனங்களில், மாசுக் கட்டுப்பாட்டு வாரிய அதிகாரிகள், மீண்டும் குடிநீர் மாதிரிகளை எடுத்து, தர பரிசோதனைக்காக, உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறையிடம் ஒப்படைத்தனர். உணவு பாதுகாப்புத் துறையின் ஆய்வகத்தில், இரண்டு வாரமாக பரிசோதனை நடந்தது. பரிசோதனை முடிக்கப்பட்டு, அது பற்றிய விவரங்களை, உணவு பாதுகாப்புத் துறை, முறைப்படி, மாசுக் கட்டுப்பாட்டு வாரியத்திற்கு நேற்று அனுப்பப்பட்டது. இதில், எத்தனை நிறுவனங்களின் குடிநீர் தரமாக இருந்தது. எத்தனை நிறுவனங்களின் குடிநீர் தரமில்லாமல் இருந்தது என்ற விவரம், ரகசியமாக வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. இது குறித்து, மாசுக் கட்டுப்பாட்டு வாரிய அதிகாரி ஒருவர் கூறுகையில், "41 நிறுவனங்களில், இரண்டாம் முறை எடுத்த குடிநீர் மாதிரி பரிசோதனை முடிவு கிடைத்துள்ளது. இதை ஒருங்கிணைத்து, அறிக்கை தயாரித்து வருகிறோம். அந்த அறிக்கை, ஜூலை, 2ம் தேதி, பசுமைத் தீர்ப்பாயத்தில் சமர்ப்பிக்கப்படும்' என்றார்.
இரண்டு மாதத்திற்கு மேலாக முடங்கியுள்ள, 41 குடிநீர் நிறுவனங்களும் மீண்டும் செயல்படுமா என்பது, ஜூலை, 2ம் தேதி தெரிய வரும்.