NOTIFICATION - LICENSE NUMBER DISPLAY ON LABELLING

நிகோட்டின் சோதனைக்கு பின் "ரெய்டு' உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அதிகாரிகள் "ஐடியா'

மேட்டூர்: பகுப்பாய்வு மூலம், புகையிலை பொருட்களில் நிகோட்டின் இருப்பதை உறுதி செய்த பின், கடைகளில் சோதனை நடத்த உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை அதிகாரிகள் திட்டமிட்டுள்ளனர்.
தமிழகத்தில் புகையிலை, பான்மசாலா, குட்கா போன்ற போதை பொருட்கள் விற்பனை செய்வதற்கு தடை விதிக்கப்பட்டதையடுத்து, ஜூன், 22 முதல், உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை மாவட்ட நியமன அலுவலர்கள், ஆய்வாளர்கள் கடைகளில் சட்ட விரோதமாக விற்பனை செய்த பான்மசாலா, குட்காவை பறிமுதல் செய்தனர்.
இந்நிலையில், ஜூலை, 30ம் தேதி, உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை கமிஷனர் அனுப்பிய சுற்றறிக்கையில், "உணவு பொருட்களில் புகையிலை மற்றும் நிகோட்டின் கலக்காமல் இருப்பதை உறுதி செய்வதே தடை ஆணையின் நோக்கம். பான்பராக், குட்காவுக்கான தடையை காரணம் காட்டி, உணவு பாதுகாப்பு சட்டத்துக்கு உள்படாத புகையிலை தயாரிப்பாளர்கள், வணிகம் செய்வோரை துன்புறுத்த கூடாது. வணிகம் செய்பவர்களிடத்தில் பொருட்களை பறிமுதல் செய்வதோ, பயமுறுத்துவதோ கூடாது' என கூறப்பட்டிருந்தது.
அதன்படி, புகையிலை பொருட்கள் விற்பனையை தடுக்க, உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை அலுவலர்கள் புதிய முறையில் நடவடிக்கைக்கு மேற்கொண்டுள்ளனர்.
இது குறித்து உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை அலுவலர் ஒருவர் கூறியதாவது:
விழுங்காமல், வாயில் வைத்து மென்றால் கூட உடலில் மாற்றத்தை ஏற்படுத்துவதால், புகையிலை உணவு பொருளாகி விடுகிறது. மேலும், போதை பொருள் தடுப்பு சட்டத்தின்படி, நிகோட்டின் கலந்த கலந்த உணவு பொருட்கள் விற்பனையை தடை செய்ய முடியும். புகையிலையில் இயற்கையாவே நிக்கோட்டின் கலந்துள்ளது. இதனால், பறிமுதல் செய்த பான்பராக், குட்கா, பாக்கெட் புகையிலை சாம்பிள் உணவு பகுப்பாய்வு கூடத்துக்கு பரிசோதனைக்கு அனுப்பி வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.
பரிசோதனையில், ஒவ்வொரு போதை வஸ்துகளிலும், எத்தனை சதவீதம் நிக்கோட்டின் கலந்துள்ளது என்பது, ஆதாரபூர்வமாக தெரிந்து விடும். அதன் பின், கடைகளில் அதிரடி ஆய்வு மேற்கொண்டு, புகையிலை சார்ந்த போதை பொருட்கள் விற்பனைக்கு தடை விதிக்க வாய்ப்புள்ளது. இவ்வாறு அவர் கூறினார்.

Soon children across India will eat healthy food

Sale of junk food in school canteens across the country is likely to be banned soon. In its draft guidelines submitted to the Delhi high court to regulate the sale of junk food and aerated drinks in and around schools, the Centre has said that to begin with, the schools in Delhi could “regulate or phase out” the sale of unhealthy food and the same model would then be extended to the rest of the country.
In its 35-page document submitted before the court, the Centre, through the health ministry, has said that to rein in obesity and hypertension among children, schools must regulate the sale of junk food items such as burgers, pizzas, chips, samosas and colas. Schools have also been asked to discourage binging among students.
School canteens must make available fresh fruits, green leafy vegetables, and whole grain and pulse based food items, the guidelines state. It also stresses on making healthy food easily available in schools and pricing the same moderately to make them accessible to children.
“The problem of obesity among children is on the rise mainly due to reckless dietary habits. Based on a study conducted by the health ministry and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, we can say that junk food items such as burgers, pizzas, chips, fries, samosas, biscuits etc. sold rampantly in school and college canteens contain no vitamins or proteins and are instead high on salt, sugar and saturated fat.
The food available in and around schools thus, must be nutritionally balanced,” the draft document reads.
“Leafy vegetables and fruits enhance the immunity of children and provides minerals and vitamins. Authorities must encourage consumption of locally available and seasonal vegetables and fruits in schools. School canteens must come up with diversified diets with a judicious mix of a variety of food groups. Cereals, millets and pulses must also included in food items available in canteens,” read the guidelines.
Besides regulating the quality of food, the Centre’s draft guidelines also stresses on regulating the quantity of food items available in canteen keeping in mind the calorie count and nutritional needs of children of different age groups.
“Economics can play a crucial role in encouraging the consumption of healthy foods, Studies indicate that reduction in the prices of healthy foods leads to the rise in their consumption. School managements, canteen committees etc should work effectively towards subsidising the price of healthy food items and selling them in and around schools,” the Centre has said.
The government has also suggested advertising the benefits of consuming healthy food through television and social media.
The high court is likely to take cognisance of the report in the coming week.

Trade bodies wary of new food safety law

Hygiene has often been a debatable aspect of street foods and small eateries situated in every nook and cranny of the city, however, the Government has taken the task of setting things right and ensuring that what is being served doesn’t make people sick.

However, Government’s route to hygiene — Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Amendment Regulations, 2013 — has given trade bodies goose bumps as they are wary of the sweeping powers vested in the authority under the provisions. “The penalties are too severe for small businessmen to bear. It can’t be justified so we would like the Government to reconsider the provisions,” said FJCCI Spokesperson Suresh Agrawal.

The trade association fears that the sweeping powers would only contribute to corruption and may promote blackmailing by the authorities entitled to inflict penalty. While the monetary punishment for the violations of the provisions are in the bracket of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh provisions of awarding punishment upto seven years has sent hoteliers in tizzy. Failing to pay penalty would invite termination of license besides auctioning property of the offender. “Street vendors will become extinct in a matter of days,” said a small eatery owner in Kanke road.

Notably, a double whammy of monetary punishment and imprisonment is been opposed by FJCCI with tooth and nail as the association feels that maintaining standards of packaged food products is a responsibility of a manufacturer not the seller.  “Many small ration shop owners do not even make profit equivalent to the minimum penalty stipulated in the regulation,” said Sushil

Yadav a ration shop owner in Dhawan Nagar. Meanwhile, under the amended regulation a competent authority will set the standards for the businesses to emulate. For instance, there will be a set parameter for fortified aata or maida with predetermined quantities for its ingredients. The authorities will also set the quantity of a particular substance in food product.

Visitors get a taste of millet’s versatility

Participants prepare delicacies from millets at a competition organised at the venue of Traditional Food Festival in Tiruchi on Thursday.

Consumers at traditional food festival advised to shun junk food

A traditional food festival featuring a variety of dishes made from minor millets such as finger millet (kelvaragu), foxtail millet (thenai), kodo millet (varagu), pearl millet (kambu), and sorghum (cholam), was inaugurated by T.P. Poonachi, Minister for Khadi and Village Industries, here on Thursday.

Chief whip and MLA R. Manoharan, District Collector Jayashee Muralidharan, and Mayor A. Jaya were present at the event which was organised by the Agriculture Department. The aim of the festival was to create awareness among the public about the benefits and importance of traditional food items.

Ms. Jayashree said that today’s generation had moved away from traditional food and consumes junk food such as colas and pizzas which affected their health. “We all are awed by colas. The public should avoid such harmful items and consume traditional and healthy items such as coconut water,” she said.

Adding that dishes such as biryani, pizzas, and biscuits could be prepared from millets, apart from usual items such as idli and dosa, she said it was necessary to bring back youth and children to their roots by using millets.

Ms. Jayashree and Mr. Poonachi together released a special recipe book providing details about the dishes prepared using millets and the procedure, importance as well as benefits to preparing and consuming them.

The one-day event, held at Kalaiarangam Marriage Hall, attracted many visitors who sampled the interesting food that was made out of pulses, minor millets, and lesser known grains.

Unusual dishes such as varagu idlis, thenai pongal, multigrain laddus, haverkorral (kaadaikanni) biscuits, ragi murukkus, kelvaragu biryani, and kambu urundai, were available and a few were served in man sattis in traditional style.

Entry was free for the festival in which women’s forums, women’s self-help groups, restaurant associations, home science colleges, and government and private colleges of catering and hotel management, displayed and sold food items made of minor millets at low prices in stalls.

They educated visitors about the uses and benefits of millets.

“I never knew that there was a millet called haverkorral (kaadaikanni) and that one can make biscuits using it. This festival is useful as I learnt a lot about these traditional food items and got a chance to taste many unique dishes,” said P. Rajeswari, a housewife.

Food officers from the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India), State government as well as Union government offices put up stalls where they enlightened public on the methods to detect adulterations in salt, mustard, tea powder, and pepper. People learnt not to be misled by false advertisements and the importance of paying only the MRP while purchasing items.

“I now know how to distinguish between nai kadugu and normal kadugu. It is easy to spot the difference if one uses magnifying glasses and looks closely. I understood the side effects of consuming adulterated food,” said M. Priya, student of a private college.

Competitions were conducted for the participants and prizes were distributed among the winners.

New system tells which restaurants can leave you sick

Scientists have developed a new system that tells you how likely it is for you to fall ill if you visit a particular restaurant by 'listening' to the tweets from other restaurant patrons. The University of Rochester researchers said their system, nEmesis, can help people make more informed decisions, and it also has the potential to complement traditional public health methods for monitoring food safety, such as restaurant inspections. The new system combines machine-learning and crowdsourcing techniques to analyse millions of tweets to find people reporting food poisoning symptoms following a restaurant visit. This volume of tweets would be impossible to analyse manually, the researchers noted.
Over a four-month period, the system collected 3.8 million tweets from more than 94,000 unique users in New York City, traced 23,000 restaurant visitors, and found 480 reports of likely food poisoning. They also found they correlate fairly well with public inspection data by the local health department. The system ranks restaurants according to how likely it is for someone to become ill after visiting that restaurant. "The Twitter reports are not an exact indicator – any individual case could well be due to factors unrelated to the restaurant meal - but in aggregate the numbers are revealing," said Henry Kautz, chair of the computer science department at the University of Rochester and co-author of the paper.
In other words, a "seemingly random collection of online rants becomes an actionable alert," according to Kautz, which can help detect cases of foodborne illness in a timely manner. The system "listens" to relevant public tweets and detects restaurant visits by matching up where a person tweets from and the known locations of restaurants. People will often tweet from their phones or other mobile devices, which are GPS enabled. This means that tweets can be "geotagged": the tweet not only provides information in the 140 characters allowed, but also about where the user was at the time.
If a user tweets from a location that is determined to be a restaurant (by using the locations of 24,904 restaurants that had been visited by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in New York City), the system will continue to track this person's tweets for 72 hours, even when they're not geotagged, or when they are tweeted from a different device. If a user then tweets about feeling ill, the system captures the information that this person is now ill and had visited a specific restaurant.

Biting off more than we can chew

Food contamination happens with alarming regularity.

He ordered a second lamb chettinad, its spicy textures triggering some primordial, addictive urge. After the final bite, folded into crispy rounds of puri dough, he leaned back to stifle a satisfied belch. His eyes widened. Pointing indignantly to his plate, he waved the waiter over. Between the resid ue of mango chutney and a dab of ghee, there was a curly hair.

He hadn't actually swallowed the hair and must have seen far worse in the course of frequent eating out. My friend's reaction seemed totally out of proportion with the minuteness of the strand. And the waiter, rather than apologising, sloughed it off with a "these things happen" shrug. My friend became infuriated. The waiter suggested my friend's excitable nature likely propelled one of his own hairs onto the plate. The manager was summoned to berate the waiter, complimentary desserts appeared and what should have been a pleasantly uneventful meal degenerated into a source of indigestion - all because of a hair. Setting aside the case of errant hair, what turns up in our food is not at all a laughing matter. Food safety and security has to be one of the most significant concerns across the world today.
Commodity
We look to food for its nurturing, restorative and nutritional qualities but the pervasiveness of food scandals should increasingly give us pause. The recent tragedy of children dying and getting sick in Bihar after eating vegetables laced with lethal insecticide is a serious wake up call. Any nation complacent about food does so at great peril. The United States, unfortunately, is a poster case for what should be avoided. Food, like air and water, are essential social goods without which no organism can survive. Despite this truism, the US leads the way in treating food as a mere commodity and source of corporate profits.
Food contamination happens with alarming regularity. I recall a documentary of a mother pleading with a US congressman for more stringent regulations after her child died from eating a tainted hamburger. Beholden to contributions from meat industry lobbies, he gave the distraught mother the waiter's brush-off shrug.

Big agro business, with enormous government subsidies flowing to it and millions of dollars deployed to stave off meaningful oversight has tipped the balance of power. And consumer protection groups have become voices in the wilderness.
As a result, Americans today are slowly but surely being made sick by food that's hyper-processed, packed with additives, chemically modified and nutrition light. Granted, it's not as dramatic and deplorable as children dying from toxic food or malnutrition. But all over the US, there's a steady decline in public health and quality of life from the prevalence of junk food and lack of proper control over the food supply.
Collateral
The irony is that the collateral effects from this shortsightedness are patently obvious. Healthcare costs skyrocket, productivity goes down and there's a general degradation of culture as unhealthy food choices become normalised and quality of food yields to profits, desire for cheapness and consumption based upon all you can eat.
Morbid obesity in the US has become an epidemic and malnutrition also is on the rise. The mayor of New York recently took up the cause by trying to ban supersized, sugar-laden carbonated drinks. The White House too is seeking to promote healthier eating along with regular exercise. They've been accused of attempting to institute a "nanny state" and the junk food lobby has pumped millions into convincing people that freedom entails being able to consume whatever one darn well wants.
It's a cautionary tale for India as the food processing industry develops to prevent spoilage and make getting food from farm to table more seamless and efficient. In crafting an effective food policy, India must place people above profits, heeding lessons from other countries such as the US, where things have gone so horribly wrong.
Punishment
India leads the world in school lunch programs after a Supreme Court order mandated this in 2001. With some 120 million free lunches given to school children across the country, like any program with completely laudable goals, execution is everything. What happened in Bihar reveals deep systemic failures and now is the time to institute accountability.
We need severe punishments for entities that compromise quality and see school lunches as a way to siphon off money for bloated private gain. This is tantamount not only to stealing from public coffers but also robs India of its future, what wellnourished and educated children ultimately represent. A key aspect of food policy also means understanding the entire supply chain. A breakdown in any aspect can have disastrous consequences.
There's a fundamental tension between profiting off feeding people and the imperatives of quality. The history of food abuse runs the gamut from improper labeling, watering down contents and adding cheaper substitutes to insidious use of growth hormones, genetic modifiers and antibiotics. The food industry insists every additive is safe while being notorious for muzzling opposition from scientists and food advocates. Surely the more prudent course is to err on the side of caution.
We also should not be rushing to welcome certain multinationals to India. Somewhere there's a delicate compromise between food efficiency and not putting out of business local grocers with fresh, organic produce.
The Indian love of simple wholesome food must trump eating some glossy-packaged novelty delivered in a can. The push for healthier food is taking hold in the West. Indifferent to public health consequences, Food Inc's focus now is in emerging markets. It's not something to shrug off; instead, we must resolutely resist.

20% of your food is adulterated

Random test of 29,328 samples in 123 labs across the country shows everything from packed items to cereals is contaminated.


One-fifth of food items in the market, tested by government labs last year, were either substandard or adulterated, records of the health and family welfare ministry have revealed.
The food items tested range from everyday items such as edible oil, milk, sugar and grains to ready-to-eat packed foods available in grocery shops as well as kirana stores. As part of a standard procedure followed by all states, 29,328 samples of various food items were collected from markets, including malls as well as wholesale shops, in the financial year 2012-13. Of these, 5,180, or about 20%, were either adulterated or substandard.
Food items that do not meet the standards set by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), or have an inferior quality substance added to them fall in this category.
Worse, the amount of adulterated food making its way to the market is on the rise. While the figure stood at 8% in 2008-09, it more than doubled to 20% in 2012-13. Worried by the trend, the FSSAI in October, 2011 requested all the states to take stringent action against peopled involved in the adulteration business.
Consumption of adulterated food leads to serious health problems such as heart disease and even neurological problems, especially in children, said public health activist Dr Meera Shiva.
“Increasing use of chemicals and pesticides for production and storage has also significantly contributed to the increase in adulterated food items in the market,” she said.
Food safety officers appointed by each state government regularly pick up random food samples from markets. These are then tested in the 123 government laboratories spread across the country.
The state governments then send the results to FSSAI, which compiles the figures and takes necessarily action.
Going by the figures between 2008 and 2010, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the three states with the worst record.
As per the new rules, a food business operator — anyone involved in the manufacture, storage, distribution or retail of food items — can be punished if the food item is not up to the mark.
However, the low prosecution rate of those found guilty has led to a spike in adulteration.
According to the ministry’s records, the average prosecution rate in the past five years has been only 13%.
The lack of a proper monitoring mechanism is another reason for the problem. At present, there are more than 50 million food business operators who are required to register with the state governments. But until April, 2013, only 2% had done so.

FDA ensures you eat quality food through new Act

New amendment on food packaging makes it compulsory for manufacturers to print licence or registration numbers, along with the FSSAI logo, so that consumers know the product has undergone quality checks

According to new norms, food packaging is now supposed to tell you if the food you are consuming has been produced by the manufacturers who are registered under the Food Safety and Standards Act, India (FSSAI).
As per the central government notification and the amendment of the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and labelling) Amendment Regulation, 2013, it has become necessary to print an FSSAI registration number on the packaging. This notification would help the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) track manufacturers who do not have FSSAI licences.

All clean: The (circled) 14-digit registration or licence number provided by FSSAI on the packaging helps the FDA track the food manufacturer and implement quality control measures

According to FSSAI 2006, either a registration number or a licence is provided to each food manufacturer. It is a 14-digit number provided to the applicant, which must be compulsorily printed on food packages. “As per the new amendment on packaging by FSSAI it is compulsory to print licence or registration numbers with the FSSAI logo. This will help people understand if the food has undergone quality checks,” said Deelip Sangat, assistant commissioner, FDA, food. The 14-digit number would provide information on the manufacturer’s licence or registration details, and the manufacturing state.
“If we decode the 14-digit number it will tell us all we want to know about the manufacturer. The 14-digit number is divided into five parts. The first single digit tells us whether the manufacturer is licence holder or just registered, the next two digits provides the state, the following two digits tell us the year the manufacturer was registered with FSSAI.
The licensing authority or registering authority is disclosed in the next three digits and remaining digits are the manufacturer’s licence number,” Sangat added. Sonia Patankar of Patankar Khauwale, a chain of food shops in the city, said, “The Act is good to maintain quality, but will increase cost of food.
Some time ago it had become mandatory to print nutritional facts on the packaging and many of us did so. But, now there are many products in the market that don’t have nutritional facts printed. Such a thing should not happen with this new amendment.”
Licencing and registering
According to the Food Safety and Standards Act India (FSSAI) 2006, every food manufacturer should get a licence from the FDA or a concerned authority of FSSAI. If the food manufacturer has an annual income of less than Rs 12 lakh, a process of registration is enough. The centralised Act has been implemented to promote safe food across the country. It was implemented in August 5, 2011.

Inedible oil flows to Kochi

Kochi: With Onam just a couple of weeks away come rep­orts that huge quantities of inedible and discarded oil from Tamil Nadu is  being widely used  to make the snacks so much in demand during the festival  in bakeries and eateries across the city.

The oil transported on trains is allegedly sold to the eateries for as little as Rs. 30 a litre, and so  usually has many buyers. 

“Except a few, all other bakeries and eateries in the city  no longer prepare their own snacks , but buy them in bulk from catering centres like those in Palluruthy, Edappally and Vypeen, which generously use the cheap oil. And as there is no mechanism to monitor their hygiene  or the ingredients they use they get away with it,” said a trader, adding that the oil trade lobby does brisk business during the festival season, when  chips and fried snacks fly off the shelves of eateries.

“With Onam  just a couple of weeks away, there  is a boom in the sale of chips. The authorities need to take stringent measures to prevent the use of substandard cooking oil for making them and other delicacies,” underlined CPM councillor in the corporation council,  P. S. Prakash.

While food safety officers and the corporation’s health department appear to be  turning a blind eye to the major public heal­th hazard that the sale of such eatables constitutes,  district food safety officer,  Ajith Ku­mar, when contacted, clai­med he had received no complaints about substandard oil being used by catering centres in the city.

“Although we’ve not re­c­eived any reports about substandard oil arriving in Kerala, we will do an intensive check at railway stations and other entry points,” he promised.

Food department officials crack down on hostel kitchens

CHENNAI: Private hostels serving unhygienic food will get the boot if the food safety department has its way. Acting on complaints from various parts of the city, the department began raids on hostel kitchens on Thursday.
District food safety officer S Lakshmi Narayan said that they conducted surprise inspections in various hostels in Saidapet and T Nagar. "It was shocking that most private hostels are in a bad condition and serve poor quality food". TOI had recently highlighted the lack of quality food and hygiene in the private hostels in the city.
During the raid, officials found that many hostels serve substandard food and water, posing health risks.
Other conditions in these hostels were also found to be bad. "Some 16 people were staying in a crammed room in bunker beds without adequate space. There aren't enough toilets for the residents. We have issued notices to these hostels and asked them to improve the quality of food and the living conditions in 15 days. If they don't comply, we will take action," the officer added.
Many professionals and students from different parts of the country stay in hostels as they provide cheap accommodation, but there are several complaints about the quality of food. "I don't have the money to pay 12-month rental advance and broker commission for a flat. The hostel owner prepares food for only 25 people, though 35 live here. The quality of food is pathetic," said Anita Rajendran, a resident of a private hostel in Saidapet. "If we complain, they ask us to leave the hostel."
Chennai corporation doesn't monitor the functioning and facilities of hostels. Sources said people who run five to ten hostels in various parts of the city have a centralised kitchen. "Food material is sometimes transported in unsealed containers, and they can get contaminated," said an employee of a private hostel in West CIT Nagar. Residents often have no choice as the monthly rent of about 6,500 is always inclusive of the food.
Anyone with complaints about poor quality food served in hostels can call 23813095 or email commrfssa@gmail.com, officials said.