DINAKARAN NEWS

Delhi Food Safety Department to develop eight safe street food zones in city on pilot basis

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India engages with NASVI in systematizing and professionalizing street foods

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has started  engaging with the National Association of Street Vendors of India in systematizing and professionalizing street foods across cities in the wider interests of ensuring public health and protecting livelihood of street food vendors.  NASVI also has been taken on board in the ‘Committee on Management of Street Foods’ formed by the FSSAI.

As a beginning, the Delhi Food Safety Department has started engaging with the street vendors’ body for developing ‘Safe Street Food Zones’ in eight areas of the city. The beginning is on pilot basis and the plan is afoot to cover more areas of Delhi in coming future. The eight areas include Karolbagh, Tilak Nagar, Chandni Chowk, Paharganj, Krishnanagar Jheel, Nizamuddin railway station area, Sarojini Nagar and New Delhi railway station area.

Currently food safety officers along with NASVI functionaries are conducting detailed profiling of street food vendors in the above said areas. The street food vendor survey performa which is being used for collecting information include entries like personal and occupational details, availability check on basic facilities, such as water and its source, waste disposal and sanitation, social and behavioral attitudes of customers, municipal authorities and police, gender based social and educational profile of vendors, health check up and its frequency, capacity development needs, and health and hygiene knowledge. The survey would get finished in a month and then the food vendors would be trained on issues of health and hygiene. Post-training, they would be registered with the food safety department.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 in August, 2011.  It notified the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations and announced to register and license 55 million food and beverage firms, manufacturers and vendors including companies in the unorganized sector, by February 2014 for what it called harmonizing food safety standards.   The Regulations mandated that the food businesses with annual turnover below Rs 12 lakh would have to get themselves registered while those with turnover of Rs 12 lakh and more would have to obtain a license.

Traders up in arms against NCDEX over adulterated pepper stock

Apparently, traders are facing destruction of about Rs 300-crore worth black pepper stock traded on NCDEX which was found to contain carcinogenic mineral oils



Peppertraders are up in arms against the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) over the latter’s disowning responsibility for destroying adulterated (contained mineral oil) stocks in the exchange accredited warehouses. Apparently, traders are facing destruction of about Rs 300-crore worth black pepper stocks traded on NCDEX which found to be adulterated with carcinogenic mineral oils.
The Food and Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) under the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry has found that over 90% of the stock in NCDEX’s warehouses at Kochi is adulterated and has sealed the stock.
FSSAI has also observed in its latest report after analyzing samples that quality control systems were not followed and that the District Food Safety Officer shall conduct a detailed investigation so that further legal/penal action could be initiated against the culprits.
The Kalimirchi Vyapari Association, fighting for either refund of the money paid or delivery of 7,000 tonnes of Malabar Garbled 1 Black Pepper as per the futures contract with NCDEX, said the Exchange cannot simply brush it off by saying that it does not have any responsibility.
Commenting on reports that NCDEX claims that it cannot be held responsible, Pradeep Acharya, Vice President of the association said: “NCDEX cannot deny responsibility. As per bylaws of the exchange and as stated by the regulator FMC, the Exchange is the counter party to every buyer and seller. This clearly establishes that the Exchange stands as the seller for every buyer, and buyer for every seller.”
The traders have paid for the stocks upfront, but have not been given delivery. It is still in the possession of NCDEX and its accredited warehouses. “We have paid NCDEX full money for Malabar Garbled 1 Black Pepper and it is the responsibility of the Exchange to provide us with the stock,” Acharya said.
He pointed out it is grossly wrong for NCDEX to say that the Exchange is also not liable for non-compliance by any member and market participant on the pretext that it only provides a trading platform in forward contracts.
Brokers and exporters who paid the money in advance to NCDEX are at a grievous loss as the Exchange has refused to either refund the money or deliver the goods.
The Kalimirchi Vyapari Association has moved Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking urgent justice as the traders’ money of over Rs 300 crores is stuck and they are losing heavily on all fronts. The matter is expected to come up for hearing on September 17, 2013.
Members of KVA have also written to the Health Ministry, the Forward Markets Commission (FMC), the Consumer Affairs Minister and Kerala CM drawing their attention to the adulteration and the way NCDEX has been treating the entire episode.
The traders, who were to take delivery of the stock, were shocked to learn about the large scale adulteration when the labour at NCDEX warehouses refused to even lift the bags that emanated a strong stench of kerosene.
The stock in question is so huge that it is equivalent to two to three-month consumption in India.
NCDEX, instead of acting on the FSSAI orders, has strangely issued a circular to their traders to clear the stock before the expiry of the contract which the merchants cannot, obviously, traders said.
Vijay Kumar, Chief Business Officer, had last week said that the FSSAI had found traces of mineral oil in 850 tonnes worth Rs 32-35 crore.
“This is the matter between buyers and sellers. Therefore, the exchange has nothing to do with it. Still, the exchange is in talks with authorities and traders to get the issue resolved,” he added.

சத்துணவுக்கு காலாவதி பாமாயில் சப்ளை உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறையினர் அதிர்ச்சி

மேட்டூர்: சேலம் மாவட்டத்தின் சில சத்துணவு மையங்களுக்கு, காலாவதி பாமாயில் சப்ளை செய்யப்பட்டிருந்ததை, உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை அலுவலர்கள் கண்டுபிடித்து அதிர்ச்சியடைந்தனர்.
சேலம் மாவட்டத்தில், 5,000க்கும் மேற்பட்ட அங்கன்வாடி மற்றும் சத்துணவு கூடங்கள் உள்ளது. உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை நியமன அலுவலர் அனுராதா தலைமையிலான குழுவினர், சேலம் மாவட்ட சத்துணவு கூடங்களில் ஆய்வு மேற்கொண்டனர். அப்போது, சில மையங்களில் காலாவதியான பாமாயிலில் சமையல் செய்வது தெரியவந்தது.
அந்த பாமாயிலை மாற்றி, தரமான எண்ணெயில் மட்டுமே சமைக்க வேண்டும், என சத்துணைவு அமைப்பாளர்களுக்கு, உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை அலுவலர்கள் அறிவுரை வழங்கினர்.
உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை மாவட்ட நியமன அலுவலர் அனுராதா கூறியதாவது:
தயாரிப்பு தேதியில் இருந்து, மூன்று மாதத்துக்குள் பாமாயிலை உபயோகிக்க வேண்டும். ஆனால், உற்பத்தி செய்த பாமாயில், சத்துணவு மையங்களுக்கு வினியோகம் செய்வதற்கு தாமதமாகி விடுவதாக தெரிகிறது. பாமாயில் காலாவதியாகி இருப்பது ஊழியர்களுக்கே தெரியவில்லை. எனவே, காலாவதி பாமாயிலை கண்டு பிடிப்பது குறித்து ஊழியர்களுக்கு விளக்கம் அளித்துள்ளோம். ஒவ்வொரு நாளும் சமைக்கும் உணவு, சாம்பார், பொறியல் ஆகியவற்றை தனித்தனியாக சாம்பிள் எடுத்து ஒரு பாட்டில் 24 மணிநேரம் வைத்திருக்க வேண்டும், எனவும் அறிவுரை வழங்கியுள்ளோம்.இவ்வாறு அவர் கூறினார்.

DINAMALAR NEWS

Street foods extremely nutritious: Regulator A Rs 20-meal can yield up to 1,000 calories; but hygiene remains big concern

 

Lonavala (Pune), September 1
The first-ever audit of street food by India’s apex food regulator has shown that it is easy to get nutrition worth a full meal from a street food serving worth just Rs 20. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) recently conducted a survey in Kolkata to determine the nutritious content of street food. It found that a street food meal of Rs 20 yielded around 1,000 calories to a consumer.
“An adult requires around 1,800 to 2,000 calories every day while the energy from one street food meal has been found to be around 1,000 calories. Street food has been found to be extremely nutritious. The only concern is about hygiene on which we are working with state governments,” Pradip Chakravarty, Director, Information, Education and Communications, FSSAI told The Tribune in an interview on the sidelines of the three-day third National Health Writers and Editors Convention organised by the HEAL Foundation.
The pilot project conducted in collaboration with the All-India Institute of Public Hygiene, Kolkata, found that Kolkata city alone has around 1.2 lakh street food vendors, each catering to 65 customers a day and employing on an average 2.5 personnel per vending business.
If the 1.25 lakh vendors per city mark is taken as a benchmark, there would be around 7.5 crore vendors across all 600 districts of India providing important nutritional component to all kinds of customers.
The study concluded that all street food items being served in Kolkata were “extremely nutritious” and ranged from South India delicacies to chapattis, paranthas, pani puri and pulao. The nutritious value of collected samples was scientifically tested in laboratories.
“The assessment included the following components - nutritive, chemical, physical, microbiological and hazard analysis. The food items passed the nutrition test as one serving was found yielding around 1,000 calories. We found Kolkata was serving around 200 street food varieties. However, the hygiene aspect was a worry as vendors were found using the same water for cooking and cleaning often for around three days. The use of bare hands for preparation was also common. Food handling practices were very poor mainly because the vendors have no training. Nor do they have proper vending carts,” Chakravarty said.
The FSSAI and the Public Hygiene Institute have now developed a smart design of a street food vending machine. The machines are, however, yet to be marketed across India as the level of acceptance among state governments is low. Recently, Gujarat became the first state to order the new design machine for its street food vendors in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.
“We hope more states will wake up to this problem considering street foods are integral to our culture and are very high on nutrition. Also, they cost very little. We need to empower our vendors with the best machines so that they can ensure health and hygiene of their customers,” Chakravarty said. 

THE AUDIT

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) conducted an audit of street food in Kolkata
Street food items included in the survey ranged from South India delicacies to chapattis, paranthas, pani puri and pulao
The nutritious value of collected samples was tested in laboratories
The food items passed the nutrition test, but the hygiene aspect remained a worry

Food Safety and Standard Authority of India to study street food hygiene, quality in Lucknow, Varanasi

The six-month study would cost a few crores and look at the number of street vendors, their personal hygiene besides the number of people consuming the food along with quality of water used.
UP food commissioner would conduct the study, which would also look into the nutritional value of the street food by measuring its fat and mineral content.
"Indians love street food. But it is important to ensure it is prepared and served in hygienic settings. We had asked the UP government for permission to carry out the study to look at the street food quality in 15 districts, but have received clearance to carry it out in Lucknow and Varanasi," said FSSAI director Pradip Chakraborty.
The decision to standardize street food came after a successful pilot project carried out in Kolkata. The city's safety standards in its street food inspired the Union health ministry to emulate the model across India.
A recent survey of the ministry in 16 cities found over 90% street food unsafe for consumption.
Providing food with less investment and more profit was found to be the first preference of vendors rather than meeting quality requirements.
The FSSAI is thinking of setting up a national coordination committee to identify environmental and contamination risks that street foods face and work towards making it more hygienic.
It has, for the first time, started to look at creating a city-wise action plan on how to make street food safer, more palatable and presentable.
Sources told TOI that as part of a pilot project, 56 areas or streets in eight cities including in four metros will be selected to be developed as model street food zones.
Food commissioners will then identify vendors with the help of police and develop a protocol for them

A new, healthy way to eat

FSSAI has prepared a set of guidelines for schoolchildren
Nutritionist Meenakshi Bajaj's five-year-old turns her nose up at a packet of crisps, “But Mama, this is junk,” she says, with a touch of drama. “No, she didn't get that from me,” Dr. Bajaj says. “She learnt it from school, and at this age, kids set great store by what their teachers say, not parents.”
That is one reason why parents who want the best for their children will be grateful for the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)'s latest move. The Authority has drawn up a series of draft guidelines to be followed by all Indian schools to ensure that children get safe, hygienic, healthy and balanced food.
In its submission in a public interest litigation filed in the Delhi High Court, the FSSAI has prepared a comprehensive set of guidelines, covering all aspects of a healthy diet, targeting food groups, nutrition aspects, preparation, handling, storage, and monitoring.
The PIL was filed by Rahul Verma of Uday Foundation, a Delhi-based NGO, and it prayed for a ban on selling junk food and carbonated drinks in schools and within an 500 m radius.
The FSSAI has acknowledged that the lack of standards for schools has resulted in under nutrition combined with several incidents of food poisoning and contamination in the school feeding programme. Additionally, obesity is a problem particularly in the towns, due to the changing dietary practices of children.
In order to understand the situation in schools, the FSSAI charged a market research company with assessing the existing condition of foods being served in schools. Based on the study outcome, the guidelines have been framed, and promise to be friendly for children and schools.
The idea is that schools need to encourage consumption of fruits and vegetables, including green leafy ones, locally available and seasonal. Wherever children bring their own meals, it is imperative to teach children about eating healthy, and to keep a watch on what they bring in their lunch boxes.
What is more, the FSSAI, which functions under the health ministry, is recommending the use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter to take the message of risks associated with eating unhealthy food across the nation.
Vijay Vishwanathan, of MV Hospital for Diabetes, Royapuram, says there are three aspects to inculcating the healthy food habit: Parents should pack healthy food, schools should provide only healthy food and junk food must not be available near the school. “Only then, can we really hope for a positive result. But it has happened, there is a model school in Chandigarh, under the CBSE’s health care manual, all three aspects are in practice, and we are seeing a change,” he adds. The hospital conducted a survey in Chennai schools between 2009 and 2011, and found that 23 per cent were overweight and 13 per cent obese.
Dr. Bajaj reinforces the point about beginning in schools. “It is only when healthy food habits are reinforced from an early stage, and repeatedly do they have an effect. In fact, my recommendation is to have a nutritionist in every school. This is way more sensible than going to a nutritionist when you are older and have diabetes and hypertension, altering eating habits is always tougher then.” In her opinion, schools have a great impact on children, and some schools have already incorporated the health concept with reference to children’s lunches and snacks.

Indian spices under regulatory scanner in US

Many spices from India, the largest exporter of these cooking ingredients to the US, have come under scanner of the health watchdog FDA for being susceptible to Salmonella bacteria contamination.
Salmonella germs are said to have been behind many food poisoning outbreaks in the US,
while the food products that can get such contaminations include spices, fish, beef, poultry, milk, eggs and vegetables.
The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has put nearly 200 India-based firms on its 'red list' due to presence of Salmonella bacteria in the spices and other food products exported by them to the US between 2009 and 2013.
The products being brought into the US by the companies on the FDA's red-list can face "detention without physical examination".
According to the FDA red-list import alert, the contaminated spices include capsicum, cumin, ground coriander, turmeric, celery, basil and pepper.
Amid growing concerns about Salmonella, the FDA initiated a research to characterise the prevalence of Salmonella in imported spices.
The study, whose findings are yet to be made public in full, focussed on over 20,000 food shipments that arrived in the US between 2007 and 2009 and found that around 7 % of spices were contaminated with salmonella.
Spices from India were found to be the second-most contaminated after Mexico in this study, based on which the FDA is likely to soon initiate the necessary remedial and precautionary actions.
According to available results of the study, a larger proportion of shipments of spices derived from fruit/seeds or leaves of plants were contaminated than those derived from the bark/flower of spice plants.
Besides, Salmonella prevalence was larger for shipments of ground/cracked capsicum and coriander than for shipments of their whole spice counterparts.
Over one million people annually in the US are affected by salmonella, a common cause of food-borne sickness. Most persons infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection.
India exported nearly 7 lakh tonnes of spices and spice products valued at over Rs. 11,100 crore in FY'13 against 5.75 lakh tonnes valued at over Rs. 9,700 crore in FY'12, however the share of the US in total exports could not be ascertained.
The FDA has been conducting various programmes to promote safety of food products among the Indian suppliers.
Experts from the FDA's Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition partnered with the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN) and the Indian Spices Board in September, 2012 to present a week-long training program in Cochin, India.
FDA's India operations comprise of a team of 12 inspectors based in New Delhi and Mumbai. The team is soon to be expanded to 19 members.
JIFSAN is administered by FDA and the University of Maryland. More than 70 participants from India's government, industry, universities and trade groups gathered to learn about effective methods for ensuring food safety for spices and botanicals (plant parts and extracts).
Last year in March, the FDA had narrowed down on a manufacturer in India while investigating the source of a Salmonella outbreak in the US. Subsequently, the Indian government cancelled the manufacturer's license after the FDA inspection concluded that the tuna product implicated in the outbreak came from its facility.
Besides food products, many Indian drug makers have found themselves on wrong side of American rules as FDA said it found contaminants like filth, pesticides and insect parts in drugs manufactured here. The agency has taken strict action against drug manufacturers who did not adhere to rules.

Spices Board contests US’s impurity claim

The Spices Board of India has denied the charge of a section of the US media that Indian spices are a major source of a variety of bacteria that causes typhoid and other stomach diseases.

The board said India had given priority to quality and met all food-safety standards and did the mandatory checks before shipment, and 98.5% of all varieties, especially black pepper, were found to be without salmonella (as alleged), and that was above the international standards.

“Most of the claims are misleading and they would damage the credentials of one of the largest spice-producing countries like India,” said board marketing director KC Babu.

A report in the New York Times had said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a US agency, found around 7% of India’s shipment contaminated with salmonella.

Around 15% of the supply of coriander, 12% of oregano (a variety of mint) and 4% of black pepper were found contaminated, the report said.

‘We don’t export salmonella’

Kochi: The Spices Board on Saturday  denied the allegation that spices exported from the country to the US were contaminated by salmonella bacteria.

In a long rejoinder to The New York Times report on August 27 which contained the allegation, K.C. Babu, Director (marketing) with the Spices Board,  pointed out that the report was also inconsistent with facts and figures. “The report claims that 326 MT of spices was  imported from India in 2012 whereas the actual import was 3,26,000 MT,” he said.

He said  stringent quality controls were in place in India regarding export of spices and it was found that 98.5 percent of the consignments sent to US was  free of salmonella and this was testified by the Food and Drugs Administration of the US. The NYT report had said that 7 percent  of spices exported from India carried salmonella.

“On an average, from India 14,500 shipments take place to the US every year and the total number of alerts in terms of salmonella is below two percent on an average per year for over 200 spices and spices products in whole, ground, powdered, blended and mixed forms,” the rejoinder said, while questioning the method of the alleged “detailed survey” conducted by the reporter of the NYT for the story.

Babu also said the recent decision of the Food Safety Authority in Kerala to destroy 900 tonnes of black paper contaminated by oil was  a testimony to  the care taken by authorities here for the health of the consumers.

Govt silent on FSSAI report on milk quality

The State government and the department responsible for maintaining food safety standards in Nagaland, it appears, have chosen to keep mum on a recent Food Safety and Standards of Authority of India (FSSAI) survey report on milk quality in Nagaland. According to a Press Information Bureau (PIB) report released on August 28 last, Nagaland stood fourth among states not conforming to Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011 with regard to milk produced and sold here. The information, the PIB release stated, was provided by Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad at the Rajya Sabha. Local dailies had also carried the PIB report subsequently.
“In the National Survey conducted by the FSSAI to ascertain the quality of milk throughout the country, 68.4% samples were found to be non-conforming to Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011,” the PIB release stated. Nagaland stood fourth (at 86 percent) in the state-wise details of non-conforming samples in the descending order of percentage with respect to the total samples collected in different states and union territories. The report did not specify what kinds of adulterants were found in the samples which deemed the samples as not conforming to safety standards.   
“Random samples of food items including milk are drawn by the State Food Safety Officers and sent to the designated food testing laboratories for analysis,” it added. Surprisingly, food safety officials were unaware of milk samples from Nagaland making it to the non-conforming list. Sources stated there was no recent activity of the state food safety authority collecting milk samples for quality checks and also there was no confirmed report of samples being sent to the FSSAI as part of the national milk quality survey. Neither the Commissioner & Secretary nor the principal director of Health and Family Welfare could be reached for ascertaining the credibility of the information.
The food safety wing of the department of Health and Family Welfare is vested with the responsibility of maintaining food safety standards in Nagaland with the Commissioner & Secretary designated as the overall incharge for food safety.