MAALAI MALAR NEWS

Can 'first food' challenge fast food?

How can ‘first food’ meet the challenge posed by factory-made ‘fast foods’ which are backed by marketing money and often come with ‘traditional taste’ tags attached to them? The first step would be to preserve knowledge about first foods, says Dinesh C Sharma.

Firebrand environmentalist Sunita Narain, head of the advocacy group Centre for Science and Environment, famous for its bitter battle with processed food and cola makers, has come up with a compendium of forgotten recipes of traditional food. The book is called First Food -- a sort of counter to packaged and fast food. It is an attempt to resurrect traditional Indian food recipes and explain the underlying links with biodiversity and livelihood of farmers -- connections which we are fast forgetting.

The book launch at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi provided not just a glimpse of what’s in the book but guests were actually treated to some of the recipes. The discussion around first food and the delicacies served reminded me of ‘slow food’ -- a similar movement launched in Europe in late 1980s to counter the disappearance of local food traditions and waning interest of Europeans in the food they eat.

India perhaps is the same point today when the gen next is slowly getting cut off from traditional foods. Young children would recall more food brands than the names of vegetables or grains.

That’s why we need to talk about traditional food. Every one of us is passionate about food. Food is not just about filling up with calories which all of us need. Food has a lot to do with where we live or from where we come, our culture and the past and in fact, our very identity. It is often said that colour of the soil, language and food habits of people change every few hundred kilometers in India.

Till a few years ago, by and large, what we ate in our homes reflected food habits of place of residence or origin. Food habits, in turn, are shaped by produce -- grains, fruits, vegetables, spices, edible oils, milk -- grown or produced in a particular region.

This happy arrangement, however, has been disturbed in the past 25 years or so every since food has been commoditised or reduced to a packaged product. Our food habits, according to nutrition experts, are getting globalised due to factors like economic liberalisation, globalisation, urbanisation, rising incomes and so on. While debate continues on whether this silent transformation in our food habits is good and desirable, one thing is getting clearer -- culinary skills which were the hallmark of our food heritage are slowly disappearing.

Traditional foods are increasingly getting replaced with packaged, factory-processed, pre-cooked and ready-to-eat food products. Food diversity, which we have always taken for granted, is severely under threat.

First Food is about food which people in different regions of the country have been eating for ages. Food crops typical to a region conform to local climate, water availability and other agro-climatic factors. That’s why bajra and jowar -- less water consuming crops -- are grown and consumed in Rajasthan.

A variety of millets are grown in different parts of the country and are consumed in different ways suiting local tastes and customs. Rice has hundreds of different varieties in each region. In West Bengal, it customary to consume different type of rice in different seasons. In Kerala, rice varieties differ from district to district. Orissa has salt-tolerant rice varieties. 

If all of us start eating only branded and packaged rice -- measured just by its whiteness and length of grain -- then we are putting vast biodiversity of rice and livelihood of farmers associated with it in jeopardy. The same is true with other grains and agricultural commodities.

“If food biodiversity disappears,” Narain explained at the launch of the book, “food will become impersonal”. It will become sterile package designed for universal size and taste, she feared. The book is a collection of 100 recipes of local food crops from different parts of the country, along with information about respective plants and spices used in the preparation.

For example, how many of us know that kuttu ka atta -- which is used during Navratra fasts -- is actually flour of buckwheat grown in Leh and Kargil districts of Ladakh and that it is staple food of Ladakhis? Or that makhana -- used in some North Indian delicacies like makhane ki dal -- actually is a type of water lily? It is an aquatic crop grown in shallow water bodies in north Bihar and lower Assam regions? Both kuttu ka atta and makhana are highly nutritious and form the basis for several recipes.

Similarly ragi -- a finger millet used as a staple food in parts of Karnataka -- is full of nutrients and is amenable to many recipes. In fact, Indian food use different parts of edible plants -- leaves, roots, flowers, fruits, seeds and even stem (lotus stem, bamboo etc). 

How can then such ‘first food’ meet the challenge posed by factory-made ‘fast foods’ which are backed by marketing money and often come with ‘traditional taste’ tags attached to them? The first step would be to preserve knowledge about first foods.

The book by Narain and her colleagues is one such effort. We may need many more similar books to fully document similar recipes from different regions of the country. The next would be to bring such foods back on our dining tables. Thankfully, many Indians still love to eat ‘ghar ka khana’. The penetration of fast food is growing, by all accounts, but is still way behind other countries. That means first food can still reclaim some of the lost ground.

In order to demonstrate that ‘first food’ does not mean any compromise in taste, texture or presentation, the book launch was followed by a demonstration of some of the recipes by chef Manish Mehrotra of two up market restaurants -- Oriental Octopus of India Habitat Centre and Indian Accent. Snacks, dinner, beverages and desserts served were all from recipes in the book and included delicacies from different regions of the country.

The idea was to show that so-called traditional food is not a compromise on taste or any other parameter of good food. The India Habitat Centre plans to introduce some of the recipes from the book at its Delhi-O-Delhi restaurant soon. Navadanya, organic food group founded by Vandana Shiva, organises similar treats to celebrate biodiversity at the India International Centre every year.

One can only hope that such expositions of food diversity are held in different cities regularly so that the gen next is at least made familiar with the variety of tastes, smells and textures of food from kitchens of our grandmas.

Advocacy of ‘first food’ should not be mistaken as an exercise in lament of a bygone era or a nostalgic trip. Nor it should be construed as a move that is trying to negate fruits of economic liberalisation such as free movement of agricultural and horticultural produce or better standards of hygiene and food safety. It is merely an exercise in giving our food heritage its due place and preventing our kitchens from becoming extended counters of food malls. The message is clear: first food is tasty, nutritious and healthy. The choice is yours.

Mid-day meal panel in Bihar schools expanded

The Nitish Kumar Government on Tuesday approved a proposal to expand and strengthen committees in schools to supervise implementation of the free mid-day meal and other functions.

According to a decision of the State Cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the school education committee will now have 17 members instead of 14 as was proposed earlier.

The expanded committee would have nine women members, whose children are students of the school, and will be headed by a ward counsellor in urban areas and a panchayat member in rural regions, Cabinet Coordination Committee Principal Secretary Brajesh Mehrotra told reporters here. Those donating above Rs.10 lakh to the school or those who are representatives nominated by the donor would be included in the committee.

After incidents of mid-day meal deaths in June, need for an effective body was contemplated to ensure that quality food, prepared in a hygienic condition, was served to students.

In other major decisions, the Bihar Cabinet has approved a sum of Rs.200.90 crore for carrying relief and rehabilitation for flood victims in the State. Mr. Mehrotra said the Cabinet also approved Rs.33.80 crore for computerisation of the Public Distribution System. - PTI

Commodity exchanges responsible for delivering quality goods

Pepper traders have welcomed commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC)'s decision instructing commodity exchanges to bear the responsibility of delivering quality goods.
The traders were up in arms against National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) over the Exchange's disowning responsibility for destroying adulterated (containing mineral oil) stocks in the Exchange accredited warehouses.
The traders' body had questioned NCDEX for disowning responsibility for the adulteration of 'Malabar Garbled 1 Black Pepper' with cancer causing mineral oils, which has been confirmed by the Food and Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Businesses asked to register

Kohima, September 10 (MExN): In pursuance of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 (licensing and registering of food business) Regulations 2011 of Chapter – 2 (2.1) and Government notification dated August 27, Principal Director & Additional Food Safety Commissioner Dr Neiphi Kire has directed all business operators in the state, including suppliers to Government departments (Civil Supplies, Education, Social Welfare, Police and Pharmacies with food items) to obtain licenses or register their business under the Food Safety and Standard Act and Regulation from the designated officer (CMO) of the district on or before September 30 without fail. 

Defaulters will be fined under Section 63 of the Food Safety and Standard Act 2006.

Corporation launches legal action against seller of decomposed meat

The Kochi Corporation has approached the city police with a request to register a case against the person who sold decomposed meat in the city.

A squad of the Health Wing of the corporation had seized around 1,000 kg of rotting meat, marketed as “tsunami meat,” from a peeling shed in Eda Kochi last week.

The squad had also taken into custody a pickup van and a deep freezer used for transporting and storing the meat, which was unfit for human consumption.

The officials had been tracking the movement of the meat vendor for quite some time following information of the poor quality meat being supplied to some hotels and bakeries in the city. The meat was reportedly brought to the city from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu during the early hours of the day, officials said.

The civic authorities collected information on the owner of the vehicle from the Regional Transport Authority. It was found that the vehicle was registered in the name of the person who was suspected to be behind the illegal meat sale, said the chairman of the health standing committee, T.K. Ashraf.

The details of the owner of the vehicle, along with the notes on the stale meat had been handed over to the Palluruthy police for initiating action. The statement prepared by the Health Wing regarding the seizure was also provided to the authorities, he said.

Moreover, the civic authorities are planning to submit a complaint to the Food Safety Authority for initiating legal action under the Act.

A senior official of the corporation had held discussions with the Food Safety Commissioner in this regard. A complaint will be filed with the authority on Wednesday, he said.

It was suspected that the low-priced minced meat procured from the neighbouring States was being sold to city hotels for more than a year.

The accused needs to be interrogated for obtaining the details of the hotels and bakeries which had been purchasing the meat from him, Mr. Ashraf said.

A complaint will be filed with the Food Safety Authority today.

Toddy comes clean in tests; food authority stumped

Failure attributed to lack of sophisticated equipment, definition of toddy

A toddy tapper at work in a coconut farm at Gopalapuram, Palakkad. Farms in the area account for the bulk of toddy yield in Kerala.

Kerala’s iconic alcoholic drink toddy has emerged ‘clean’ from a series of quality tests by Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSA). The test results have surprised food safety officials and scientists familiar with the culture and business of toddy in the State.

The laboratory tests, the first under the FSSA regime, were carried out at regional labs in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. The results showed nothing wrong with the 12 toddy samples.

But a senior FSSA official was surprised at the results and conceded there were no parameters in place to judge the quality of toddy or to determine whether a particular sample was synthetic or natural.

Lack of sophisticated equipment at the regional laboratories is one reason for the failure of the tests to reveal what people suspected for long — rampant adulteration of toddy. A committee appointed by the government early this year to look into problems facing toddy business admitted there was adulteration of toddy. The High Court of Kerala has been scathing in its attack on sale of spurious toddy.

“The more serious problem in detecting spurious toddy is that there is no definition of toddy available,” said the FSSA official. If the quality of toddy has to be determined, it has to be defined and its chemical composition and properties identified.

But there is no definition of toddy except for the specification on its ethyl alcohol content solely for the purpose of abkari business, which is controlled by Kerala Abkari Shops (Disposal) Rules, 2002.

Rule 9(2) says that ethyl alcohol content in toddy solution on sale should not exceed 8.1 per cent volume by volume in the case of the produce from coconut trees; 5.2 per cent in the case of palmyrah toddy and 5.9 per cent in toddy from ‘choondapana’.

Going by this definition, it was a useless exercise to determine whether a particular sample was either natural or synthetic, said a senior official of the Excise Department.

The official said possibilities remained wide open for adulteration of toddy, the bulk of which originates in farms in the Chittoor taluk in Palakkad.

According to Excise Department figures, about 60 per cent of the coconut trees licensed for toddy tapping are in Palakkad. The official said there are three varieties of toddy available in Palakkad. The first was the toddy tapped by traditional tappers from parts of Kerala, especially from Alappuzha. There is little scope for adulteration of toddy in these farms because of the presence of tappers who are union members.

The other two varieties of toddy, tapped mostly by tappers from Tamil Nadu engaged as contract labourers, offered a lot of scope for adulteration, the official said. The view was echoed in the report of the committee appointed by the government early this year to address issues facing toddy business. The panel, headed by excise commissioner Anil Xavier said greedy licensees and a toddy deficit had led to rampant adulteration.

Toddy to be profiled

The scene could better in the near future. Though long in the making, a committee of chemists and excise officials are expected to come out with a proper definition of toddy, which will act as a ready reference against which testing of toddy can be done in the future.

The Excise Department claims Kerala produces around 8.35 lakh litres of toddy a day and consumes 7.21 lakh litres. But there is a general allegation that Kerala drinks more toddy than it produces. By a rough estimate, the State consumes about two lakh more litres of toddy than it actually produces, making spurious toddy sales worth more than Rs. one crore a day at the price of Rs. 60 a litre.

A Division Bench of the High Court of Kerala asked the State government to take a bold decision and ban the sale of toddy in the state. The High Court asked in September 2012 why toddy business continued in a State which hardly produced it.

Sale of toddy only helped defeat the prohibition of arrack introduced in the State 16 years ago, the Division Bench had said.

FSSA steps up sample collection ahead of Onam

Officials collect samples of coconut oil from a tanker that came to the city on Tuesday from Tirur.

Officers from the Food Safety and Standards Authority continued their drive to check sale of adulterated food and food products on Tuesday, collecting samples from hotels and sales outlets in different parts of the district.

Two teams of officials from the Authority collected samples of coconut oil, meat preparations, ghee and milk from Aluva, Kalamassery, Koothattukulam and Vennala, among other places, as part of an intensified effort ahead of the festival of Onam.

The samples are being sent to the regional laboratory for tests. An FSSA official said the samples were now being test at two different laboratories to make sure that the test results provided a correct picture. For example, the official said that coconut oil samples were also being tested at the laboratory owned by Coconut Development Board.

Jaggery, ghee, milk, fruits, raisin, cardamom, coconut oil etc are among the products and produces being targeted during the current drive, which was launched on August 5.

There have been widespread allegations of adulteration of coconut oil as the Onam festival is nearing. Samples were collected from an oil tanker that arrived in the city on Tuesday from Tirupur, the consignment meant for a distributor here.

Milk testing gadgets lie idle as officials complain about shortage of facility

Lab at the Council for Food Research and Development

Men and machines for ensuring milk quality remain underutilised as the enforcement agencies blame shortage of hands and lab facilities for tests.

The Council for Food Research and Development (CFRD) located at Konni in Pathanamthitta is running short of milk samples for quality analysis. “Mostly, it’s the samples volunteered by the milk producers that are tested here though the labs are equipped for handling a lot more samples,” said M.K. Mukundan, director of the Council.

Incidentally, the Food Safety Authority (FSA) officials and the Health officials of the Kochi Corporation had complained that the absence of lab facilities and shortage of hands for collecting milk samples were defeating the drive against the sale of spurious, contaminated and low quality milk during the Onam season.

The officials of the enforcement agencies conceded that they were unable to ensure the quality of milk in the State with the limited resources available to them. The long delay in obtaining the results was also defeating the drive against low quality milk, they said.

Dr. Mukundan said the labs of the council could carry out microbiological tests for as many as 200 to 400 samples a day. This includes microbial analysis for Total Bacterial Count, E.coli (faecal contamination), S. aureus (for checking the personal hygiene of those handling milk), salmonella (typhoid-causing pathogen) V. cholera and Listerias monocytogenes (pathogens which can cause abortion in pregnant women).

The milkoscan installed in CFRD can analyse 9 chemical and physical parameters of milk at the rate of 20 samples per hour. It would take hardly three days for carrying out the microbial and chemical tests. “In some cases, hardly a day is required for releasing the results,” Dr. Mukundan said.

The milk tester could analysis 20 milk samples for chemical parameters like fat, lactose, moisture and milk freezing points, which are the indicators of purity of milk, in 15 minutes. On a given day, the tester could be put to use to analyse around 100 samples, he said.

Change the rules

The Council Director, while offering to cooperate with the FSA for testing samples, suggested that an authorisation for its officials to collect milk samples for analysis would help address the issue.

Officials of the Dairy Development Department too demanded empowerment of its qualified dairy technologists to collect milk samples. There are around 150 qualified dairy technologists who could be deputed for the job. The labs of the department in all the 14 districts and the two State labs located at Alathur and Palakkad were also capable of quick analysis, said V. Unni, joint director of the Department.

Huge haul of palm kernel oil in Palakkad

The tanker which carried 20,000 litres of palm kernel oil parked near the Meenakshipuram check-post in Palakkad after Food Safety Department officials seized it on Tuesday.

It is a waste by-product of palm oil and unfit for human consumption

Food Safety officers seized 20,000 litres of palm kernel oil brought in a tanker lorry at the Meenakshipuram check-post here in the early hours of Tuesday. They took into custody the owner of the consignment Tamilnathan of Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, who was travelling in the lorry.

Onam drive

Since there were reports of spurious food being brought to Kerala during Onam, the Food Safety officials had intensified checking at Walayar and Meenakshipuram check-post for the last few days. Palm kernel oil is not edible and is rarely brought to the State. The officials collected the samples and sent them for lab tests.

Food Safety district officer Joseph Shaji George said Tamilnathan told them that he was taking the palm kernel oil to an oil mill at Chalakudy in Thrissur.

“This company packages coconut oil. Perhaps the consignment was being taken there for adulterating coconut oil. Palm kernel oil is a by-product of palm oil and is not fit for human consumption,” Mr. George said.

To prevent entry of spurious and harmful food items to Kerala during Onam, two temporary check-posts had been set up at Walayar and Gopalapuram under instructions from Food Safety Commissioner Biju Prabhakar, he said. He said the Food Safety officials had inspected the oil mill at Chalakudy where the seized tanker was being taken.

Accountability test to ensure food safety at hostels

Bangalore, Sept 10, 2013
Comprehensive, fool-proof guidelines issued to girls' residential schools across State

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has issued elaborate guidelines to ensure that quality meals are served at the residential schools for girls, under the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) and Karnataka Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vasati Nilaya (KKGBV) schemes.
This is part of the measures initiated by the State government following the midday tragedy in Bihar that claimed the lives of several children.
A circular issued recently lists out safety guidelines to be followed at every stage, including the procedures while preparing food, distributing it, choosing an agency to prepare the food and ensuring safe drinking water.
For example, the circular says that there should be a proper account of the meals served. Teachers, headmasters, wardens of hostels and the head of the SDMC (School Development and Monitoring Committee) need to taste the food before it is served to students.
It is instructed that schoolchildren should be kept away from the kitchens where the meals are prepared and that the kitchens should be situated at a distance from the classrooms.
“We have noticed cases of children falling in cooking vessels and injuring themselves. So, we have issued guidelines to ensure that no child is open to such danger,” said an official source.
The BEOs (Block Education Officers), along with the warden of the hostels, will be responsible for ensuring that water tanks are cleaned regularly, drinking water samples are tested on a routine basis and records of the testing done are maintained regularly. A selection committee will be responsible for choosing agencies to cook food for the hostels.
In case any fault by the agency comes to light, the selection committee will be held responsible. The BEOs will have to visit hostels at least twice a month and submit a report. There are a total of 71 KGBVs with 8,900 students and 68 KKGBVs with 6,800 students in the State.
“There have been a few incidents of children getting sick in hostels. These measures will ensure that the incidents do not recur. The tragedy in Bihar was a big one and these guidelines will ensure that it is not repeated,” said the source.