Industry lauds FSSAI's new regulations related to quality of olive oil

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued regulations for the olive oil industry. These clarify a number of issues related to the description, composition, quality characteristics, additives, contaminants and labelling of the product. 

An official with the country's apex food regulator said this was done to standardise the product against impurities, adulteration and other issues (particularly those related to the consumers' health), because olive oil is now highly in demand as a cooking medium. 

FSSAI set parameters for the maximum permissible concentration for heavy metals like arsenic and lead as 0.1mg/kg, while labelling should only be allowed as per the regulations already prescribed by the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006. 

It also stipulated that the composition of refined olive oil as oil obtained from refining methods without alteration in glyseridic structure with free acidity be not more than 0.3g per 100g, whereas olive oil fit for human consumption with free acidity be not more than 1g per 100g. 

For extra virgin olive oil, the acidity was not more than 0.8g per 100g. The acidity for virgin oil was set at 2g per 100g. Similarly the free acidity of pomace oil, consisting of blend of refined olive pomace oil and virgin olive oils, was set at 1g per 100g, and for refined olive pomace oil, it was set at 0.3g. 

The regulations further define the quality characteristics as follows:

Parameters	Virgin olive oil, extra-virgin olive oil and ordinary virgin olive oil	Refined olive oil	Olive oil	Refined pomace olive oil	Pomace olive oil
Moisture and volatile matter (Max)	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Insoluble impurities (Max)	0.1%	0.05%	0.05%	0.05%	0.05%
Trace metals (Max) Iron (Fe) Copper (Cu)	3mg/kg 0.1mg/kg	3mg/kg 0.1mg/kg	3mg/kg 0.1mg/kg	3mg/kg 0.1mg/kg	3mg/kg 0.1mg/kg
Refractive index at 20 degree C	1.4677-1.4705	1.4677-1.4705	1.4677-1.4705	1.4680-1.4707	1.4680-1.4707
Saponification value (mg KOH/g oil)	184-196	184-196	184-196	182-193	182-193
Iodine value (Wijs)	75-94	75-94	75-94	75-92	75-92

While the regulations do not permit any additives in virgin olive oil, additives are allowed in others, but their quantity should not exceed 200mg per kg
The industry called it a step in the right direction, adding that it would help in the standardisation and clarification of the issues related to olive oil.
Experts state that India is becoming a leading importer of olive oil. Its imports have seen a 50 per cent rise in recent times. During the last fiscal, they amounted to 12,000 tonne. Spain is the largest importer of olive oil to India, followed by Italy.
Atul Kumar, president, Indian Importers Association, lauded the decision and added that it would fix a number of issues related to standards of olive oil.
“Olive oil was earlier a generic term, but now the new regulations have specified the characteristics and compositions that would help in the trade of olive oil after imports,” he said.
“The product would then have to be tested in labs, and with set parameters, this would help the industry as well as most of the olive oil is repackaged after imports,” Kumar added.

DINAMALAR NEWS

Upgrade procedure to test milk, suppliers tell JMC

Jammu, October 11
A day after announcing to resume the milk supply within municipal limits, milkmen, mostly Gujjars, today asked the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) to upgrade its procedure of testing milk, alleging that it was "obsolete and below national standards".
"To save milk from converting into curd, a limited amount of ice is added to maintain the temperature of milk in summer season, which generally has a minute effect on it but there is no change in its fat content. This can no way be termed as adulteration," Jameel Choudhary of the Dodhi Gujjar Association told reporters here.
He dared the civic body to show any provision or norm of the Food Safety Act, which allowed them to destroy milk during the collection of samples.
He demanded that the rates of milk and other milk products be enhanced with immediate effect as the Gujjars had been suffering losses because of high cost of cattle feed and fodder.
JMC officials, meanwhile, blame the state government for its failure to release funds for purchase of mobile testing labs to check milk adulteration at all entry points of the city.
"A proposal to purchase new mobile testing labs to check the quality of milk was mooted
last year after the release of an alarming report by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) in January 2012. The report stated that 83 per cent of milk sold in urban areas of the state was not safe for consumption. However, the proposal is yet to be implemented due to red tapism," said an official.
In 2012, the FSSAI had collected 18 samples from different areas of the state as part of its nationwide study and had found that most common form of adulteration in the state was that related to Glucose and Skimmed Milk Products (SMP).
"The civic body is still dependent on the lab which takes days to give out the results. Mobile labs can provide us with a tool for on-the-spot checking," the official said.
Kiran Wattal, JMC Commissioner, and Vinod Sharma, JMC Health officer, were unavailable for comments.

NASVI to train street food vendors to mark World Food Day

To clebrate World Food Day which falls on October 16, the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) will impart training to street food vendors on the issue of health and hygiene in the city.

"Promoting and professionalizing street foods in an era of growing costs of food and widespread debates over the issue of sustainability of formal food distribution system, NASVI with support from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is going to build capacity of more than 500 street food vendors in the national capital through imparting them training on issues of health and hygiene on October 21," a statement from NASVI said today.

The street vendors' body believes that once recognised and capacitated, the street food vendors would be more able to increase their enterprise and contribute to sustainability of food economy and its distribution systems.

The capacity building demonstration training would be a part of the ten-day long World Food Day celebrations which NASVI is going to start from October 16 across cities.

Every year the World Food Day falls on October 16 which marks the foundation of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

NASVI said this year the World Food Day throws up a very relevant theme of 'Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition'.

According to NASVI national coordinator Arbind Singh, the growing urbanisation and the shrinking formal food distribution system has stimulated a rise in the number of street food vendors in many cities and towns across India.

"The migration from rural areas to urban centres has created a daily need among many working people to eat outside the home. A large number of college/university going youth is also dependent on such foods. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) also has found that many regions have street food vendors as active labour force," Mr Singh said.

He said even from the angle of poverty reduction, employment and entrepreneurship, the working poor were attracted to this profession.

The ten-day exercise would witness street food vendors taking hands on training on health and hygiene as well as tips and wherewithal on how to make and serve delicious, healthy and nutritious foods to the consumers.