Campaign on food safety

The Food Safety Wing will begin a campaign in the district to educate food vendors with an aim to protect the health of consumers.

This includes use of butter paper in bakeries and plain white paper plates in tea and coffee shops instead of using newspapers for serving ‘vada’ and ‘bajis’. The newspapers absorb oil that would lead to poisoning. Food items kept in roadside and eateries should be kept in closed glass panel so that they are not exposed to dust.

Also, use of non-permitted colours and reuse of cooking oil that pose health hazards should be stopped. Carrying of food, including tea, in plastic bags should be stopped as it would lead to cancer and heart diseases. Instead, vendors should use high density polyethylene bags. The Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department would carry out a campaign among vendors.

FSSAI sets Feb 4, 2014, as final deadline for registration & licensing

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has set the final deadline as February 4, 2014, for the food business operators to register and obtain licenses under Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011.
There will be no further extension to FBOs operating in the country to comply with the rules. “The advisory regarding extension till Feb 4 next year is now being legalised. The FBOs, new and old, have to get licence and register by Feb 4, 2014, otherwise they would get penalised,” said P Karthikeyan, assistant director, FSSAI.
He said that there shall be no extension as much time had been given to the FBOs to either obtain licence or register themselves. The first deadline was August 4, 2012, that is one year after the implementation of the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing & Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011. This was extended by six months to Feb 4, 2013, and then again extended further to Feb 4, 2014.  
According to the new draft under the Sub-Regulations of 2.1.2 related to licence for food business, it proposes two changes in Clause I wherein the term “within one year” in first proviso, is changed with “thirty months” and in second proviso the word “otherwise” is changed with “the new FBOs who started food business after 5th August 2011.”
The present regulations under 2.1.2 were as follows; no person shall commence any food business unless he possesses a valid licence -
Provided that any person or Food Business Operator carrying on food business on the date of notification of these regulations, under a licence, registration or permission, as the case may be, under the Acts or Orders mentioned in the Second Schedule of the Act shall get their existing licence converted into the licence/registration under these regulations by making an application to the Licensing/Registering Authority after complying with the safety requirements mentioned in the Schedule 4 contained under different parts dependent on nature of business, “within one year” of notification of these regulations. In case of difficulty, the licensing authority with the approval of the food safety commissioner in the state will determine the advisability of applying any specific condition keeping in view the need to ensure safety of food and public interest. No licence fee will have to be paid for the remaining period of the validity of the earlier licence or registration granted under any of the said Acts or Orders.
Non-compliance with this provision by a Food Business Operator will attract penalty under Section 55 of the Act.
The second part of the Clause I says -Provided further that any food business operator holding Registration/License under any other Act/Order as specified under Schedule 2 of the FSS Act, 2006, with no specific validity or expiry date, and “otherwise” entitled to obtain a licence under these regulations, shall have to apply and obtain a Registration/Licence under these regulations “within one year” from the date of notification by paying the applicable fees.
Further the regulations also propose to omit Clause 4 that defines the late fees for delay in applying for renewal under Sections 2.1.7 of the regulations, which defines Validity and Renewal of Registration and License. That means no late fees of Rs 100 each day after delay, if any FBO does not applied within 30 days before the expiry date.
When contacted K G Burman, food safety commissioner, Delhi, said that FSSAI on its part did come up with the regulations as and when required.
He stated, “The FBOs however needs to get licence and registrations well within the stipulated time.”

Honey, these popular brands are contaminated with antibiotics

In what may be a case of adopting double standard, India allows export of top quality, pure honey to US and Europe, but turn a blind eye to sale of antibiotic-laden honey in the domestic market.

A survey of 12 popular honey brands including two imported products available in the Indian market shows almost all of them contain high levels of antibiotics, used by the beekeeping industry to control and prevent outbreak of diseases in apiaries.
Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment analysed 10 Indian honey brands – Dabur, Himalaya, Patanjali, Khadi, Himflora, Mehsons, Baidyanath, Gold, Hitkari and Umang. Also two foreign products Australian product Capilano and Swiss Nectaflor were checked.
Barring one, all other honey brands were found to be contaminated with multiple antibiotics and regular consumption may contribute to the evolution of drug-resistant superbugs.
But when it comes to the million dollar export market, regulators at the Export Inspection Council (EIC) and Agriculture product Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the Union commerce ministry ensure that honeys for export market adhere to the highest quality norms. But the authorities allow sale of contaminated honey in the domestic market.

“They diligently check the products and monitors the standard for export products. But there is no check on the products available in the domestic market,” said Sunita Narain, director of Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment which carried out the survey.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India failed to do anything in the last four years even though the government was aware of the problem since the last five years, she said.
Moreover, nobody knows what happened to the export-rejected products. Though there was no word on it from the government or the industry, it was likely that those contaminated products might be coming back to domestic market after relabeling, said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director of CSE.
India has three standards on honey, each defining it as a “natural product”. But there were no standards for antibiotic or any other contaminants in honey, he said. Besides diseases control, antibiotics are used as a growth promoter too.
“Barring Hitkari, all other branded products are contaminated by high levels of multiple antibiotics. It is bad for health but there is no regulation for the domestic market,” said Narain.
Chronic exposure to antibiotics in small doses can lead to antibiotic-resistance and superbugs, which is increasingly becoming a public health worry. As many as six antibiotics were found and contamination level was maximum with oxytetracycline and enrofloxacin.

Despite ban, sale of tobacco continues in city

Minister for Health U.T. Khader, City Police Commissioner of Police Raghavendra H. Auradkar along with health and police officials at a shop selling tobacco products during an awareness drive in Bangalore on Saturday.

Loophole in regulations being exploited by companies: health officer

Urban District Health Officer Rajani M. has called for an amendment to the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011. This in the light of the fact that though the government has banned the sale of gutka and pan masala that contain tobacco or nicotine on May 31, companies are subverting the ban by selling sachets of tobacco separately.

According to her, the gutka industry was exploiting a loophole in the law and selling tobacco leaves separately.

Explaining the loophole, she said that the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulations, 2011, prohibits the sale of food items containing tobacco and nicotine. “But loose tobacco is being sold to people who are later mixing them with other products. Since the law prohibits the sale of gutka with other food items, the industry lobby is contending that loose tobacco can be sold. There is a need to amend the regulations so that tobacco is not sold in separate sachets,” she said here on Saturday during the drive to weed out illegal advertisements pertaining to tobacco products.

Health Minister U.T. Khader, City Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar and Additional Police Commissioner Kamal Panth inspected four tea shops on Infantry Road and its surroundings as a part of the drive to get illegal advertisements removed from shops selling cigarettes and pan masala. Mr. Khader directed the shopkeepers to display pictorial warnings of the consequences of consuming tobacco and its products.

Section 5 of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) places restrictions on the advertisement of cigarettes or any other tobacco product and also makes it mandatory for a health warning to be placed in each of the stalls.

“Several youngsters consume tobacco that has dangerous health hazards. There is a need for vendors to place boards that convey the message that consuming tobacco is harmful to health so that youngsters will at least think twice before falling prey to it.”

At one of the stalls on Cunnigham Road, a vendor was selling Super Zerda, a tobacco product and there was no clear pictorial statutory warning on the sachets and the Minister directed officials to initiate action against the company.

And, the Health Minister collected six pan masala sachets and directed the officials to get them checked in laboratories to find whether they contained tobacco.

To a query, Mr. Khader said, “After the ban, sale of gutka has reduced significantly.”

He added that similar drives against the sale of tobacco products would be carried out in all districts.

JMC inspects milk vends in city

Jammu, October 19
Continuing its drive against adulteration of milk in view of the forthcoming festival season, the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) today inspected about 2,000 litres of milk.
A team of food safety officers under the supervision of Dr Vinod Sharma, health officer, Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), inspected prominent sweet and milk shops in Sanjay Nagar, Digiana, Nanak Nagar, Talab Tillo, Canal Road, Mast Garh, Pacca Danga, Kachi Chowni and Kucha Sabzi Mandi area.
The Municipal Corporation has asked all food establishment owners to ensure proper food supply to the general public and maintain standard of hygienic conditions on their premises, failing which strict action would be taken against them under law.
The general public is requested to cooperate with the Jammu Municipal Corporation and share information regarding poor quality of food products, if any. On October 5, a team of the JMC was attacked by milk suppliers who were in possession of the adulterated milk.
A finding by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has found that 83 per cent of milk sold in districts of the state is not safe for consumption.

Food poisoning: Health officer gives nod to legal action against restaurant

Mohali, October 19
The district health officer (DHO), Mohali, has allowed the food safety officer to initiate legal action against the management of Barbeque Nation, Phase V, which offered food that was “unfit for human consumption”.
The Mohali DHO, Dr Gursharan Singh, said the step was taken after getting the report of food samples collected from the restaurant.
“Artificial colours and a strand of hair were found in the samples. The required sanction to launch a court case against the management was given to the FSO, Rajdeep Kaur,” he said.
The Mohali police has also registered a case against the owner and staff of the restaurant on the charges of causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others (Section 337 of the IPC), professional misconduct (Section 338) and sale of noxious food and drink (Sections 272 and 273) at the Phase I police station.
The case was registered on the complaint of a customer, Abhishek Tandon, who was celebrating his birthday at the restaurant on September 26. In all, around 22 persons, including three women and five children, were taken ill while having the dinner.