As deadline nears, number of applicants for food safety licence goes down in Coimbatore

Instead of a spurt of applications being filed now with deadline just round the corner, the number of food businesses knocking on the doors of the Food Safety Wing here has actually declined in the past three months.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had mandated all food business operators to obtain licences/registrations before August 4.

Instead of a spurt of applications being filed now with deadline just round the corner, the number of food businesses knocking on the doors of the Food Safety Wing here has actually declined in the past three months.

A senior food safety official told The Hindu that just around 18 per cent of the total 26,691 food businesses, including ration shops and Government school hostels, in Coimbatore district had valid licences/registrations now.

The number of licences issued in June was 69 while the average figure used to hover between 200 and 300 till a few months ago. This was mainly due to the repeated deadline extensions.

When the Food Safety Act was notified and implemented from August 5, 2011, businesses were given an initial deadline of a year to register. It was extended from August 4, 2012, to February 4, 2013, and to February 4 this year and again to August 4. Licence was mandatory for all food business concerns with an annual turnover of above Rs. 12 lakh and those below this threshold have to obtain registration, both of which were valid for a year.

Further, the official said that even those who had obtained licences were failing to renew them. While 8,607 had registered last year, only 2,498 have renewed it. Similarly, 3,714 licences were issued last year of which 2,327 were not renewed. A total of 7,496 firms had failed to renew their licences/registration. In the absence of any instructions from FSSAI, the officials were also reluctant to launch a campaign asking food businesses to seek or renew licences.

Only the multinational companies involved in food businesses and their distributors along with restaurants were now keen on obtaining or renewing licences. However, those firms who were most in need of licences, such as the roadside food shops and small canteens, besides small groceries, are extremely reluctant, the official added.

FSSAI chief tight-lipped about extension to current licencing deadline

On the sidelines of an event held in New Delhi recently, K Chandramouli, chairman, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) neither confirmed nor denied that there would be an extension to the current deadline for licencing and registration (August 4, 2014) of food business operators (FBO) across the country.

“No letters were issued to the states in this regard,” he added, and stated that the apex food regulator was awaiting the full interpretation of the Bombay High Court order. “When we obtain that, we will decide the future course action regarding advisories and regulations.”

Sourish Bhattacharyya on the food safety comedy circus

It's been less than a month since the government made the ill-advised move to ban foie gras (goose liver) imports on the ground that the delicacy is injurious to the birds because of the way they are force-fed to fatten their liver.

Well, foie gras may not be the only sign of refined taste that may disappear from our plates because all hell has been let loose by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Like the misdirected logic of the foie gras ban (name one animal product, starting with milk, that doesn't involve some form of cruelty or the other!), the rules being pushed by the FSSAI seem to have been conceived at Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

The Food Safety and Standards Act, without doubt, was legislated in 2006 with the good intention of bringing the provisions of sevenodd central acts, beginning with the antiquated Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act of 1995, under one comprehensive, contemporary legal umbrella. A brainchild of the previous government, it was welcomed by all as a salutary initiative, but the mood changed once the rules framed under the Act came into effect in 2011. It sent food importers running for protective cover, but none was forthcoming.

For starters, the new rules are based on the list of 355 edible food products recognised by the PFA Act of 1955, which is surprising because the Codex Alimentarius, the Bible of food standards prepared jointly, and updated continually, by the World Health Organisation and the Food & Agriculture Organisation, lists more than 3,500 categories (not items!) of edible food products. In what could be a scene straight out of Catch 22, or Comedy Nights with Kapil, the new rules, for instance, allow green olives to be imported, but bar the ones that are black, because it regards black olives as green olives gone bad.

The new rules don't recognise the existence of mayonnaise, or of sausages, unless they carry a 'cooked meat' label. They are OK with cheese made with pasteurised milk, but they don't allow Parmegiano Reggiano (the original parmesan) access to the Indian market because it is made with milk that is not pasteurised. Nor do they accept that there's something called 'canola oil', leading to a piquant situation where the FSSAI wants canola oil shipments to carry labels describing the product as 'rapeseed oil', which their Canadian importers are refusing to do. LABELLING, of course, is another parallel circus act.

Not only is the FSSAI making absurd demands (like insisting that all wine labels must mention expiry dates!), it is asking for all food labels to be translated into English. Try as hard as you may, you cannot get a Japanese sushi rice producer, or a Thai manufacturer of condiments, to invest in a machine dedicated to printing labels in English for the Indian market.

The world uses their products without blinking an eye, so why should they make an investment for a market that, anyway, is quite small! I believe the Japanese had an apoplectic fit when they were asked by FSSAI to produce a health certificate and a certificate of provenance (both in impeccable English!) for each container of fish that arrived from their country.

I foresee two serious consequences of this legal mayhem. One, the unmet demand for imports will increasingly be met by airline and shipping crew 'hand-carrying' food items at an exorbitant price. This would hurt the government because of the loss of revenue involved. And if the rest of the world starts viewing the FSSAI actions as non-tariff barriers and starts retaliating, then Indian agricultural exports will suffer more than the imports that are getting blocked because of the food safety circus.

A NEW FOODIE HUB RISES IN VASANT KUNJ

Ambience Mall in Vasant Kunj, long dismissed as the poor cousin of its upscale neighbours (DLF Emporio and Promenade), is fast becoming a gourmet magnet. Its transformation started with the arrival of Yauatcha, the dim sum restaurant from London that opened here after a successful launch in Mumbai, then Starbucks, and finally, Indigo Deli, Rahul Akerkar's restaurant franchise designed for the malls. Yauatcha has had mixed luck, Starbucks has returned to normal life after those early headlinegrabbing queues, and Indigo Deli, having seen a great opening, ran into a kerfuffle over table reservations, but none seems to be struggling to survive.

Come August 25, and they'll be joined by Pizza Express, the international chain of Italian restaurants born in the UK, famous for its invention, dough balls served with garlic butter dip, reaching Delhi via Mumbai. A floor above, Mistral, the restaurant run by PVR Cinemas, has turned around its menu under the supervision of Mayank Tiwari, who has worked with both the Olive and the Smoke House franchises. There's also talk of Jamie's Kitchen opening - it'll be the country's first Jamie Oliver restaurant - some time later this year on the other side of Indigo Deli and Pizza Express. The mall, it seems, has finally come of age.

JOOST THE WAY WE LIKE IT

People in the food business love to joke that no one ever pays to go out and have a healthy meal. An alumna of Switzerland's prestigious Les Roches Hotel Management School, Rivoli Sinha set out to prove this long-held theory wrong, although she had the more comfortable option of taking up a position in the `2,500-crore security company founded and owned by her father, R.K. Sinha, the BJP's newly elected Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar.

Rivoli, who's still in her 20s and has a name drawn from the Spanish word for 'revolution', came across Boost, an Australian chain of fresh fruit juice stores, on a visit Down Under coinciding with the takeover of a major local company by her father. She chose to bring the brand home, but realised that she would have to find a new name because Boost was already a milk supplement brand.

She zeroed in on Joost, opened her first outlet at a South Delhi fitness centre, and broke even within seven months. "Profitability is the only reason why I got into this business," Rivoli said over a sampler from her juice menu at Joost's Cyber Hub outlet.

She visits Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district every February for the annual auction of hapoos (Alphonso) mangoes - this year, she picked up five quintals. She insists on only late-harvest Sweet Charlie strawberries from Mahabaleshwar because their natural sugar content rules out the need for additional sugar.

She sources her blueberries and raspberries from New Zealand, but she has found a supplier for blueberries in Himachal Pradesh. And she gets her wheatgrass from a grower in Sonepat who uses the hydroponic growing system to stop bugs from thriving on the grass. This attention to detail is getting her the footfalls - Joost's 8ftx7ft outlet at the Medanta Medicity serves 400-500 people a day. That must be keeping the cash registers ringing.

How much antibiotics do Indians consume with 240 cr chicken a year?

The revelation of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in Delhi on Wednesday that we unknowingly ingest a lot of antibiotics along with sumptuous chicken meals is unnerving, but what we don’t realise is that this practice has been going on for years.

The problem is that chicken are recklessly fed the same antibiotics that we use to fight common infections. By consuming these antibiotics through the chicken meat we eat, we naturally develop resistance to the bacteria that they can otherwise fight. But additionally, thanks to indiscriminate use, the bacteria in the chicken that have developed resistance to these antibiotics, can be transferred to us if the meat is not properly cooked. It’s a double whammy.

If we are chicken lovers, perhaps we are already resistant to some or all of the antibiotics that the CSE has found in 70 meat samples from different parts of Delhi and Gurgaon, and chicken meat could have been why we didn’t respond to some medicines we took earlier.

It’s now common knowledge that many of the infections that flouroquinolones (a family of broad spectrum antibiotics that the CSE has found in its study) fought earlier are resistant to the drug.

Globally, the practice has been on for several decades.The US alone, where it’s widespread, 15-17 million pounds of antibiotics are reportedly used in poultry farms every year. However, in Europe and Canada, it’s banned.

Poultry are indiscriminately fed with antibiotics to avoid infections as well as to boost growth by harnessing probiotic action (suppressing bad bacteria and protecting good bacteria in the gut),from the time they come out of the hatchery to the time they are converted into meat. Apparently, small doses of antibiotics make the birds grow three percent more than they would otherwise do.

And controversies have also been common.

In a notable study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (6 February 2002), it was found that people who harboured ciprofloxacin-resistant bacteria (one of the drugs that the CSE has found in their study) had acquired them by eating pork that was contaminated with salmonella. The report also said that salmonella resistant to the antibiotic flouroquine could be spread from swine to humans, and therefore, the use of flouroquinolones (the group of drugs that the CSE found in its study) in food animals needed to be prohibited. An earlier New England Journal of Medicine study had found that 20 percent of ground meat obtained in supermarkets contained salmonella, out of which, 84 percent was resistant to at least one form of antibiotic.

What the CSE had done by disclosing an untold truth with evidence, should be a wake up call for India because of burgeoning chicken consumption. According to anEconomic Times report , India’s poultry industry is worth Rs 40,000 crore and it produces 240 crore birds every year. Reportedly, to meet the demand, the industry needs to expand at an annual rate of 12-15 percent. The consumption of chicken is expected to double in the next five years. Even big industrial houses are now engaged in poultry industry.

Think about all the antibiotics that these 240 crore plus birds consume and pass on to us!

The growth of the poultry industry and increasing consumption of chicken also means possible ingestion of more and more antibiotics and drug-resistant bacteria. It is a scary prospect that the government needs to respond at once. The only way to address it is by making testing and supervision stringent because unlike in America, where two antibiotics that were found to be resistant in poultry in 2000 could be pulled out, in India such drugs are freely produced and sold without prescription under various names.

More over, the US Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) stipulates that poultry farmers observe a period of withdrawal. According to FSIS guidelines, “before the bird can be slaughtered, a withdrawal period is required from the time antibiotics are administered. This ensures that no residues are present in the bird's system.” FSIS randomly samples poultry at slaughter and tests for residues. Reportedly, data from this monitoring program have shown a very low percentage of residue violations.

But in India, neither the monitoring service nor the control of the indiscriminate sale of antibiotics seem to work, if at all they are existent. If we are serious about the huge health-bills because of drug resistance, similar programmes have to be introduced soon. Both the organised and unorganised parts of the poultry industry have to be brought under strict safety norms.

Acknowledging the gravity of the phenomenon, the WHO has recommended reduction of “the overuse and misuse of antimicrobials in food animals for the protection of human health." It recommends that prescriptions are required for all antibiotics used to treat sick food animals, and antimicrobials for growth promotion are either phased out or terminated if they are used for human treatment.

Is India listening?

KFC owner says China scandal hurting sales

In what appears to be a first across all KFC franchises globally, KFC India has unveiled a segregated vegetarian menu along with a strong message about its newfound bias for vegetarian offerings.

BEIJING: The owner of the KFC and Pizza Hut restaurant chains says a scandal over food safety in China has hurt sales and might be severe enough to cut into the company's global profit. 

Yum Brands Inc, in a filing with the US securities regulator, said Thursday the scandal over accusations Shanghai Husi Food Inc sold expired beef and chicken has caused a "significant, negative impact" on sales. 

It gave no financial details and said it was too early to know when sales might rebound. But it said that if the "significant sales impact" continues, it might hurt this year's profit. 

Chinese authorities have detained five Husi employees but have yet to confirm a TV report the company sold expired meat to KFC and McDonald's Corp restaurants in China.

Antibiotic residues in chicken found by CSE’s pollution monitoring lab

The pollution monitoring laboratory (PML) of the Centre for Sceince and Environment (CSE), the New Delhi-based research and advocacy think-tank, found residues of antibiotics in 40 per cent of the chicken samples it tested.

The think-tank’s recent study also concluded that Indians are developing resistance to antibiotics, and falling prey to a host of otherwise curable ailments. Some of this resistance might be due to the large-scale unregulated use of antibiotics in the poultry industry. 

Releasing the lab’s findings, Sunita Narain, director general, CSE, said, “Antibiotics are neither restricted to humans nor limited to treating diseases. The poultry sector uses them as growth promoters. Chickens are fed antibiotics so that they gain weight and grow faster.” 

Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general, CSE, and head of the lab, said, “Public health experts have long suspected that such rampant use of antibiotics in animals could be a reason for increasing antibiotic resistance in India.” 

“But the government has no data on the use of antibiotics in the country, let alone on the prevalence of antibiotic resistance. Our study proves the rampant use, and also shows that this could be strongly linked to growing antibiotic resistance in humans in India,” he added.

Test results

PML tested 70 samples of branded and non-branded chicken, procured from various markets across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). Of these, 36 samples were picked from Delhi, 12 from Noida, eight from Gurgaon and seven each from Faridabad and Ghaziabad from various markets. 

Three tissues (muscle, liver and kidney) were tested for the presence of six antibiotics widely used in poultry - oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline and doxycycline (class tetracyclines); enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin (class fluoroquinolones) and neomycin (an aminoglycoside). 

So far, this is one of the biggest studies conducted in India to test chicken for antibiotic residues.

The residues of five of the six antibiotics were found in all the three tissues of the chicken samples. They were found to be in the range of 3.37-131.75µg/kg. 

Of the samples found tainted with antibiotic residues, 22.9 per cent contained residues of only one antibiotic, while the remaining 17.1 per cent samples had residues of more than one antibiotic. 

In one sample purchased from Gurgaon, a cocktail of three antibiotics (oxytetracycline, doxycycline and enrofloxacin) was found. This indicated the rampant use of multiple antibiotics by the poultry industry.

CSE researchers pointed out that antibiotics are frequently pumped into chicken during its life cycle of 35-42 days.

They are occasionally given as a drug to treat infections, regularly mixed with feed to promote growth and routinely administered to all birds for several days to prevent infections, even when there are no signs of it. 

“Our study is only the tip of the iceberg. There are many more antibiotics that are rampantly used, but the lab has not tested them yet,” stated Bhushan.

What does it mean?

The large-scale misuse and overuse of antibiotics in chicken is leading to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the chicken itself. 

These bacteria are then transmitted to humans through food or environment. Additionally, eating small doses of antibiotics through chicken could also lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans.

In a tele-conference, Dr Devi Shetty, cardiac surgeon and founder of Narayana Health, said, “Amongst people who came to the hospital to cure health-related problems, at least 10 per cent were found to have been infected with the antibiotic-resistant bacteria.” 

To ascertain the linkage between overuse of antibiotics in poultry farms and antibiotic resistance in humans, CSE researchers reviewed 13 studies conducted by various government and private hospitals across the country between 2002 and 2013. 

They found that resistance was very high against ciprofloxacin, doxycycline and tetracyclines. These are the same antibiotics that were detected in the chicken samples.

The problem is compounded by the fact that many essential and important antibiotics for humans are being used by the poultry industry. 

In India, there is growing evidence that resistance to fluoroquinolones (such as ciprofloxacin) is rapidly increasing. 

Treating fatal diseases like sepsis, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB) with fluoroquinolones is becoming tougher, because microbes that cause these diseases are increasingly becoming resistant to fluoroquinolones.

Replying to a question in Parliament recently, health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the number of multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) cases in the country has increased fivefold between 2011 and 2013. 

Studies showed that one-third of MDR-TB cases were resistant to fluoroquinolones, which are critical for MDR-TB treatment.

The CSE study found two fluoroquinolone antibiotics (enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin) in 28.6 per cent of the chicken samples tested.

With antibiotics losing their effectiveness, the world would need newer antibiotics. Unfortunately, no new class of antibiotics has hit the market since the late 1980s. 

In the United States, which is one of the largest users of antibiotics for animal food production, more than two million people suffer from antibiotic resistance-related illnesses every year; 23,000 of them succumb to the diseases. 

Annual healthcare costs due to antibiotic resistance are estimated to be as high as $20 billion. 

No such estimates are available for India, but cases of high antibiotic resistance are emerging from across the country.

So what is to be done?

Governments worldwide are adopting regulations to control the use of antibiotics. But only those countries have shown signs of improvement that have taken stringent actions.

The European Union (EU), for instance, has banned the use of antibiotics as growth promoters. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended that antibiotics that are critical for human use should not be used in animals. 

Countries have also set standards for antibiotics in food commodities.

CSE researchers pointed out that the poultry industry in India is growing at 10 per cent per annum. Poultry constitutes more than 50 per cent of all the meat consumed in India.

Said Bhushan, “India will have to adopt a comprehensive approach to tackle this problem. The biggest problem is the emergence of resistant bacteria in animals and its transmission through food and environment.” 

“Till the time we keep misusing antibiotics in animals, we would not be able to solve the problem of antibiotic resistance,” he added. 

“For India, therefore, the priority should be to put systems in place to reduce the use of antibiotics in poultry and other food animals,” Bhushan stated.

CSE recommended the following to the government:

Ban the use of antibiotics as growth promoters and for mass disease prevention. Antibiotics critical for humans should not be allowed in the poultry industry;

Antibiotics should not be used as a feed additive. The government should regulate the poultry feed industry;

Unlicenced and unlabelled antibiotics should not be sold in the market;

The government should promote the development of alternatives and good farm management practices;

Set standards for antibiotics in chicken products;

Set up systems for the monitoring and surveillance of antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance in humans and animals, and

Set pollution control standards for the poultry industry.

சிதம்பரத்தில் காலாவதியான பிஸ்கெட் பாக்கெட்டுகள் பறிமுதல்

சிதம்பரம், ஜூலை 31:

சிதம்பரம் எம்கேதோட்டம் அம்மன் கோயில் தெரு பகுதியை சேர்ந்தவர் ஜெயபாலன் மகன் ஆனந்தபாலன் (30). இவர் சிதம்பரம் கண்ணங்குடி புறவழிச்சாலை அருகே உள்ள பங்க் கடை ஒன்றில் பிஸ்கெட் பாக்கெட் வாங்கி சாப்பிட்டுள்ளார்.

சிறிது நேரத்தில் அவருக்கு உடல் நலக்குறைவு ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது. சந்தேகத்தின் பேரில் அந்த பிஸ்கட் பாக்கெட் கவரை அவர் பார்த்த போது 2013ம் ஆண்டோடு காலாவதியானது தெரியவந்தது. உடனடியாக அவர் சிதம்பரம் அரசு மருத்துவமனையில் சிகிச்சை பெற்றார்.

கடலூர் மாவட்ட உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அதிகாரி ராஜா உத்தரவின் பேரில் குமராட்சி ஒன்றிய உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அலுவலர் மாரிமுத்து, சிதம்பரம் நகராட்சி உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அலுவலர் பத்மநாபன் ஆகியோர் நேற்று மதியம் சிதம்பரம் புறவழிச்சாலையில் உள்ள சம்மந்தப்பட்ட கடையில் சோதனை நடத்தினர். அப்போது கடையில் காலாவதியான பிஸ்கெட் பாக்கெட்டுகள் இருந்துள்ளன. உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அலுவலர்கள் அதனை பறிமுதல் செய்து அதனை ஆய்வுக்காக எடுத்து சென்றனர். மேலும் அக்கடையில் தயாரிப்பு தேதி இல்லாத சிப்ஸ் பாக்கெட்டுக�யும் பறிமுதல் செய்தனர். சிதம்பரம் நகரம் முழுவதிலும் உள்ள கடைகளில் காலாவதியான பிஸ்கட் பாக்கெட்டுகள், டீத்தூள் பாக்கெட்டுகள் உள்ளிட்ட பொருட்கள் விற்கப்படுகிறதா என சோதனை செய்ய வேண்டும் என சமூக ஆர்வலர்கள் கோரிக்கை விடுத்துள்ளனர்.

நாடாளுமன்ற உணவு தரக்குறைவாக இருப்பதாக மாநிலங்களைவில் எம்.பிக்கள் புகார்

நாடாளுமன்ற உணவு விடுதியில் வழங்கப்படும் உணவு சுகாதாரமானதாக இல்லை என்றும், அதை உட்கொண்ட எம்.பி.க்களுக்கு உடல்நலக்குறைவு ஏற்படுவதாகவும் மாநிலங்களவையில் எம்.பி.க்கள் புகார் எழுப்பினர்.

மாநிலங்களவையில் பூஜ்ஜிய நேரத்தின்போது, நாடாளுமன்ற வளாக உணவு விடுதியில் வழங்கப்படும் உணவு, தரமானதாக இல்லை என்று மாநிலங்களவையில், உறுப்பினர்கள் சிலர் பூஜ்ஜிய நேரத்தின் போது புகார் தெரிவித்தனர்.

அப்போது ஐக்கிய ஜனதா தளக் கட்சியைச் சேர்ந்த கே.சி தியாகி பேசும்போது, "சமாஜ்வாதி உறுப்பினர்கள் ராம் கோபால் யாதவ் மற்றும் ஜெயா பச்சன் உள்ளிட்ட சிலர், நாடாளுமன்ற வளாகத்தில் உணவு விடுதியின் உணவு உண்ட பின்னர், உடல் உபாதைகளால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டனர். அங்கு வழங்கப்படும் உணவு தரம் வாய்ந்ததாக இல்லை" என்றார்.

மேலும், இவை எதிர்க்கட்சிகளை பேச விடாமல் தடுக்க ஆளும் கட்சி செய்யும் சதி என்றும் ராம் கோபால் யாதவ், கிண்டலாக பேசினார்.

யுபிஎஸ்சி தேர்வு சர்ச்சை, நித்தின் கட்கரி உள்ளிட்ட அமைச்சர்களின் வீடுகளில் ஒட்டுக்கேட்பு கருவி பொறுத்தப்பட்டது தொடர்பான சர்ச்சை இன்று இரு அவைகளிலும் எழுப்பப்பட்டது. இதனால் பகல் 12 மணி வரை அவை நடவடிக்கைகள் பாதிக்கப்பட்டது. பின்னர் கூடிய மாநிலங்களவையில், உணவு பொருள் தரப் பிரச்சினை குறித்து நீண்ட விவாதம் நடைபெற்றது.

இதனைத் தொடர்ந்து பேசிய ஜெயா பச்சன், "நானும் இதனால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டேன். பட்ஜெட் மீதான விவாதங்கள் நீண்ட கடந்த சில நாட்களில், எம்.பிக்கள் அனைவரும் வளாக விடுதியிலேயே உணவு சாப்பிட நேர்ந்தது. இதனால் பல எம்.பிக்கள் உடல் நலக் குறைவால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டனர்" என்றார்.

இதற்கு பதிலளித்து பேசிய நாடாளுமன்ற உணவுத்துறை குழு உறுப்பினரும் காங்கிரஸ் கட்சியின் மூத்த தலைவருமான ராஜீவ் ஷுக்லா, "நாடாளுமன்றத்திற்கு உணவு வகைகள் காலை 6 மணிக்கு கொண்டுவரப்படுகிறது. இவை அனைத்தும் மாலை வரை வைத்திருப்பதாலேயே இந்த அசவுகரியம் ஏற்படுகிறது.

முன்னதாக, விடுதியில் நாளின் இடையே உணவு வகைகள் தயாரிக்கப்பட்டன. ஆனால் பெரிய அளவில் எரிவாயுப் பொருட்கள் உபயோகப்படுத்தப்படுவதால், எதிர்ப்பாராத விபத்து நேரக்கூடும் என்று முன்னாள் சபாநாயகர் மீரா குமார் அறிவித்தார். இதன் காரணமாக, கடந்த சில நாட்களாக விடுதியின் சமையலறை செயல்படவில்லை" என்று கூறினார்.

இதனைத் தொடர்ந்து பேசிய நாடாளுமன்ற விவகாரத் துறை அமைச்சர் வெங்கய்ய நாயுடு, இது குறித்து அவசர நிலையில் நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்படும் என்று அறிவித்தார்.

நாட்டிலேயே நாடாளுமன்ற உணவு விடுதியில் உணவு வகைகள் மிக குறைந்த விலையில் விற்க்கப்படுகின்றன. இங்கு உணவு வகைகளின் விலை குறைந்தபட்சமாக ரூ.12 ஆக உள்ளது. அதிகபட்சமாக ஒரு பிளேட் சிக்கன் பிரியாணி ரூ.34க்கு விற்கபடுவது கவனிக்கத்தக்கது.

Kochi corporation moves against illegal abattoirs

KOCHI: In the wake of recent controversies over unauthorised slaughter of animals at Polakkandam market in west Kochi, the Kochi corporation has issued directives to curb the functioning of illegal slaughterhouses in the city. "The corporation secretary has been authorized to take action against those involved in slaughtering animals at Polakkandam. Animals can be slaughtered only at the slaughterhouse at Kaloor," said mayor Tony Chammany.

The mayor said that he had received a memorandum from Shyla Thadevouse, councillor from Moolamkuzhi, regarding the illegal killing. Animals were being butchered in shanties during day time. With the abattoir at Mattancherry becoming non-functional, the city has to depend on the slaughterhouse at Kaloor for meat. The abattoir was closed down after the pollution control board (PCB) opposed its operations. "This has resulted in the mushrooming of illegal slaughterhouses in the city, particularly in the west Kochi region," she said.

The councillor also said that the meat for sale was processed under unhygienic conditions.

Even at a time when food safety officials were raiding hotels and restaurants, there has been no sincere effort to keep track of the quality of meat sold in the city, she added.

Eating chicken can make you immune to antibiotics

Each time you eat chicken, you could also be consuming a cocktail of antibiotics. A lab study released by the Centre for Science and Environment found antibiotic residues in 40% of chicken samples bought from outlets in Delhi and the National Capital Region.

While the amount of antibiotics found in each sample was not very high, experts said regular consumers of such meat could be in danger of developing antibiotic resistance. In other words, eating chicken with drug traces over a period of time could make you immune to important antibiotics prescribed to treat common illnesses.

The study said it had evidence of largescale and reckless use of antibiotics by poultry owners, which can also lead to antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains in the birds itself.

CSE said it conducted the study after being alerted by doctors, including Bangalorebased cardiac surgeon Devi Shetty, about a rising trend of antibiotic resistance among patients.

CSE said 22.9% of the 70 samples collected contained residues of one antibiotic while 17.1% had more than one. A sample purchased from Gurgaon was found to have a cocktail of as many as three antibiotics.

The CSE report, released on Wednesday, said poultry owners routinely pumped antibiotics into chicken during their short life of about 35 to 42 days, to promote growth so that they look bigger and also to treat or prevent infections. India has no law to regulate antibiotic use in the poultry sector.

CSE’s research team tested chicken samples at its Pollution Monitoring Laboratory. Three tissues in each sample were tested — muscle, kidney and liver.

Residues of five of the six antibiotics were found in all three tissues of the samples in the range of 3.37 to 131.75 micrograms per kg.

According to Dr Shetty, after a researcher conducted a study on antibiotic resistance at his hospital, they found about 10% of the patients to be resistant to common antibiotics.

“These are people who probably haven’t taken antibiotics before. They are villagers. We started thinking it could be caused from the food they are eating. That is why I approached CSE to do a study and now the data says it all,” he said on a live video chat from Bangalore during the presentation of the findings.

Dr Shetty also said that the li kelihood of becoming antibiotic resistant after eating chicken depended on how often one ate chicken. “If you are eating poultry chicken on a daily basis then you could be at a higher risk. That is why I asked my family to get only village reared chicken not the poultry ones,“ he said.

Dr Randeep Guleria, head of pulmonary medicine at AIIMS, said he wasn't surprised that antibiotics were entering the food chain through poultry .

“The findings aren't surprising. It's a big concern and in the last few years after the NDM 1 superbug scare, the medical community has been raising concern about indiscriminate use of antibiotics in poultry and agriculture,“ Dr Guleria said. Said Chandra Bhushan, CSE's deputy director general, “Our study is only the tip of the iceberg. There are many more antibiotics that are rampantly used that the lab has not tested.“

Health minister Harsh Vardhan said he would react to the findings only after reading the entire lab report.

CSE also conducted a review of 13 research studies on antibiotic resistance (ABR) in the country since 2002 and found that ABR levels were very high for ciprofloxacin and doxycycline, both used for illnesses such as diarrhoea, pneumonia and urinary tract infections. High level residues of the same antibiotics were found in chicken samples tested by CSE. The problem, according to CSE, is compounded by the fact that antibiotics essential for humans are now used in the poultry industry .

Your chicken curry may've loads of Antibiotics

Antibiotics in your chicken!

Large-scale misuse and overuse of antibiotics in chicken is leading to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the chicken itself. Eating small doses of antibiotics through chicken can also lead to development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans. 

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) lab study found residues of antibiotics in 40 per cent of the samples of chicken that were tested.

Large-scale unregulated use of antibiotics in the poultry industry could be contributing to Indians developing resistance to antibiotics and falling prey to a host of otherwise curable ailments, according to the results of a new study released on Wednesday by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

In the biggest study done in India to test residues of antibiotics in chicken the CSE lab study found residues of antibiotics in 40 per cent of the samples of chicken that were tested.

Releasing the findings of the study which has been conducted by CSE’s Pollution Monitoring Laboratory (PML), Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre said: ``Antibiotics are no more restricted to humans nor limited to treating diseases. The poultry industry, for instance, uses antibiotics as a growth promoter. Chickens are fed antibiotics so that they gain weight and grow faster.”

The test results

PML tested 70 samples of chicken in Delhi and NCR: 36 samples were picked from Delhi, 12 from Noida, eight from Gurgaon and seven each from Faridabad and Ghaziabad. Three tissues — muscle, liver and kidney — were tested for the presence of six antibiotics widely used in poultry: oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline and doxycycline (class tetracyclines); enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin (class fluoroquinolones) and neomycin, an aminoglycoside.

Residues of five of the six antibiotics were found in all the three tissues of the chicken samples. They were in the range of 3.37-131.75 μg/kg. Of the 40 per cent samples found tainted with antibiotic residues, 22.9 per cent contained residues of only one antibiotic while the remaining 17.1 per cent samples had residues of more than one antibiotic.

In one sample purchased from Gurgaon, a cocktail of three antibiotics — oxytetracycline, doxycycline and enrofloxacin — was found. This indicates rampant use of multiple antibiotics in the poultry industry.

CSE researchers point out that antibiotics are frequently pumped into chicken during its life cycle of 35-42 days: they are occasionally given as a drug to treat infections, regularly mixed with feed to promote growth and routinely administered to all birds for several days to prevent infections, even when there are no signs of it.

``Our study is only the tip of the iceberg. There are many more antibiotics that are rampantly used that the lab has not tested,” added Mr. Bhushan.

Large-scale misuse and overuse of antibiotics in chicken is leading to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the chicken itself. These bacteria are then transmitted to humans through food or environment. Additionally, eating small doses of antibiotics through chicken can also lead to development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans.

To ascertain the linkage between overuse of antibiotics in poultry farms and antibiotic resistance in humans, CSE researchers reviewed 13 studies conducted by various government and private hospitals across the country between 2002 and 2013. They found that resistance was very high against ciprofloxacin, doxycycline and tetracyclines. These are the same antibiotics that were detected in the chicken samples.

The problem is compounded by the fact that many essential and important antibiotics for humans are being used by the poultry industry.

In India, there is growing evidence that resistance to fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacin is rapidly increasing. Treating fatal diseases like sepsis, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB) with fluoroquinolones is becoming tough because microbes that cause these diseases are increasingly becoming resistant to fluoroquinolones.

The CSE study found two fluoroquinolone antibiotics — enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin — in 28.6 per cent of the chicken samples tested.

Worldwide governments are adopting regulations to control the use of antibiotics. But only those countries have shown signs of improvement that have taken stringent actions. EU, for instance, has banned the use of antibiotics as growth promoters. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that antibiotics that are critical for human use should not be used in animals.

CSE researchers point out that the poultry industry in India is growing at 10 per cent per annum. Poultry constitutes more than 50 per cent of all the meat consumed in India.

Noted Mr. Bhushan: ``India will have to adopt a comprehensive approach to tackle this problem. The biggest problem is the emergence of resistant bacteria in animals and its transmission through food and environment. Till the time we keep misusing antibiotics in animals, we will not be able to solve the problem of antibiotic resistance. For India, therefore, the priority should be to put systems in place to reduce the use of antibiotics in poultry and other food animals.”

கோழி இறைச்சியில் அதிக அளவு ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக்: சி.எஸ்.இ. எச்சரிக்கை

விஞ்ஞானம் மற்றும் சுற்றுச்சூழல் மையம் (சி.எஸ்.இ) நடத்திய ஆய்வில் கோழி இறைச்சியில் அதிக அளவு ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் இருப்பது கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

எந்த விதமான வழிகாட்டுதலும் இல்லாத நிலையில், கறிக்கோழிகளுக்கு அதிக அளவு ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் கொடுக்கப்படுகிறது, இதனால் கோழிகளுக்கு வரும் குணப்படுத்தக்கூடிய நோயையும் குணப்படுத்த முடியாமல் போவதோடு, இறைச்சியை சாப்பிடும் மனிதர்களுக்கும் நோய்க்கூறுகள் தோன்றுகின்றன என்று அந்த ஆய்வு தெரிவித்துள்ளது.

சாதாரண காய்ச்சல் உள்ளிட்ட தினசரி நோய்கள் பலவற்றுக்கு பல்வேறு ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக்குகள் பயன்படுகின்றன. ஆனால், கறிக்கோழியில் அதிகம் ஆனட்டி பயாடிக் செலுத்தப்படுவதால், அதனை உட்கொள்ளும் மனிதர்களுகும் ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக்கினால் குணப்படுத்த முடியக்கூடிய நோய்களையும் குணப்படுத்த முடியாத நிலை ஏற்படுகிறது. காரணம், அந்த மருந்துகள் நம் உடலில் அளவுக்கு அதிகமாகி வேலை செய்யாமல் விரயமாகி விடுகிறது.

இந்தியாவில் நடத்தப்பட்ட இந்த மிகப் பெரிய ஆய்வில், பரிசோதனைக்கு எடுத்துக்கொள்ளப்பட்ட கோழிக்கறியில் 40% மாதிரிகளில் அளவுக்கு அதிகமான ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் மருந்துகள் கலந்திருப்பது தெரியவந்துள்ளது.

விஞ்ஞானம் மற்றும் சுற்றுச்சூழல் மையத்தின் மாசுக் கண்காணிப்பு பரிசோதனைச் சாலையில் நடத்தப்பட்ட இந்த ஆய்வில் சிக்கன் கறி பற்றிய திடுக்கிடும் தகவல்கள் வெளியாகியுள்ளது,

பரிசோதனைச் சாலையின் தலைமை இயக்குனர் சுனிதா நரைன் கூறும்போது, "ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் பயன்பாடுகள் மனித, மருத்துவப் பயன்பாடுகளையும் மீறிச் சென்றுள்ளது, கால்நடை வளர்ப்பு தொழிற்துறையினர் கோழிகள் எடை கூடுவதற்கும், வேகமாக வளர்வதற்கும் ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் மருந்துகளை அதிகம் பயனபடுத்துகின்றனர். இது தவறான அணுகுமுறை" என்று அவர் எச்சரித்துள்ளார்.

பரிசோதனை முடிவுகள்:

டெல்லியிலிருந்து 70 சிக்கன் மாதிரிகள் ஆய்வுக்கு எடுத்துக் கொள்ளப்பட்டன. கோழிகளின் லிவர், தசை மற்றும் கிட்னி பரிசோதனை செய்யப்பட்டது. பொதுவாக கோழிவளர்ப்பில் 6 ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் மருந்துகள் பயன்படுத்தப்பட்டு வருகிறது: ஆக்சிடெட்ரா சைக்ளின், குளோர்டெட்ராசைக்ளின், டெட்ராசைகிளின் வகையறாவான டாக்சிசைக்ளின், என்ரோபிளாக்சசின், சிப்ரோபிளாக்சசின், நியோமைசின் ஆகியவை அளவுக்கு அதிகமாக பயன்படுத்தப்பட்டு வருகிறது.

மேற்கூறிய ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் மருந்துகளில் 5 வகை மருந்துகள் அனைத்து சிக்கன்களிலும் காணப்பட்டன. கிலோவுக்கு 3.37-131.75 மைக்ரோகிராம் ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் மருந்துகளின் படிவுகள் சிக்கன் கறியில் இருப்பது தெரியவந்தது.

குர்கவான் பகுதியிலிருந்து பெற்ற சிக்கன் கறி மாதிரியில் ஒன்றுக்கும் மேற்பட்ட (ஆக்சிடெட்ராசைக்ளின், டாக்சிசைக்ளின், என்ரோபிளாக்சசின்) மருந்துகளின் படிவுகள் அதிக அளவில் காணப்பட்டுள்ளது.

கோழிகளின் வாழ்நாளில் 35 முதல் 42 நாட்களுக்குள் ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் மருந்துகள் காரணமில்லாமல் வெறும் எடையை அதிகரிக்கவும் வளர்ச்சியை துரிதப்படுத்துவதற்காகவும் மட்டுமே பயன்படுத்தப்படுவதாக இந்த ஆய்வாளரகள் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர்.

மேலும், இந்த ஆய்வு ஒரு சிறு அளவை மட்டுமே காண்பித்துள்ளது. இன்னும் அதிகமான ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் மருந்துகள் முறையற்று பயன்படுத்தப்படுகிறது என்று ஆய்வாளர்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றனர்.

இதனால், சிக்கன் கறி சாப்பிடுபவர்களுக்கு ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் மருந்துகளையும் தடுக்கும் பாக்டீரியாக்களின் ஆதிக்கம் ஏற்படும் அபாயம் இருப்பதாக அவர்கள் கூறுகின்றனர்.

இதனையும் சி.எஸ்.இ. ஆய்வாளர்கள் ஆய்வுப்பூர்வமாக நிரூபித்துள்ளனர். 2002ஆம் ஆண்டிலிருந்து 2013ஆம் ஆண்டுவரை தனியார் மற்றும் அரசு மருத்துவமனைகளில் நடத்தப்பட்ட ஆய்வுகளில் பெரும்பாலான நோயாளிகளுக்கு சிப்ரோபிளாக்சசின், ஆக்சிடெட்ரா சைக்ளின், டாக்சிசைக்ளின் போன்ற ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் மருந்துகள் வேலை செய்யாதது கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டது.

சிப்ரோபிளாக்சசின் என்ற ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் மூக்கு முதல் பாதம் வரையிலான அனைத்து நோய்களையும் எதிர்க்கும் மருந்தாகும். இதன் பலனை மனித உடல் இழக்கும்போது டைபாய்டு உள்ளிட்ட பிற கிருமித் தொற்று நோய்களுக்கு சிகிச்சை அளிப்பது பெரும் சவாலாக மாறிவிடும், உண்மையில் இந்தியாவில் இது அதிகரித்திருப்பதாக சி.எஸ்.இ. எச்சரித்துள்ளது.

எனவே இறைச்சி உற்பத்தித் தொழிற்துறையில் தாறுமாறாக ஆன்ட்டி பயாடிக் பயன்படுத்தப்படுவதைத் தடுக்க அரசு கடும் சட்டங்களையும் கண்காணிப்பு முறையையும் கொண்டு வரவேண்டும் என்று சி.எஸ்.இ. தெரிவித்துள்ளது

Parliament canteen food not good, complain MPs

They claimed that members were falling sick after consuming food from the canteen

Quality of food served in Parliament canteen today came under attack in Rajya Sabha as a member drew attention of the government towards MPs falling sick after consuming it.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, K C Tyagi (JD-U) said members were falling sick after consuming food from Parliament canteen and SP members Ram Gopal Yadav and Jaya Bachchan were the latest victims.

Tyagi, in a lighter vein, said it was a well-planned conspiracy to keep the members' mouth shut in Parliament.

Some members from the opposition benches remarked that food was from Gujarat, to which Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkiah Naidu said, "Some people keep dreaming of Gujarat, what can I do?"

When Deputy Chairman P J Kurien asked Naidu to look into the issue, he said, "I have taken note of it. I have told the canteen staff about it."

Bachchan said it was a fact that she had to suffer after she ate food in Parliament when it was sitting late.

The problem of poor quality of food is prevailing since last four-five years, she said, complaining, "They are serving stale food here."

Rajeev Shukla (Cong) supported her saying he was a member of the Food Committee and had suggested bringing the kitchen back to Parliament building.

"Food cooked at 6 AM is served till late night which was causing the problem," he said, adding the problem started only after kitchen was shifted from the main building.

Best Practices for Handling, Preparing and Processing Non Vegetarian Products

Non-Veg Food

Processed Non-vegetarian foods like meat, marine food and poultry are those that have already been prepared for safe consumption. Processing can be of any form like grinding, adding ingredients or cooking, which changes the appearance, texture and taste from an earlier form.

Temperature control at the adequate level is one of the most important procedures in processing and preparation of non-vegetarian food as that is a key factor in the control of microorganisms. If temperatures are not adequately maintained then it would lead to the growth of harmful bacteria and the meat product would be unsafe for human consumption.

Food business operators therefore must take adequate steps so they have alternate means of maintaining the temperature in case there is electricity failure. The surrounding area as well as the area where non-vegetarian food is being prepared and processed must be kept clean and hygienic as per FSSAI regulations. There should be proper covered dustbins to dispose those parts of the food that are not consumed or which have fallen on the ground during preparation.

Keep in mind the following requirements that your employees must follow in processing and preparation of non-vegetarian products.

Keep separated raw and processed meat from other foods and surfaces.

Use separate items like cutting boards, dishes, knives and different preparation area for raw meats, poultry and marine products so there is no cross contamination.

Wash hands thoroughly when switching from the preparation of non-vegetarian items to other items or other food preparation activity.

Cook non-veg. items fully so that heat penetrates into the deepest part of the product.

Wash used surfaces with antibacterial cleaning agent, rinse properly with water and sanitise surfaces after preparing raw meat, fish or poultry.

Thaw frozen products well in time so they are ready for cooking in a way that heat penetrates to the core.

Electric grinding equipment and even chopping, cutting produce heat and so non-vegetarian products must either be immediately cooked or placed in temperatures that do not allow microorganisms to grow.

Turf war between Health and Food Safety departments rages

Tiff over whether Health Departmenthas the mandate to inspect and raid hotels

Lack of State-level coordination between Food Safety and the Health departments is hampering food safety drive.

While the Food Safety and the Health departments continue to haggle about the jurisdiction of work on raids conducted in hotels and restaurants, the government is still to come clear on a grave issue concerning public health.

M.M. Abbas, public health activist, told The Hindu that the spat was in the open because there was no State-level coordination. Only if there was a directive to both the departments, the district administration could coordinate their functioning.

The Health department, endowed with a strong strength of personnel at the grassroots level, could either be redeployed or trained by the Food Safety Department. The skeletal strength of Food Safety Department was inadequate, said Mr. Abbas.

Senior Food Safety Officials told The Hindu that the raids were conducted in violation of the Health Department directive. However, an official indicated that the issue would have come up if the Health had informed the Food Safety department and sought their cooperation too in the raids. It would save the Health department of any legal hurdle, the official said.

However, the Health department officials justify the raids as being part of the Safe Kerala Clean Kerala campaign.

Hotels are inspected to see if they maintain a clean and hygienic environment while serving food to customers, said P. N. Sreenivasan, district health officer (rural). “We do not have the mandate to test the quality of food,” he said. However, what can be detected by naked eye, like fungus on food or worm-infested foods is destroyed, he said. Legally, the Health Department might not find a firm footing int the courts, said Mr. Abbas.

While the hotels and restaurant owners are crying foul about the Health Department not having a mandate to inspect hotels, Mr. Sreenivasan believes that there is no legal hurdle in inspecting a hotel premises if it is creating circumstances that could spread diseases. In case of any large-scale food poisoning or breakout of water-borne diseases like typhoid or hepatitis A, it is the Health department that is held responsible, argued Mr. Sreenivasan.

Justifying the actions carried out by the Health Department for the last three years, he said it had definitely helped bring down water-borne diseases.

Compared to the numbers three years ago, incidents of typhoid and hepatitis A have come down drastically from 182 typhoid cases reported in 2011 to 8 cases so far this year, and from 274 hepatitis A in 2011 to 14 so far this year.

Mr. Sreenivasan says the nearly 400-strong team of health inspectors, supervisors and technical assistants available at the grassroots level are being deployed to ensure that food and water that people consume in homes and outside homes does not spread communicable diseases.

On a regular basis Health inspectors across the rural area take part in chlorination activity of wells and other water resources on the seventh day of the month and inspect hotels every 15th day of the month, said Mr. Sreenivasan.

Next Is Safe Food Zones In Govt. Hospitals

Would this be another promise not kept? If implemented, the general public can hope to get safe food at govt. hospitals

Trivandrum: Worries related to food items served from canteens functioning within government hospitals started in September last year, when an elderly woman found a dead snake in a packet of curry served from the Medical College Hospital’s canteen. 

This isn’t an isolated case. In another incident a millipede was found in a food packet bought from the Indian Coffee House near the General Hospital.

Some of the government hospitals are themselves in a sorry state of affairs. Adding to the woes are such not-so-isolated cases of food with dead insects and reptiles! But if the government’s word is anything to go by, then hope is just around the corner. 

Those admitted in government hospitals and their by-standers can take a long deep breath as the food safety department is on the verge of implementing a “Safe Food Zone” at government hospitals. On a trial basis, the Food safety department plans to launch this project at the Cheerayankeezhu government hospital in Trivandrum district.

Later this will be expanded to the main hospitals – the Medical College Hospital, the General hospital and to all the government hospitals in the city.

One of the main aims of this project apart from providing safe food is also to rehabilitate those people who are dependent on selling food outside government hospitals. Nowadays it is a common sight to find food vendors outside hospitals.

According to Food Safety Department officials, “By implementing this project we will allot a special zone for such people inside the hospital for the sale of food items. But at first only a few people will be included in the project but later on it will be expanded.”

People are usually attracted to such food vendors as they believe that such food is ‘cleaner’ and cheaper than what is provided in nearby hotels. Meals including fish curry costs anywhere between Rs.40-50 or below whereas in hotels it costs more. But the Food Safety Department is concerned over the food’s hygiene too.

Those who wish to be part of this should register their names with the Food Safety Department so that the department can regularly conduct checks at places where the food is cooked. It is expected that if all goes as planned, safe and cheap food can be guaranteed for the needy.

Yentha will follow up this story in a few weeks from now. You may send in your opinions to anything@yentha.com or comment below this story. 

புரோட்டீன் ஷேக்... நல்லதா கெட்டதா?

புரோட்டீன் ஷேக்...நல்லதா கெட்டதா?

'புரோட்டீன் பவுடர் சாப்பிட்டா உடம்பு ஃபிட்டா இருக்கும்னு சொல்றாங்க... எனக்கு புரோட்டீன் பவுடர் வாங்கிக்கொடு' இன்றைய இளைஞர்கள் ஜிம்முக்கு செல்ல ஆரம்பித்ததும் வீட்டில் நச்சரிக்க ஆரம்பிக்கிற விஷயம் இது. 'அன்றாட உணவில் இருக்கும் புரதத்தை நம்புவதைவிட புரோட்டீன் ஷேக், புரோட்டீன் பவுடர் பயன்படுத்துவது சிறந்தது’ என்ற நம்பிக்கை பலரிடம் உள்ளது.

ஒரு மனிதனுக்கு எவ்வளவு புரதச் சத்து தேவை, புரோட்டீன் ஷேக், பவுடர் போன்றவற்றை எந்த அளவில் எடுத்துக் கொள்ளலாம், தேவையான சத்துக்களை உணவின் மூலம் மட்டுமல் லாமல், இதுபோன்ற பானங்களின் வழியே எடுத்துக்கொள்வது சரியா? போன்ற பல்வேறு சந்தேகங்களை மூத்த ஊட்டச்சத்து நிபுணர் தாரிணி கிருஷ்ணன் முன்பு வைத்தோம்.

'சரியான நேரத்தில், சரியான கேள்வி. புரதச் சத்து என்பது அமினோ அமிலங்களின் கூட்டுச் சங்கிலி. இதுதான் நம் உடல் இயக்கத்துக்கு வலு சேர்க்கிறது. ஒவ்வொரு மனிதனுக்கும் தினமும் சராசரியாக 50 கிராம் புரதம் அவசியம் தேவை. ஆனால், இதில் கால் பங்குகூட நாம் எடுத்துக்கொள்வது இல்லை என்பது தான் உண்மை. இதனால், புரதச் சத்து குறைவால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளவர்களின் எண்ணிக்கைதான் அதிகரித்திருக்கிறது. அதே நேரத்தில் தேவைக்கு அதிகமாகப் புரதச் சத்து உடலில் சேர்வதும் எதிர்வினையை ஏற்படுத்திவிடும்.

நம் உடலுக்குத் தேவையான புரதச் சத்தை உண்ணும் உணவின் மூலமாகவே எடுத்துக்கொள்ளலாம். சைவப் பிரியர்கள் பால், தயிர், கீரை வழியாகவும், அசைவப் பிரியர்கள் மீன், முட்டை, கோழி இறைச்சியை எடுத்துக்கொள்வதன் மூலமாகவும் புரதச் சத்தைப் பெறலாம். இப்படி சாப்பிடும்போது, மற்ற ஊட்டச்சத்துக்களும், தாது உப்புக்களும் கிடைத்துவிடும். ஆனால், புரோட்டீன் ஷேக், பவுடரை அருந்தும்போது புரதத்தைத் தவிர, மற்ற சத்துக்கள் உடலில் சேருவது இல்லை. தவிர, புரதச் சத்துச் செரிமானம் ஆவதற்கு அதிக நேரம் தேவைப்படும். இதனால், உடனடியாக அதிக உணவுகளை நாம் சாப்பிட முடியாது.

ஜிம்முக்குச் செல்பவர்கள், அதிகம் உடலுழைப்பு உள்ளவர்களுக்குப் புரதச் சத்து அதிகமாகவே தேவை. அவர்கள் தகுந்த அளவுடன் மற்ற சத்துக்கள் உடலில் சேருவதைப் பாதிக்காமல் இருக்கும்படியும் அருந்த வேண்டும். மேலும், புரதச் சத்துப் பானங்கள் உடல் எடையைக் குறைக்க விரும்புபவர் களுக்குப் பரிந்துரை செய்யப்படுகிறது. சிலர், உடல் எடையைக் குறைக்கிறேன் என்று புரோட்டீன் ஷேக் பானங்களை மட்டுமே அருந்துகின்றனர். இது மிகவும் தவறு. இதனால், மிகக் கடுமையான பக்க விளைவுகளுக்கு ஆளாக நேரிடும்.

தினமும் நமக்குத் தேவையான அளவு புரதத்தைக் காட்டிலும் அதிகமாக உடலில் சேரும்போது, சிறுநீரகம் பாதிக்கப்படுகிறது. சிறுநீரகத்தில் கல் தோன்றவும் வாய்ப்பு உண்டு. அதிகப் புரதச் சத்து உடலில் சேரும்போது, இதய நோய், கல்லீரல் தொடர்பான நோய்கள் வருவதற்கும் காரணமாகி விடுகின்றன. எனவே, புரோட்டீன் ஷேக், பவுடர்களைப் பயன்படுத்துபவர்கள் அவரவர் எடைக்கு எவ்வளவு தேவை என்பதை மருத்துவரின் ஆலோசனைக்குப் பிறகு எடுத்துகொள்வதே நல்லது.

தற்போது கார்ப்பரேட் ஜிம்களின் மூலமே புரோட்டீன் ஷேக் அதிகமாகப் பிரபலபடுத்தப்படுகிறது. நம் ஊரில் உள்ள சாதாரண ஜிம்களில் பயிற்சி மேற்கொள்பவர்களை, முட்டையின் வெள்ளைப் பகுதி, பருப்பு, பால், கோழி இறைச்சி போன்றவற்றைத்தான் சாப்பிட சொல்வார்கள். அதுதான் உடலுக்குச் சிறந்தது. ஒரு முட்டையில் ஆறு கிராம் அளவுக்கு புரதச் சத்து இருக்கிறது. இயற்கையான உணவுகளின் மூலம் புரதச் சத்து பெறுவதே ஆரோக்கிய மானது. உடலுக்குப் புரதச் சத்து மிகவும் தேவை. ஆனால், எதையும் அளவோடு பயன்படுத்த வேண்டும்'' என்றார். 

நல்லாக் கேட்டுக்கங்க பாய்ஸ்!

Insight - In China food testing, safety inspectors are often one step behind

A man walks out of the entrance of Husi Food factory in Shanghai July 23, 2014.

(Reuters) - When inspectors visited Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd earlier this summer, the production line at the plant now at the centre of an international food scandal appeared in good order, with fresh meat being handled by properly-attired workers and supervisors keeping a watchful eye over the process.

However, if they had arrived unannounced a day before, they would have found piles of blue plastic bags filled with out-of-date meat stacked around the factory floor, a worker at the facility told Reuters, adding the old meat was often added back into the mix to boost production and cut costs.

"The next day, that meat just disappeared - someone must have disposed of it. The manager said it was an inspection," said the worker, who wasn't authorised to talk to the media and so didn't want to be named.

On July 20, following an undercover local TV report that alleged workers used expired meat and doctored food production dates, regulators closed the factory, which is part of OSI Group LLC, a U.S. food supplier. Police have detained five people including Shanghai Husi's head and quality manager.

The scandal - which has hit mainly big foreign fast-food brands including McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) and Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N), which owns the KFC and Pizza Hut chains - underlines the challenges facing inspectors in China's fast-growing and sprawling food industry. China is Yum's biggest market and McDonald's third largest by outlets.

Behind the thousands of brightly-lit restaurants offering what Chinese consumers see as better quality food lie supply chains that rely on an army of poorly regulated and inadequately audited processing plants. Yum has around 650 suppliers in China alone.

China's government has struggled to restore confidence in its $1 trillion food processing industry since six infants died in 2008 after drinking adulterated milk. The head of China's Food and Drug Administration told the China Daily this week that the food safety situation "remains severe" and the existing oversight system "is not effective."

China's food testing industry is expected to top 8 billion yuan ($1.29 billion) by next year, with more than 5,000 companies offering food inspection services. Regulators overseeing the industry are thinly stretched, company executives say.

Laws on food safety are incomplete and responsibility in enforcing them is unclear, making it difficult for regulators to do their jobs, Gao Guan, deputy secretary-general of the China Meat Association, told Reuters.

"In developed countries people obey the traffic rules. You wait when the light is red and you walk when the light is green. But this is not the case in China. People walk when other people walk and no one cares about the light. So in this particular environment things like Husi are very hard to avoid," Gao said.

BEST PICTURE

OSI, ranked by Forbes at 62nd on its list of U.S. private companies with annual revenue of close to $6 billion, said this week it suspended operations at Shanghai Husi Food and would review all its China plants, which would now come under direct control of its headquarters in Illinois. [ID:nL4N0Q31OC] It said it would "assign a vigilant rotation of global experts to continuously survey these operations and implement exhaustive audit steps," including constant visual surveillance of production measures and document compliance.

The Shanghai Husi scandal exposes weaknesses in big foreign brands' ability to police their own supply chains and processing plants - whether in-house or through third-party auditors.

"The issue with quality control audits is that the factories usually know about it and get ready," said Max Henry, Shanghai-based executive director of the Global Supply Chain Council.

Driven by extreme price pressures and an ambivalent workforce, suppliers often try to hide dubious practices from inspectors, showing them only certain parts of a factory or taking them to "fake" plants, so reports rarely give a full picture of compliance, auditors told Reuters.

"They want to give the customer the best picture of the factory, so when something's going wrong, they have to hide it," said Evelyne Mazaleyrat, product manager, food service for food auditor Bureau Veritas in Asia.

Audits of the Shanghai Husi factory by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2004 and 2010 to clear the way for potential Chinese poultry exports to the United States, gave the facility a clean bill of health. However, links to USDA audit forms show a one-page "checklist" format that some food safety experts have criticized.

"BANKRUPT SYSTEM"

To be sure, gaps in the auditing process are not limited to China.

"It's a bankrupt system," said Mansour Samadpour, microbiologist and CEO of IEH Laboratories & Consulting Group in Seattle, noting audits are normally scheduled ahead of time and organised around publicly available questionnaires. "It's become a way for people to abdicate their responsibilities for the safety of the food product they are selling."

Buyers such as Yum and McDonald's operate on huge volumes and demand very low prices from their suppliers, which compete fiercely for business on razor-thin margins.

Shanghai Husi is just the tip of the problem.

Last year, Yum shareholders filed four lawsuits against the company for failing to properly oversee its Chinese poultry suppliers and misleading investors about growth in China, according to U.S. court records. Yum says it audits each of its suppliers at least once a year.

"The Western firms have put in place regimes that clearly have holes in them, with KFC perhaps having the biggest problem because they have the most suppliers," said Richard Brubaker, an adjunct professor at the China Europe International Business School and founder of the Collective Responsibility consultancy.

A sample audit report from Silliker, which lists McDonald's as a client in some of its markets, covers basic information such as a facility's location and workforce, and asks, too, about cleaning, sterilization schedules and storage temperatures.

Pony Testing International, which lists McDonald's and KFC as clients, says it carries out physical and chemical tests including for nutritional make-up, additives, non-food substances, microbial indicators and pesticide residues.

ஜவ்வரிசியில் ஆசிட் கலப்பு 20 சேகோ ஆலைகளில் அதிகாரிகள் சோதனை

நாமக்கல், ஜூலை 30:நாமக்கல்

மாவட்டம், ராசிபுரம், நாமகிரிப்பேட்டை, சேந்தமங்கலம் சுற்றுவட்டாரப்பகுதிகளிலுள்ள ஜவ்வரிசி ஆலைகளில், ஜவ்வரிசி தயாரிப்பின் போது மரவள்ளிகிழங்கு துண்டுகளாக வெட்டி அதில் பிரஷர்மோட்டர் என்ற பம்ப்மூலம் ஆசிட் தெளிப்பதாக விவசாயிகள் கலெக்டர் தட்சிணாமூர்த்தியிடம் புகார் அளித்தனர்.

ஆசிட் கலப்பதால் ஜவ்வரிசி பளீச்சென வெள்ளை நிறத்தில் இருக்கும். அதை சாப்பிடும் பொதுமக்களுக்கு பாதிப்பு ஏற்படும். இதையடுத்து மாவட்ட உணவுப்பாதுகாப்பு துறை, நியமனஅலுவலர் தமிழ்ச்செல்வன் மாசுகட்டுப்பாட்டுவாரிய உதவி சுற்றுச்சூழல் பொறியாளர் பழனிச்சாமி மற்றும் உதவிபொறியாளர் ரங்கராஜ், உணவுப்பாதுகாப்பு அலுவலர்கள் சண்முகம், நரசிம்மன், ராமசாமி, ராமச்சந்திரன் ஆகியோர் ராசி புரம், நாமகிரிப்பேட்டை, சேந்தமங்கலம் பகுதியில் உள்ள 20 ஜவ்வரிசி உற்பத்தி தொழிற்சாலைகளில் நேற்று முன்தினம் இரவு முதல் நேற்று காலை வரை திடீர் சோதனை செய்தனர்.

ஆசிட் கலப்பதற்காக வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ள பிரஷர் மோட்டார் பம்பை பயன்படுத்த வைக்கப்படும் பெட் முற்றிலுமாக நீக்க வேண்டும் என ஆய்வின் போது அதிகாரிகள் அறிவுறுத்தினர். மேலும் ரசாயனம் வெளியே செல்ல பயன்படுத்தப்படும் இடத்தை ஒரு வாரத்தில் முற்றிலுமாக அடைக்க அறிவுறுத்தப்பட்டது. 4 ஜவ்வரிசி ஆலைகளில் 4 உணவு மாதிரி சேகரிக்கப்பட்டு ஆய்வுக்கு அனுப்பிவைக்கப்பட்டது.

கண்காணிப்பு குழுவின் இரவு நேர சோதனை தொடர்ந்து மாவட்டம் முழுவதும் நடைபெறும். இயற்கையான முறையில் ஜவ்வரிசி தயாரிப்பு உறுதிப்படுத்தப்படும்.

ரசாயனக் கலப்படம் இருப்பது கண்டறியப்பட்டால் ஜவ்வரிசி ஆலை சீல் வைத்து மூடப்படும் என உணவுபாதுகாப்பு அலுவலர் தமிழ்செல்வன் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

இறைச்சி கடைகளில் உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அதிகாரி ஆய்வு

கடலூர், ஜூலை 30:

கடலூர் செம்மண்டலம் பகுதி இறைச்சி கடைகளை மாவட்ட உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அதிகாரி டாக்டர் ராஜா நேற்று திடீர் ஆய்வு செய்தார். உணவு பாது காப்பு அலுவலர் ரவிச்சந்திரன் உடன் இருந்தார். இறைச்சி கடைகளை ஆய்வு செய்து விதிமுறைகள் மீறப்பட்ட சில கடைகளின் உரிமையாளர்களுக்கு டாக்டர் ராஜா எச்சரிக்கை விடுத்தார். அப்போது அவர் கூறியதாவது:

பொது மக்கள் கூடும் இடங்களில் இறைச்சி கடைகள் இருக்கக்கூடாது. 50 மீட்டர் தள்ளியே அமைந்திருக்க வேண்டும். அதை போல் வழிபாட்டு தலங்களில் இருந்து 100 மீட்டர் தூரம் தள்ளியிருக்க வேண்டும்.

அனைவரின் பார்வையிலும் ஆடுகளை அறுக்கக்கூடாது. எலும்புகள் மற்றும் கழிவுகள், தோல்கள் ஆகியவற்றை உடனுக்குடன் அப்புறப்படுத்திவிட வேண்டும். துருப்பிடித்த கத்திகளை பயன்படுத்தக்கூடாது. இடம் சுகாதாரமாக இருக்க வேண்டும். இறைச்சியை கழுவ பயன்படுத்தப்படும் தண்ணீர் சுத்தமானதாக இருக்க வேண்டும். வெட்டப்படும் ஆடுகள் சுகாதாரமானவை என சான்றிதழ் பெற வேண்டும். இந்த விதிமுறைகள் பின்பற்றப்படவில்லை என்றால் முதற்கட்டமாக நோட்டீஸ் அளிக்கப்படும். மீண்டும் அந்த தவறை தொடர்ந்தால் லைசென்ஸ் கேன்சல் செய்யப்பட்டு கடை மூடப்படும் இவ்வாறு அவர் தெரிவித்தார்.

DINAMALAR NEWS

6 கடை உரிமையாளர் மீது வழக்கு 296 புகையிலை பாக்கெட் பறிமுதல்

திருப்பூர், ஜூலை 30:

மாவட்டத்தில் தடை செய்யப்பட்ட பான்மசாலா பொருட்கள் அதிகளவில் விற்பனை செய்யப்படுவதாக தொடர் புகார் எழுந்தது. இதன்பேரில், திருப்பூர் தெற்கு மற்றும் வடக்கு, சென்ட்ரல், அனுப்பர்பாளையம் போலீசார், பிச்சம்பாளையம், அங்கேரிபாளையம், தில்லை நகர், மங்கலம் ரோடு ஆகிய பகுதிகளில் திடீர் சோதனையில் ஈடுபட்டனர். மேலும், பள்ளி, கல்லூரி மற்றும் பொதுமக்கள் அதிகம் வந்து செல்லும் பகுதிகளில் உள்ள பெட்டி கடைகளில் சோதனையிட்டனர். இதில் 10க்கும் மேற்பட்ட கடைகளில் பான்மசாலா பொருட்களான ஹான்ஸ், சின்னி, கெய்னி, கூல்லிப், கணேச்க் புகையிலை, பதன்ஹெல்ப், சைனி உள்ளிட்ட புகையிலை பொருட்கள் விற்பனை செய்வது கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டது. இதையடுத்து பான்மசாலா பொருட்கள் விற்பனை செய்த கடை உரிமையாளர்கள் 6 பேர் மீது வழக்கு பதிவு செய்தனர். மேலும், ரூ.2,683 மதிப்பிலான 296 போதை பாக்கு பாக்கெட்டுகளை போலீசார் பறிமுதல் செய்தனர்.

High Court issues notice on restaurant’s plea for ‘hookah’ licence

The Madras High Court has directed the Commissioner of Food Safety and the Chennai Police, among others, to respond to a petition by a restaurant here seeking a ‘hookah’ licence.

Separate area

Drizzle Restaurant at Neelangarai said it was running a ‘hookah’ bar in a separate area. As there was no legal provision for regulation of such bars, it submitted an application in March last year to the authorities for an amendment in the licence, allowing it to run the facility along with the restaurant bar.

The Chennai Corporation issued a notice, citing an order of the Commissioner of Food Safety. The import of the order was to ban the sale of tobacco in the form of food substances. However, that order was not being challenged as it had expired on May 23 this year.

The restaurant said the hookahs served by it were merely a blend of herbal leaves with scented syrup usually extracted from semi-dried fruits. The mixture was placed in an earthen shell over which a piece of burning charcoal was placed.

Even under the Tobacco Prohibition Act, only the Centre was empowered to make rules for manufacture, supply and distribution of tobacco. This being the case, the police were disrupting the business by regularly visiting the premises in large numbers.

When the matter came up before Justice M. Sathyanarayanan, Additional Government Pleader P. Sanjai Gandhi took notice.

DINAMALAR NEWS

சென்னை : ஓட்டல் உள்ள 'கிளப்'பில், 'ஹுக்கா' பயன்படுத்த, உரிமம் வழங்கக் கோரி, சென்னை உயர் நீதிமன்றத்தில், மனு தாக்கல் செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது. மனுவுக்குப் பதிலளிக்க, அரசுக்கு, உயர் நீதிமன்றம் உத்தரவிட்டுள்ளது. சென்னை, நீலாங்கரையில் உள்ள, 'டிரிசில் ரெஸ்டாரண்ட்' உரிமையாளர் பிரகாஷ், தாக்கல் செய்த மனு: எங்கள் ஓட்டலோடு இணைந்து, 'கிளப்'பும் உள்ளது. அங்கு, 'ஹுக்கா பார்' நடத்த, அனுமதி கோரி விண்ணப்பித்தேன். உணவு மற்றும் பாதுகாப்பு துறை கமிஷனர் அளித்த பதிலில், புகையிலையை, உணவு பொருள் வடிவத்தில் விற்பனை செய்ய, தடை உள்ளதாக, தெரிவித்துள்ளார். நாங்கள் வழங்கும், 'ஹுக்கா', மூலிகை இலைகள் மற்றும் பாதி உலர்ந்த பழங்களில் இருந்து எடுக்கப்பட்ட திரவம் ஆகியவை கலந்தது. இதில், புகையிலை, நிகோடின் கலப்பு இல்லை. மும்பை உயர் நீதிமன்றம், சில நிபந்தனைகளுக்கு உட்பட்டு, 'ஹுக்கா' பயன்படுத்த, அனுமதி வழங்கி உள்ளது. அதுபோல், அரசும் நிபந்தனைகள் விதிக்கலாம்; ஆனால், தடை விதிக்க முடியாது.

சட்டத்தில், 'ஹுக்கா' புகைக்க தடை இல்லாத போது, அந்த வர்த்தகத்தை தடுப்பது சரியல்ல. காஷ்மீர், இமாச்சல பிரதேசத்தில், 'ஹுக்கா' பயன்படுத்தப்பட்டு வருகிறது. எனவே, 'ஹுக்கா' வர்த்தகத்தில், அரசு குறுக்கீடு செய்வதற்கு, தடை விதிக்க வேண்டும். எங்களுக்கு, 'ஹுக்கா பார்'க்கான, உரிமம் வழங்க, உத்தரவிட வேண்டும். இவ்வாறு, மனுவில் கூறப்பட்டுள்ளது.

இம்மனு, நீதிபதி சத்தியநாராயணன் முன், விசாரணைக்கு வந்தது. மனுவுக்குப் பதிலளிக்க, உணவு பாதுகாப்பு கமிஷனர் சார்பில், கூடுதல் அரசு பிளீடர் சஞ்சய் காந்தி, 'நோட்டீஸ்' பெற்றுக் கொண்டார். விசாரணை, இரண்டு வாரங்களுக்கு, தள்ளி வைக்கப்பட்டது.

CAIT DEMANDS REVIEW OF FOOD SAFETY ACT ENFORCED BY EARLIER GOVT ACT FRAMED ON BEHEST OF MNCs- CAIT

29/07/2014 … The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), apex body of the trading community of the Country in a representation submitted to Union Health Minister Dr. Harshvardhan has called for an extension of last date of obtaining registration under Food Safety & Standards Act which is expiring on 4th August, 2014 and has also demanded formation of a High level Joint Committee comprising of Senior Officials, Traders representatives and Food Experts. The said Act was enforced by the previous Government without consulting the stakeholders.

It is remembered that present Foreign Minister Smt. Sushma Swaraj and Senior BJP Leader Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi strongly pitched for amendments in the Act and took the matter at the level of the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Health Minister Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad who extended the last date from 4th Feburary, 2014 to 4th August, 2014 and also assured a CAIT delegation to constitue a Joint Committee.Even the then Union Minister Shri Kapil Sibal also supported the demand of traders. Several State Governments have also expressed their reservations on implementation of the Act in their respective States. As per provisions of the Act every person dealing in food or allied business is required to obtain registration for conducting business activities failure of which shall attract severe penalties. The said Act was passed by Parliament in 2006 and the Rules and Regulations were enforced on 5th August, 2011.

CAIT National President Shri B. C. Bhartia and Secretary General Shri Praveen Khandelwal said that the Act and its Rules have grossly flouted the principle of natural justice and ignoring ground realities of Indian food business system. It is an attempt to handover Indian food market to Multinational Companies and will encourage packed food business in India. The Act provides mandatory keeping of a technician by every food business operator as also most updated laboratory which is impossible to comply with.

While opposing the Act and Rules and Regulations both Mr. Bhartia and Mr. Khandelwal said that Act is majorly a thrust of foreign laws and rules, which does not take in to consideration, our social, educational, financial, developmental and Agricultural and environmental constraints, living standards and habits and ground realities of the Country.The present Act, gives unprecedented, unfettered and arbitrary powers to the Authorities which stands against principle of natural justice.

They further said that the FSSAI provisions will cover Manufacturing / Processing including sorting, grading etc., Milk collection / chilling, slaughter House, Solvent extracting, Solvent extracting plant equipped with pre cleaning of oil seeds or pre expelling of oil, Solvent extracting and oil refining plant, Packaging, relabeling (manufactured by third party under own packing and labeling). Import, Storage / Warehouse / Cold Storage, Retail Trade, Wholesale Trade, Distributor / Supplier, Transporter of food, Catering, Dhabha or any other food vending establishment, Club / Canteen, Hotel, Restaurant & even house hold dabbawalas.

The trade leaders expressed hope that Dr. Harshvardhan will certainly take immediate cognisance of the grave issue and will meet the demands of the traders.

ADULTERATION IN FOOD ITEMS Mansa admn tightens noose

Mansa, July 29

Selling adulterated milk, spurious ghee and other spurious food items in Mansa would now cost those found guilty dear. The administration has pledged to conduct regular raids and impose fines on defaulters.

On Monday, Mansa ADC (General) Isha Kalia, the adjudicating officer, held three accused guilty of adulteration and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 each.

Sita Ram of Banke Karyana Store who sold Shishu brand mustard oil, Ravinder Kumar of Dharampura who sold poor quality mustard oil and Satpal Singh of Ahmdpur, who sold adulterated milk, were nabbed by Food Safety Officer Sanjay Katyal.

Last month, the accused Satpal Kumar of Budhlada, who was running a dairy in his home, was caught on the wrong foot as he was allegedly supplying sub-standard milk to the consumers. To increase the fat content in the milk, the accused used to add a powder.

The then Mansa Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Gurpreet Singh Khaira had imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on the defaulters. In May, the ADC (G) imposed a fine of Rs 4.5 lakh on four defaulters in separate cases.

Taking stringent action against the defaulters to control food adulteration, the ADC (G) instructed the health officials to conduct regular raids in the entire district. The Health Department has also been instructed to complete the process of compilation of files against those who have been declared defaulters after the chemical confirmation of adulteration reports from the laboratories.

Mansa Deputy Commissioner Parveen Kumar Thind said, "Food adulteration is a blot on our system and it should be curbed. The defaulters were booked under the various sections of Food Safety Act and a fine was imposed on them."

Market checking realize Rs. 15800 as fine

Doda, July 29: In a strive to ensure safe, hygienic, quality and affordable supply of essential commodities to the people of Doda district, especially on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr, the drug and food control organization (DFCO) Doda, yesterday conducted intensive market checking across the district. 

On the directions of District Development Commissioner Doda, Shyam Vinod Meena various squads comprising the officers and officials of Drugs and Food control organization (DFCO) Doda, CA&PD department, Municipal Committee Doda, weights and Measures department Doda, Revenue Department and assisted by District Police were constituted for this purpose. 

During checking the squads scrutinized quality, rates and safety of eatables and other commodities sold in the market. A fine of Rs. 15800 was realized from the erring traders, business dealers and shopkeeper for the violations of various provisions under Food safety & standards Act, CA&PD Act, Cigarette & other Tobacco products Act (COPTA) 2003 etc. besides about one quintal rotten, unhygienic and over dated items were destroyed by the squad on spot. The team with the collaboration of prominent citizens and members of Beopar Mandals Doda apprised the traders, mutton and poultry dealers, vegetables/fruit sellers, sweet shopkeepers and other stakeholders about the laws and rules under different acts and directed them to provide safe, affordable and quality food to the consumers. The team further directed the shoppers to keep their establishments neat and clean with directions to sell mutton (Sofi), chicken (live) and chicken (dressed) at the approved rates of Rs. 225 per kg, Rs. 130 per Kg and Rs. 160 per kg respectively besides they were instructed to refrain from activities of overcharging from the consumers & warned them that strict action will be taken against the defaulters. 

Further Shopkeepers were directed to display approved rate list of various commodities sold by them at conspicuous place in their shops.