DINAMALAR NEWS

Stop eating plastic

Chennai: Fourteen per cent of school children carry hot lunch in plastic tiffin boxes, their parents regarding this a handy and stylish thing to do. A study, conducted by the Consumer Association of India (CAI) and Business School, University of Sydney, Australia, in 25 schools, both government and private, by checking students’ meals and containers, brought this fact to light. Nutritionists and food safety experts say that it’s unhealthy to pack hot food in plastic boxes. “Metal tiffin boxes are the best for carrying food,” they said. 

G.Santhanarajan, principal of Concert food and drug-testing lab, said, “When hot food or water is stored in a plastic container, Biphenol-A, a chemical, is released from plastic as it reacts to the heat. This chemical disrupts the functioning of the endocrine glands in the body. Continuous exposure to Biphenol-A is one of the factors leading to hypothyroid disorder.”

He added that during the survey, principals of many city schools learnt about the disadvantages of plastic tiffin boxes and told their students to switch to metal. He said that it was safe to AVOID plastic spoons, plates and water bottles.

According to the study, some parents packed pizzas, burgers, noodles and other fried junk food items for their children’s lunch. “We observed the lunch boxes of 300 children for one week. We learnt that only five per cent of children buy food from shops or hotels for lunch. A majority of children bring food prepared by their mothers or grandmothers.

In some cases, parents pack junk food for lunch because they couldn’t cook fresh food in the morning as they were rushing to work,” said Nirmala Desikan of CAI. She added that only 28 out of 2,941 food items which they observed over the week, had fruits and vegetables.

While 84 per cent of children enjoyed home-cooked food, 0.4 per cent disliked lunch from home. Fifteen per cent of children were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. They said they had no other option but to eat what was given to them as they couldn’t afford to have tasty food items, said CAI members.

Government is directionless: DVS

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday alleged that the Congress government is “directionless” and should have toned up its administration instead of expanding the Cabinet by inducting legislators facing charges of corruption.

Addressing presspersons here, the former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council D.V. Sadananda Gowda said the government has not been able to take a clear stance on issues such as admission of students to professional courses and the proposal to ban arecanut. Instead of providing a clean and transparent administration, the Ministers are busy renovating their office chambers in the Secretariat. Neither Chief Minister Siddaramaiah nor his Cabinet are paying attention to implementing measures to tackle drought.

Even though the size of the budget crossed more than Rs. 1 lakh crore, the government has not been able to pay salaries to teachers of both aided and un-aided educational institutions. The people will teach a lesson to the Congress government in the coming Lok Sabha elections, he predicted.

The government has resorted to power cuts despite good storage levels in the reservoirs, he added. It has become more frequent and it is more than six to seven hours in villages. They have no plan to tackle shortage of power in the State. The economic growth will decline if the government fails to arrest the power shortage in the days ahead, Mr. Sadananda Gowda said.

He pointed out that there was no clarity on the proposal to ban arecanut cultivation in the State by the Centre. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has written to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to examine the scientific evidence on the harmful effects of arecanut. Though several institutes in Tamil Nadu and Kerala have researched on the benefits of arecanut, the Centre was mulling over banning the cultivation of the crop. More than five lakh families are dependent on arecanut for their livelihood, he said.

Rally on ill effects of junk food in Tiruchi

Participants at the rally on junk food organised by Leo Club of Jamal Mohamed College in Tiruchi on Monday. 

A rally creating awareness of the ill effects of junk food was organised by Leo club of Jamal Mohamed College in the city on Monday. A.M. Mohamed Sindhasha, principal, Jamal Mohamed College, presided over the event. 

The rally was flagged off by M.A. Aleem, vice principal, K.A.P.V Government Medical College, at the railway junction. It passed via head post office before concluding at Jamal Mohamed College.

“People should be aware of the ill effects of fast food. The young generation has grown addicted to these foods that are high in salt and fat content. Side effects of junk food consumption are depression, lack of concentration, and memory problems,” said Dr. Aleem.

R. Ramakrishnan, designated officer, food safety and drug administration, said consumption of junk food is detrimental to health, and warned students against the side effects such as obesity and co morbid (co-existing) diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and stroke. 

“Lifestyle modification is essential for today’s fast lifestyle. One should include at least 200 grams of vegetable and fruits in the daily diet,” he said. Over 500 students, members of Rotaract Club, ADA club, and NSS wing, participated.

Shops raided, tobacco products seized

A special food safety team raided shops and godowns here on Tuesday and seized two tonnes of banned tobacco products worth Rs.20 lakh.

The team raided shops and godowns on West Rath Street, Bazaar Street and Main Road in the town.

Pan masala and other tobacco products manufactured in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, have been sold predominantly in Dindigul, Oddanchatram, Batlagundu and Reddiyarchatram and nearby areas. The State government had banned pan masala and other tobacco products in May 2013.

FBOs to register online from Feb. 1

The Union Territory has adopted centralised online system for Food Business Operators (FBO). Manual applications will not be accepted from February 1.

FBOs can check for eligibility, apply for licence or registration, upload supporting documents and track status of their application and schedule inspections online. Further information is available at http://foodlicensing.fssai.gov.in orwww.fssai.gov.in.

Advisory for Food business operators

7 Jan 2014: Food Business Operators (FBOs) in these islands have been informed that the Govt. of India has fixed Feb 4, 2014 as the deadline for obtaining license/registration under Food Safety & Standard Act’2006. As per Section 63 of FSS Act’ 2006, operating food business without license/registration attracts imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months and also with a fine which may extend to five lacs rupee. All FBOs, including govt. department/office canteens, fruit vendors, vegetable vendors, fish vendors have been asked to obtain licence/registration under FSS Act’ 2006 as per their annual turnover. FBOs with annual turnover of Rs.12 lacs and above shall be granted licenses and those FBOs with annual turnover below Rs.12 lacs shall be registered under the Act.

Adulteration row: SC stays HC order

Supreme Court has stayed the order of JK High Court wherein the court haddirected three food companies to deposit an amount of 10 crores each with Director Sher-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura. 

The three member bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam suspended the impugned order of high court for four weeks. 

Earlier the companies had approached the Supreme Court against the high court verdict through senior Lawyer Zafar Ahmad Shah pleading they were not party to the case wherein they were asked to deposit the amount.

The Jammu Kashmir High Court had also directed the director SKIMS to file a report regarding the nature of diseases which can be caused due to the colouring agents which has been found in the spices and the material present in the toned milk. 

Court also asked director SKIMS to keep the amount in a separate account and to wait for further orders from the court for its utilization and to inform the registrar judicial after two weeks as to whether the amount has been submitted or not. 

The division bench had observed that the effected people would have spent huge amount on treatment besides mental trauma. ”At this stage, it may not be possible to identify all such persons but the treatment has to be meted out to the people who have suffered or who may suffer from various diseases,” court  further observed. 

The directions where issued after petitioners Advocate Sheikh Muhammad Ayoub and T.H Khawaja submitted before the court that some spices and milk has been found unsafe by the Central Food laboratory, Kolkatta. 

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) regarding food safety is already submitted in the court seeking directions to the state for enforcing Food Safety Standards Act, 2006 and rules made there under with reasonable promptitude. 

The division bench had also observed that the documents submitted by the petitioners reveal that toned Khyber Milk which is marketed under the brand name of Khyber milk bearing lot No. MD E S P 17 having manufacturing date July 2013 was found by the central Food Laboratory, Kolkata to be unsafe/misbranded/ substandard vide their analytical report ref No. G.14-6/DO/2013 (pt.1)-725 dated November 25. As per the reports Detergent was also found in the sample of milk. 

The report has also declared Turmeric Powder unsafe which is manufactured by AVON Agro Industries Pvt Ltd C-35/23 Lawrence Road New Delhi. The sample had shown presence of Tartrazine (a colouring Matter) which can cause a fatal disease. Similarly the CFL has reported about Saunf powder produced by 

Kanwal Agro Food Industries P21/B6 to be unsafe as results showed presence of Carmoisine and Tartrazine. 

Taking Strong cognizance of the print media reports, the case was listed at 2pm on Monday and Deputy Commissioner Food Safety Kashmir was directed to be present in the court. 

Counsel for the petitioners submitted that the results would show that people are made to consume these spices and milk which endanger their lives as they are source and cause of fatal disease. 

Court also directed DC Food Safety to send copies of the result from Central Food Laboratory Kolkatta to

Director SKIMS Srinagar. 

The division bench had further directed the government to give vide publicity in the print and electronic 

media about the suspected food items so as to create general awareness in the public for non use of these

food items.

SC stays JK High Court order on food adulteration

Khyber Agro Farms Gets Reprieve

Srinagar, Jan 7: The Supreme Court Tuesday stayed an order of the State High Court imposing Rs 10 crore costs on a local food processing company.

“A three judge bench led by Chief Justice, P Sathasivam stayed the order, which had been challenged by Khyber Agro Farms Limited in an SLP,” Senior counsel Z A Shah representing the Khyber group said. 

Shah said the order has been stayed for four weeks and the petitioner company has been asked to approach the Jammu and Kashmir High Court for its vacation.

On December 23 while taking cognizance of a report on sale of “adulterated food” items, the High Court had imposed Rs 30 crore costs on three food-processing companies including two Kashmir-based companies, Khyber and Kanwal. The third company was Delhi-based Avon Agro Industries Pvt Ltd.

The “impeached companies” were asked to deposit Rs 10 crore each with Director SKIMS immediately. 

The directions had been passed by a division bench after perusing the quality testing reports of the food items by Kolkata based Central Food Laboratory.

The reports presented before the court revealed that toned Khyber milk marketed under the brand name of Khyber Milk (Lot No. MD E S P 17 having manufacturing date July 2013) was found to be unsafe/misbranded/substandard (Ref. No.G.14-6/DO/2013 (pt-l)-725 dated 25th November, 2013).

As per the laboratory analytical reports, detergents were found in the samples of milk. Turmeric powder manufactured by the Avon Company was declared unsafe after the sample showed presence of Tartrazine, a coloring matter, which can cause fatal diseases including cancer. 

Similarly, the laboratory report had revealed that the Saunf powder processed and sold by Kanwal Agro Food Industries Anantnag (Islamabad) was unsafe after results showed presence of Carmoisine and Tartrazine in the samples.

Subsequently, the court had directed Deputy Commissioner, Food Safety Kashmir to send copies of the results from Central Food Laboratory, Kolkata to Director SKIMS, Srinagar, who had been directed to file report about the nature of the diseases which could be caused due to the coloring matter “found in the spices and the toned milk.” 

“The Government shall also give wide publicity in the print, electronic media about these adulterated food items so as to create general awareness in the public for non-use of the aforesaid spices and toned milk,” the court had said.

The court had directed the authorities under the Food Safety and Standards Act-2006, read with Rules of 2011, to take all necessary steps for seizing these spices and toned milk wherever available in the market and in the premises of manufacturers.

Food ‘adulteration’: Khyber gets SC relief

Apex court suspends J&K HC’s Dec 23 order for 4 weeks

Srinagar: Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended for four weeks an order of J&K High Court asking three companies including Khyber to deposit Rs 10 crore each with the SK Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, here.

“Instead of going further into the matter, we suspend the operation of the impugned order for a period of four weeks from today,” a division bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam, Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Shiva Kirti Singh said after hearing a Special Leave Petition filed by Khyber Agro Farms Pvt. Ltd against the December 23 order of the High Court.

The apex court passed the order after hearing senior advocate Zaffar Shah who brought to bench’s notice that the petitioner was not a party to the impugned proceedings before the High Court and that no notice was given to it before passing the order.

While deposing of the SLP, the court permitted the petitioner to file an application for impleading themselves as a party in the proceedings on the re-opening date on January 27.

“On such petition being filed, we request the High Court to go into the plea of the petitioner and pass appropriate order after affording opportunity to all the parties,” the court said.

However, the bench said, it has not expressed any opinion on the merits of the claim of the petitioner.

On December 23, a division bench of Justices Muzaffar Hussain Attar and Tashi Rabstan passed the impugned order after perusal of documents submitted by Deputy Commissioner Food Safety Kashmir, revealing that based on laboratory tests, the toned Khyber Milk (lot no. MD E S P 17), turmeric powder (manufactured by AVON Agro Industries) and saunf powder by Kanwal Agro Food Industries (batch-P21/B6) were “unsafe.”

The court was hearing a PIL—Sheikh Ayoub Vs State— seeking implementation of Food Safety and Standard Act 2006 (FSSA) to check food adulteration in the state.

Observing that human life is the most precious creation on this planet, the bench had termed it unfortunate on part of some people “who are trading in human miseries without realizing as how many people suffered diseases after consuming these spices and toned milk.”

“Those people who must have been afflicted with the disease because of consumption of these spices and the milk, besides spending huge amount on their treatment must have undergone huge mental trauma,” the court had said, underling that treatment has to be meted out to the people who have suffered or who may suffer from various diseases because of the consumption of such products. 

“One day we have to pass on from this planet and bound to account for all our deeds. The empires build will be of no consequence when we pass on from this planet,” the court had observed.