Local players take on cola big boys

Guwahati-based company launches range of carbonated soft drinks 

Guwahati, March 23: Local aerated drinks will share shelf space with multinational brands this summer. 

Less than a year after a local beverage company forayed into the aerated drinks market for the first time in the Northeast, Guwahati-based New Era Food and Beverages today launched its range of carbonated soft drinks in Assam. 

“We have come up with four flavours — Coke Star, Orange Splash, Lemon Pie and Lichi Punch — in 170ml to 2-litre pet bottles. The products have been launched in the Assam market and very soon we will expand our operations to Meghalaya, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh,” Narendra Sharma, chief executive officer of New Era Beverages, told The Telegraph. 

Assamese singer Bornali Kalita unveiled the products here today as the brand ambassador. 

Amingaon-based Sakshi Agro Beverage, a sister concern of Silver Drop Foods and Beverages Private Ltd, had in May last year entered the non-cola segment with three varieties — Jeera Masala, Clear Lemon and Orange — under its Ohlay brand. 

New Era, which launched its operations this year, said more varieties are in the pipeline. “In April we are coming up with mineral water while a mixed fruit beer and a digestive drink, Fusion Bull, will be launched in May,” Sharma said. 

The company has a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant near Rangia on National Highway 31, about 50km from here. The plant has a production capacity of 10,000 litres per day. “We have invested Rs 3 crore on equipment procured from Gujarat,” Sharma said. 

The company said it would rely on product quality and a sustained marketing strategy to penetrate the market. 

“We have laboratories approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and appointed a team of experienced chemists and microbiologists to conduct tests on the raw materials. The Changsari-based Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology helps us with advice as well,” he said. “We will step up our marketing campaign in the run-up to Rongali Bihu and during June-July.” 

The processing of water is carried out in a reverse osmosis plant that has advanced technologies such as dual media filter, anthracite filter, iron remover, softener, micron cartridge filter, ultraviolet systems and EMF (electro-magnetic field). 

On pricing, Sharma said they have kept the rates lower than the multinational brands by at least Rs 4 to Rs 6. 

New Era has recruited over 40 local workers in its Rangia plant. “All of them are from Assam and have been trained in manufacturing and allied processes,” he added. 

The bib cola companies like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have a combined market share of over 95 per cent in the Northeast. So, the entry of local companies into the carbonated beverages industry can be considered a bold yet calculated step. 

Sakshi Agro, for instance, has in the past 10 months made “slow and steady” progress. “The progress so far has been slow and steady. This month, we forayed into the cola segment with Cola Cool and came up with another variety, Cloudy Lemon,” K.K. Bajaj, the managing director of Sakshi Agro Beverage, told this correspondent today. 

SPARKLING STATISTICS 

The Rs 60-billion carbonated soft drinks industry in India is growing at 5% annually 

Consumption is the highest in the cola segment, followed by the non-cola and energy drinks segment 

According to industry body Assocham, the non-carbonated drinks industry in India is growing at a compound annual growth rate of about 35% and the market is likely to touch Rs 54,000 crore by 2015 

Greater disposable incomes, particularly in urban areas, and health consciousness are factors fuelling the growth of the non-carbonated drinks segment

ASCI reduces average complaint processing time to 12 days

It has also achieved over 90 per cent compliance of its decisions. This achievement has come even though the number of complained against ads has increased more than 10 times

The advertising content self-regulatory body, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), now delivers its Consumer Complaints Council’s (CCC) decision on a complaint against an objectionable advertisement within an average of just 12 days from the date complaint is received.

With the public and regulators demanding that ads which are a) misleading or make false claims, b) indecent , c) showing hazardous activities and d) unfair to competition should be promptly removed or modified, ASCI has taken effective action to reduce the complaint processing turnaround time from 45 days two years ago to just 12 days currently. Some of the actions taken by ASCI to achieve this drastic lowering of the turnaround time are:

1) From monthly meetings two years ago, CCC now meets weekly by having two CCCs instead of one earlier and total number of CCC members going up from 21 to 28;

2) The turnaround time taken at ASCI to process a complaint and time provided to the advertiser to respond to the complaint has been significantly reduced with the use of email and technology;

3) Intra-industry complaints among ASCI members are being resolved in just seven days via Fast Track Complaint (FTC) process which was introduced in 2012. FTC, which handled 30 complaints in 2013-14, has been very popular among ASCI members who are seeing real time and cost savings by not taking the matter to the courts on intra industry ad content disputes;

4) In the recent past ASCI also introduced ‘Suspension Pending Investigation’ (SPI) by which ASCI can order an extremely objectionable ad to be removed immediately pending investigation and CCC decision.

Under its National Advertising Monitoring Service (NAMS), ASCI has started tracking in print and TV all ads against which complaints have been upheld. The results show that over 90 per cent of such “upheld complaints” ads do not reappear or are appropriately modified. ASCI has now started reporting non-compliant upheld ads (i.e., upheld ads which reappear) to regulatory authorities such as the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB), the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), the Medical Council of India (MCI), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for taking action as per the law of the land.

The faster complaint turnaround time and improved compliance upheld complaint decisions by ASCI has taken place at the same time when the number of complained against ads processed by ASCI has increased more than 10 times. In 2011-12, the number ads processed by ASCI were 176 which, post the NAMS initiative in 2012-13, increased to 784 and for April 2013 to February 2014 (11 months), ASCI has handled complaints against 1,833 ads.

Commenting on these developments, ASCI Chairman Partha Rakshit said, “ASCI’s effectiveness and credibility as an advertising self-regulatory organisation has increased several fold with speedy redressal of complaints and high compliance of CCC’s decisions by advertisers. Regulatory bodies like MIB, DCA, FSSAI and FDA now recognise and support our self-regulation work with the inclusion of ASCI in the Inter-Ministerial Monitoring Committee formed to review misleading ad content.”

State regulators asked to boost efforts to monitor drug quality

India's drug regulator has asked state-level watchdogs to increase efforts aimed at monitoring the quality of medicines sold in the country, a top official has said.

"We have told the state drug controllers to keep a close watch on the quality of medicines being made and marketed in India," G.N. Singh, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), told Business Today recently. "They (the state drug controllers) are taking extra care and I am in touch with them on this on a regular basis."

Singh, who heads the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, said that efforts were being made to increase monitoring across the country and wherever required, the DCGI would get involved and support state regulators. He said that 2014 will be dedicated to "patient and animal safety". He added that all drug manufacturers have been told that if at any time, a watchdog in a highly regulated market like the US flags any concern over the practices of a company, the manufacturer should bring it to the notice of the concerned state drug controller and the central regulator.

The remarks gain significance in the light of some leading Indian drug companies such as Wockhardt and Ranbaxy coming under the scanner of the US Food and Drug Administration over manufacturing practices at several factories. FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, in her recent visit to India, had also announced plans to work closely with Indian drug regulatory authorities.

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration of Maharashtra has issued three show-cause notices to Wockhardt between February 11 and March 14. The notices relate to issues such as handling and storage of raw material, data integrity and possible violation of some provisions of the Indian Drugs and Cosmetics Act and licencing conditions, Viraj T. Paunikar, Joint Commissioner at the state regulatory agency, told BT. 

The notices were issued to the company's three units in Aurangabad-two at Waluj and one at Chikalthana. Wockhardt Chairman Habil Khorakiwala, when contacted over the phone, said he was not aware of any such development, though Paunikar pointed out that the company had responded to some of the earlier notices, which were being examined.

R.L. Meena, the drug controller in Andhra Pradesh, said that, six months ago, a committee on good manufacturing practices had been formed under the initiative of the DCGI with some drug controllers like those in Orissa, Chandigarh and Hyderabad as its members. This committee, he said, had last month submitted its recommendations to the DCGI.

Declaration of “Nutritional Facts” on food labels : Module 4

Nutritional Facts

The Nutritional Information labeling is a description intended to inform the consumer of the nutritional properties of the food. The Nutritional Facts on the label provides detailed information about a food’s nutrient content, such as the amount of Protein, carbohydrates, Sugar, fat and Calories.

This information available on the label enables the consumer to compare the nutritional value of similar food products and on comparing the relevant nutritional value of different food products, the consumer can make the healthy choice of food.

The growing children or the sports person who need high calorie, diet rich in proteins and other nutrients or the people who are obese or suffering from diabetes or high blood lipid, need to follow a special or restricted diet. In such conditions the label declaration regarding nutritional facts makes it easier to select the appropriate food and can also help to compare similar foods to decide which is a healthier choice.

From the manufacturer point of view the relevant Nutritional Value helps to attract the consumers towards the product and requirements for nutrition information on food labels would encourage improving the nutrient profile of their product.

The label of nutritional value creates ideal conditions for both the consumers and food business operators.

The Indian Food law, The Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labeling ) Regulations ,2011, notified by the FSSAI, requires to mention nutritional value or Nutritional Information or nutritional facts per 100 gm or 100ml or per serving of the product is required to be given on the label as mentioned below :

(i) Energy value in kcal;

(ii) The amounts of protein, carbohydrate (quantity of sugar), and fat in gram (g) or ml;

(iii) If a special claim is made regarding nutritional value or health benefit then the amount of other nutrient according to which the claim has been made shall also be mentioned on the label.

If a claim is made regarding the amount or type of fatty acids or the amount of cholesterol, the amount of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids in gram (g) and cholesterol in milligram (mg) and the amount of trans fatty acid in gram (g) shall be mentioned in addition to the other requirement mentioned above.

If the food product contains less than 0.2 gram/serving of trans fat/serving, then it can be mentioned as trans fat free. In case of saturated fat if it is less than 0.1/100gm or 100ml of food it can be mentioned as saturated fat free.

It is better; the nutritional facts are mentioned in a tabular form. If a consumer has health conditions, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol, and need to follow a special diet , it is convenient for him to read and compare the nutritional facts of similar foods when given in the tabular form.

Nutritional facts per 100 gm
Energy	k.cal
Protein	g
Carbohydrate	g
Sugar	g
Fats	g
Saturated Fatty Acids	g
Monounsaturated Fatty Acid	g
Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids	g
Cholesterol	mg

Some of the food articles like wheat, rice, pickles etc. and the single ingredient foods are exempted from this provision.

A food label with facts on nutritional value may serve as an important source of information to the consumers especially in case of children or people seeking a food product to fulfill their specific needs. Nutritional facts on the label may serve as a competitive edge while proposing a food product for sale.

Food laws are not tools of harassment, says official

320 herbal water manufacturing units had been ordered to be closed 

The Food Safety and Standards Act was essentially aimed at protecting the interests of consumers and not intended to harass traders engaged in food business, said B. Vasakumar, Additional Food Safety Commissioner, Tamil Nadu, here on Saturday.

The Act is applicable not only to private traders but also to all government agencies, including ration shops and anganwadi centres. Of the five lakh food business operators in the State, about 2.22 lakh operators have been registered and another 33,000 issued licences under the Act accounting for 52 per cent coverage, he said.

Food business operators with a turnover of up to Rs. 12 lakh a year are required to register under the Act and those with more than Rs. 12 lakh turnover should obtain licence. The registration could be done online.

Speaking at a seminar on Food Safety and Standards organised by the Consumer Protection Council, Tamil Nadu, in association with the Department of Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection and Tamil Nadu State Society for Consumer Protection and Empowerment here, Mr. Vasakumar said the Department of Food Safety and Drug Administration has established six food labs across the State to conduct checks of food samples collected from traders. 

About 950 packaged drinking water units have been inspected and the report has been submitted to the government. Around 320 herbal water manufacturing units had been ordered to be closed and asked to obtain permission from the Union government.

The department was organising various awareness initiatives to persuade the food business operators to register and obtain licences under the Act before the deadline of August 4. A training programme for cooks of hotels and tea shops was under way in Tiruchi and Chennai. Six batches of cooks would undergo the training on food safety and hygiene. 

Collector Jayashree Muralidharan said about 16,000 food business operators were required to register in Tiruchi district and so far 7,000 have done so. Of the 3,500 operators who require licences, 1,500 had obtained the same. 

As consumers were becoming increasingly dependent on packaged food products, the implementation of the Act assumed importance to protect the interests of the poor, she said.

S. Pushpavanam, Secretary, Consumer Protection Council, Tamil Nadu, emphasised on creating awareness about the Act and its provisions as even members of consumer organisations did not know much about it. The Act has an essential role in ensuring hygiene and safety and in preventing adulteration of food products, he said.