How does food become contaminated?

A contaminant is any physical, chemical or biological entity that is potentially undesirable for the human health. Contaminants are the substances which are not intentionally added to food items, but there are probable situations where the contaminants come in contact with a food item. They are:

* Operations involved in crop husbandry

* Operation involved in animal husbandry

* Operations involved in production veterinary medicines

* During manufacturing

* Treatment

* Packing or packaging

* During transportation or holding of food items

Contaminants can be man-made substances produced by factories, such as DDT or toxaphene. Industrial contaminants expose extensive threat as they have a long life and can spread to a larger area.

The industrial effluents enter into the upper atmosphere and end up falling to the ground in the form of precipitation, contaminating the environment. 

Chemicals like calcium carbide and oxytocin are reportedly being used in fruit and vegetable for artificial ripening of fruits and for increasing the size of fruits and vegetables respectively.

Calcium carbide is a carcinogenic agent and banned under the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011. Ethephon is a pesticide and so it is not recommended as a ripening enhancer.

Oxytocin is a mammalian hormone, used as a drug in veterinary services which is not advised for use in fresh fruits and vegetables.

In harmonization with the international laws pertaining to contaminants, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has banned certain chemicals to be used in food production.

The FBOs are advised by the FSSAI to test their food products to check the presence of contaminants before introducing to the final consumer. It is also been regulated that the FBOs are liable to test their food products once in every six months to check if they are free from any contamination.

MID-DAY MEAL QUALITY Health Dept writes to DEO, DC

Jalandhar, April 18

Finally, waking up from their slumber after a number of complaints and protests regarding the bad state of mid-day meals in the city, health department teams inspected the facility where the meal is prepared.

The health authorities have written to the District Education Officer (Secondary Education) Kuldeeep Sharma as well as the Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam regarding the bad state of the mid-day meal being prepared.

After taking food samples from the facility yesterday, health teams inspected the kitchen premises where the meals are being prepared and concluded that the state of the meal was very bad.

Ironically, while schools have been screaming foul about bad mid-day meal and the state of the establishment was also found to be bad, the health authorities “officially” continue to be in a state of denial.

Sources in the Health Department said, “We visited the facility following repeated complaints regarding bad mid-day meal, on the instructions of the Civil Surgeon. The place was not hygienic and flies hovered over the food. Although food is prepared under a shed, it is open from all the other sides and insects and flies get in. The state of the preparations was bad. The food was ill-prepared. The rotis were hard and stale and the dal and rice were also not prepared properly. We also visited a number of schools where the mid-day meal was found to be not up to the mark. We have issued a warning.”

However, Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan said, “Inspections were carried out and samples were taken. The samples will tell whether the food is proper. The establishment, in general, was found to be fine. The in charge of the school health programme inspected the place. She has issued a note on the issue.”

When asked why a stern warning or punitive action hadn’t been recommended, the CS said, “Let the reports come first.”

Health teams had also visited two of the schools in the Gandhi Camp area yesterday where again, the food was found to be bad.

The Tribune had highlighted the issue of sub-standard mid-day meal being served in various schools in these columns a few days ago. While the Education Department had said raids would be carried out regarding the bad state of meals, a concrete step in this direction hadn’t been taken so far.

Schools from a number of areas scattered across the district complained that they were being served stale, smelly food in their mid-day meals and a number of them had even discarded the food, dumping it outside their premises because it was inedible.

About four to five samples of food items were taken yesterday.

Confident of food quality

Veersain Upadhyay, general manager of the Jalandhar kitchen of the NGO Bagdanga Pashchimgiri Dishalakshmi, said, “The health teams have previously taken samples from our kitchen and they passed. You will see these samples will also come out good. We have been kids too. Our food is perfect. In fact, all schools are happy with it. There are just one or two which create trouble.”

He denied allegations of his kitchen being found in an unhygienic state by the health authorities yesterday.

The NGO, which is already providing food in Bathinda, Patiala and Amritsar started providing mid-day meal in the (urban schools) city on February 3. It feeds 35,000 students across 195 schools in the district. While it started with 90 schools, the rest were added on March 24 and April 1.

Fact file

The place where mid-day meal for urban schools is prepared was found in a bad state

Instructions issued to improve mid-day meal quality

No serious action taken so far

Additional programme in place for priority testing of lamb dishes: FSA

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) announced an additional programme of the priority testing of lamb dishes from takeaway restaurants across the United Kingdom, following evidence of the ongoing substitution of lamb with cheaper meats such as beef and chicken. Businesses could face prosecution if the food is found to be deliberately mislabelled.

An FSA review of local authority sampling data, between July and December 2013, found that 43 out of 145 samples of lamb takeaway meals contained meats other than lamb. About 25 of these samples were found to contain only beef. The other meats identified included chicken and turkey. However, no samples were found to contain horse meat.

In response to the ongoing concerns about lamb substitution, FSA started a further round of priority testing of lamb takeaway dishes from eateries across the United Kingdom. Local authorities were asked to test 300 samples from takeaway restaurants and report the findings to the FSA. The sampling would commence at the beginning of May. The mislabelling of food could result in fines of upto £5,000.

The concerns identified in the local authority data were also reflected in a survey of lamb dishes from restaurants in Birmingham and London, which was released by the consumer organisation Which?, which purchased 60 lamb takeaways, 30 curries and 30 minced lamb kebabs. Of these, a total of 24 were found to be adulterated with beef and chicken.

Andrew Rhodes, chief operating officer, FSA, said, “The substitution of lamb for cheaper meats in takeaway food, as seen in our own data and the survey released by Which?, is unacceptable. We are working closely with local authorities to ensure robust action is taken against any businesses misleading their customers.”

“Prosecutions have taken place against business owners for mislabelling lamb dishes, but the recurring nature of the problem shows there needs to be a renewed effort to tackle it. Clearly the message is not getting through to some businesses. The further priority testing we announced would focus the efforts of enforcement officers and raise awareness amongst food businesses of the action they face for defrauding consumers,” he added.

Following the completion of the priority testing programme, authenticity testing of takeaway lamb dishes would continue as a part of local authority sampling programmes.