DINAMALAR NEWS

Bacteria found in water at college hostel

Samples tested after hostellers complained of diarrhoea

‘E-coli’ bacteria, which causes diarrhoea and vomiting, has been found in the water supplied to Government Polytechnic College for Women’s hostel here. This was most likely due to lack of periodical cleaning and chlorination of the water tanks.

The Public Health Department took samples for testing after 44 hostellers complained of uneasiness, diarrhoea and vomiting on June 16 with 23 of them requiring hospitalisation.

Official sources told The Hindu here on Thursday that the Public Health Department had submitted a technical report to the Coimbatore Corporation which supplied water to the hostel.

This is the second time in recent years such an incident was occurring in the same college. Around 50 students were hospitalised in September 2012 after some fainted and others complained of excessive vomiting and nausea.The tests had confirmed the presence of e-coli bacteria then, sources said.

E. coli bacteria come from human and animal faecal matter. Sewage water must have mixed with the drinking water, probably due to a pipeline rupture underground, leading to the contamination, a health official said.

While the Corporation would have undertaken a primary chlorination before supplying the water, the hostel was expected to carry out the chlorination frequently.

The Health department officials chlorinated the hostel water tank, which had a capacity of around 50,000 litres, after the incident.

They also issued directions to the Public Works Department, which maintained the hostel water storage tank, to undertake periodical cleaning.

The tests were conducted at the Government Food Analysis Laboratory in Coimbatore, one of the six districts to have a laboratory accredited under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

The other districts are Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem, Thanjavur, Tirunelveli and Madurai.

Following this, District Collector Archana Patnaik had issued a directive to all college hostels in Coimbatore directing them to implement a set of safety and hygiene measures to prevent the recurrence of such incident.

Why bottled water in Pune should be doubled checked before drinking

Pune: If you are ordering home bottled potable water, then here is what you must know. In recent raids by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), it has been found that several companies in rural Pune and Baramati are manufacturing packaged drinking water.

With FDA’s order of shutting Pimple Gurav’s Narayan Mineral Water and M Avhale Industries in Haveli taluka, the number of such companies has reached five cases in Pune division alone.

According to FDA officials, these plants were carrying out reverse osmosis (RO) and carbon and sand filtration and sold the processed water in 20-litre containers to offices and party organisers.

“These plants are running without licences from the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) that are prerequisites to run a packaged drinking water plant. Such water can have traces of heavy metals which is injurious to health. While we have made a public appeal for all such business owners to complete all formalities or face action, we are appealing to public at large to remain alert,” said Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner (drugs), FDA, Pune.

Asked on how does one ascertain if the packaged water is safe to consume or not, Kekare said that one must check the water can for markings of BIS licenses. “No other licenses are valid and if there is no proof of licensing, people must refuse to accept that water can and inform us about it,” said Kekare.

Food and Drug Administration closes two more packaged water plants

PUNE: Officials of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) closed down two packaged drinking water plants located in Pimple Gurav and Malwadi as they were operating without licences. 

"The owners have been directed not to operate the plants till they meet all the required compliances," said Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner (food), FDA. 

Licences from the Bureau of Indian Standards and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India are prerequisites to run a packaged drinking water plant. 

Food safety officials Sachin Adhav, Rajendra Kakde and Avinash Dabhade carried out the raids under the guidance of assistant commissioners Dilip Sangat and Shivkumar Kodgire. 

"We have also drawn samples of the processed water and sent them for testing," Sangat said. On June 23, the FDA had closed down three packaged drinking water plants in Baramati for operating without licences.

Water pouches seized

WATER SACHETS SEIZED

Food Safety and Drug Administration Department authorities seized water sachets that were manufactured and sold without proper certification in and around Melur on Thursday. According to J. Suguna, Designated Officer for Food Safety and Drug Administration, 7,500 water sachets were seized from six manufacturing units and two shops that sold them. “The units we inspected had not obtained permission to manufacture water sachets and the ones seized from the shops did not have date of manufacture and other details,” she said. The inspections were carried out in Melur, Thiruvathavur, Mathur and Narasingampatti. Thirty-five shops were inspected, Dr. Suguna added.

Tea Board for strict adherence to food safety standards

In a bid to retain the markets of developed buying countries, Tea Board today asked the tea industry to strictly adhere to food safety standards. 

"The importance of need for food safety cannot be overemphasised. Developed buying countries are putting stringent conditions on ensuring food safety which Indian producers will have to follow," Tea Board chairman Siddharth said at the AGM of the Calcutta Tea Traders Association (CTTA) here. 

He said conditions imposed by countries like US and EU can't be ignored but would have to be honoured as these were major export destinations.

However, Siddharth said the trade missions located abroad are very active in pleading to the governments of these countries to do away with such non-tariff or technical barriers, adding that any retaliatory action by India would not yield result. 

Siddharth said the Tea Board was also working on new schemes and policies for production and marketing.

He also informed that the Price Stabilisation Fund of Rs 500 crore created by the government 10 years back and which got expired in 2013, was being re-activated and could be used for protecting major price fall in commodities, including tea.