"Our target - Safe & hygienic food by May 1, 2015"

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Maharashtra, the body responsible for the enforcement of food safety standards in the state, sometime back saw Dr Purushottam Bhapkar taking over as the commissioner.

In the four months that he has been at the helm, a number of raids have been carried out across the state by food safety officers (FSOs), and several complaints have been lodged against food business operators (FBOs) found flouting the rules.

In an interaction with Harcha Bhaskar, Dr Bhapkar, spoke about the challenges faced by the state FDA, such as adulterated and unsafe milk menace and manpower crunch in the organisation.Excerpts:

Its three years since the Food Safety and Standards Regulations (FSSR), 2011, were implemented, but food safety in Maharashtra is unsatisfactory, as is evidenced by the complaints of adulteration and lack of hygiene. How are you ensuring better compliance? 

FDA Maharashtra is involved in the implementation of FSSR, 2011, and maintaining food safety and hygiene. 

A number of campaigns have been launched and raids carried out by FDA to curb adulteration and maintain the hygiene of food materials. 

During the Diwali raid this year, about 1,695 samples of food, made for the festival, and goods worth Rs 1,51,62,077 were seized and tested across the state.

The state FDA has upped vigilance, and is planning to carry out regular raids to make FBOs more serious about the implementation of the food safety standards.

In fact, we have made a new arrangement, wherein an FSO can raid any establishment in any area at any time, irrespective of whether it has been allocated to him or not.

Maharashtra has always been at par with other states, but there is scope for improvement.

We are also planning to undertake a massive campaign, keeping two perspectives in mind. These are food safety and food literacy. 

While the former is for FBOs, the latter is for consumers. We would impart training and guidance to FBOs about the various food safety regulations and how to comply with the same, and educate the consumers about various kinds of adulteration and their hazards, how to tackle the same, and how to register complaints.

We have set ourselves a target - to provide the citizens of the state safe and hygienic food, which is one of their basic rights. We hope to achieve it by May 1, 2015 (observed as Maharashtra Day). 

The infrastructure, including manpower and testing laboratories, is not upto the mark. How do you intend to tackle this issue? 

FDA Maharashtra operates its own food testing laboratory in Mumbai.

Moreover, there are 22 National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories- (NABL) accredited laboratories, 10 state public health labs, and one lab set up by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). 

In government labs, testing and sampling is undertaken for a nominal fee of Rs 3,000, as stipulated by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

What is the current status of licensing and registration in Maharashtra? Would the state be able to achieve the licensing and registration target by the 2015 deadline?

Online licensing and registration is underway throughout Maharashtra. About 1,69,161 licences have been issued and 5,90,855 establishments have been registered all over the state in the last three years. Fees amounting to Rs 133 core have been collected so far.

What steps have been taken for speedy registration and licensing? 

Online registration and licensing is a Maharashtra-wide initiative to meet the given deadline.

What action would be taken against FBOs who fail to meet the deadline?

It is the domain of FSSAI, the country’s apex food regulator, based in New Delhi. In accordance with the Centre’s directions, action would be taken against the offenders who haven’t applied for licences and registered within the stipulated deadline.

The labelling of imported foods, piling up of stocks of imported foods and product approval are crucial issues that FSSAI is grappling with. In this regard, what challenges is Maharashtra FDA facing?

These are matters pertaining to FSSAI. FDA Maharashtra is not involved in issues related to the import and approval of food products. 

FSSAI has authorised officers to look into these matters at its headquarters in the capital.

A lot is being said about the functioning of FSSAI and the state FDA/FDCA. What do you think should be done at the state level to ensure better food safety in India?

FDA Maharashtra is facing difficulties in FDA in enforcing food safety due to the lack of manpower, technology, logistics and infrastructure.

Recently, there were vacancies in the state FDA for 265 FSOs, 62 designated officers (DOs) and eight joint commissioners (JCs) (food). 

One post of JC (food), 22 posts of DO and 77 posts of FSO are still vacant. For this, we have approached the Maharashtra Public Service Commission, which would be recruiting officers shortly.

What kind of cooperation do you expect from FBOs to ensure better food safety in the state?

We are expecting the involvement of various bodies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) concerned with FBOs with respect to licencing and registration.

With this chain network, we would reach every corner of the state and impart training and education about food safety hygiene to the FBO, and the ill-effects of adulteration to the consumers. This, in turn, would ensure that the rules and regulations are complied with. 

Currently, there is a ban on tobacco and gutkha in the state under the FSSR, 2011. However, people continue to sell it illegally. What steps is FDA taking to overcome this menace?

Since 2012, when the gutkha and tobacco ban came into effect, FDA Maharashtra has seized gutkha and allied products worth Rs 44.33 crore.

So far, about 1,078 first information reports (FIR) have being lodged against the accused across the state. These cases would be handled strictly to bring law and order in the state.

What challenges is FDA Maharashtra currently facing with regard to food safety? What steps are being taken to overcome them?

Milk adulteration

Milk adulteration is one of the major issues we are facing. In the coming months, FDA Maharashtra would be making plans to curb rising milk adulteration and the sale of unhygienic products. 

Talks are underway with several NGOs and consumer organisations, such as Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, who would be engaging with FDA Maharashtra in initiatives to stop milk adulteration.

“Set wine sale stds to become effective post-June 2015”: IGPB to MoFPI

The Indian Grape Processing Board (IGPB) sent a proposal to the ministry of food processing industries (MoFPI) to formulate standards to which Indian wine producers would have to conform if they want to continue selling it across the country after June 2015. 

The ministry forwarded it to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which recommended that the standards be formulated to the scientific committee, which, in turn, recommended the same to the labelling committee. 

These committees would scrutinise the standards, which would come into effect six months hence. As of now, there are no standards for the production of various kinds of wines, including dry wines, sweet wines and liquor wines, which are either locally-made or imported.

Confirming the development, IGPB chairman Jagadish Holkar informed FnB News that FSSAI would draft the final notification and put it in the public domain, but added that the word wine wasn’t properly defined.

“Even for various kinds of wines, there are no standards in India. Standards must be set along the lines of those wine producers adhere to overseas. In addition to grape juice, wine is made of 70 ingredients, including salts and heavy metals, but there are no standards for these,” he added.

“When the standards come into effect, unreliably-produced or oxidised wines, which are inferior, would not be sold in the Indian market. They would also ensure that sub-standard wines from overseas won’t be dumped into the country,” Holkar stated.

Informing that the size of the wine market in India was pegged at Rs 2,000 crore, Holkar said that most of the wine producers and exporters in the country were from the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

“It is necessary to set new standards to ensure the sale of safe products, which would be beneficial to the consumers’ health,” he added. Rajesh Jadhav of Rajdheer Wines Pvt Ltd, Nashik, hailed the proposal as a step in the right direction.

“However, apart from the standards for wines, it is imperative that they are handled properly. Wineries would obviously ensure compliance with the standards, but when the bottles leave them, the wine makers would have no control over the product,” he added.

“If the distributors and retailers don’t store it properly, its quality would deteriorate,” Jadhav stated, suggesting that India adopt the method of conducting periodic checks and audits at wineries, as is the practice in France.

Organic foods: Are they more nutritious? Are they safer? Or are they plain lies?

Despite paying as much as double the price, many health-conscious consumers who think they've gone organic really haven't. Information obtained by Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) under the Right to Information Act proves that farms that claim to be organic regularly use chemical pesticides to protect their crops, yet market and sell their produce under the organic tag.

A customer browses through shelves of organic food products in Mumbai. 

Evidence of this practice came to light after information from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, disclosed its findings on pesticide residues in organic vegetables. According to the IARI laboratory analysis, 33% of organic products sold in Delhi over the last two years contained pesticides. The organic vegetable samples were collected from some popular organic retail stores in Delhi between January 2012 and October 2014.

The test results only proved long-held suspicion that organic farms do use pesticides to control pests and disease and sell the products as organic in order to gain from the premium prices. The vegetables that tested positive for pesticides included brinjal, ladyfinger, tomato, capsicum, chillies, cabbage, cauliflower, coriander and green peas. Many were found to contain residue from multiple pesticides.

So how do you navigate the shelves of 'organic' produce and products, when the tags are confusing and standardisation not strictly regularised or enforced? Consumers of organic food say they find companies they can trust, and then stick with them.

"I have been a consumer of organic food for about four years and I trust just the farmer's market and Nature's Basket stores," says entrepreneur Sabishi Shankar, 45. "Only with brands like Tata and Godrej can you be sure that you are getting your money's worth."

In fact, the dearth of reliable brands and sources is a major deterrent for those seeking to go organic. "If there were more stores that I could trust, I would switch to organic products entirely," says artist Aahana Mulla, 28. "Unfortunately, there are only one or two places in Mumbai where I can trust the tag, and their offerings are limited."

Experts stress certification as a means of confirming the authenticity of organic food products. India Organic certifies some organically farmed food products in India. The certification marks that an organic food product conforms to the national standards for organic products, established by the certification in 2000. These standards ensure that the product and raw materials used are grown organically and that no chemical fertilisers, pesticides or induced hormones have been used. The certification is issued by testing centres accredited by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the National Program for Organic Production of the Government of India.

"Consumers need to read labels carefully," says Kavita Mukhi, founder of the farmer's market in Mumbai. Though there is no specific regulation in India to punish those who commit this offence, the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 has a broad provision, which defines "misbranded food" as an article of food offered or promoted for sale with false, misleading or deceptive claim upon the label of the package. The Act imposes a penalty of up to Rs. 3 lakh on those found guilty of selling misbranded food.

But this is a long shot. To date, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has not penalised a single violator for selling fake organic products. Companies should work to promote transparency, says Adrienne Thadani, founder of Fresh and Local, a non-profit organisation that works to promote organic food in the Mumbai. They organise workshops twice a month where they take customers to the farm where they grow fruits and vegetables and spend an entire day with them, discussing and answering all their questions. "More producers need to connect directly with customers. Creating awareness among users is the only way to ensure that people get to enjoy the benefits of real organic food," says Thadani.

FDA scales up food safety drive to curb adulteration

PUNE: The state food and drug administration (FDA) commissioner Purushottam Bhapkar on Friday said officials have been told to conduct surprise visits to ensure food safety as the administration wants to weed out adulteration in food items.

"We have intensified our surveillance across the state and initiated a cross-verification of surveillance work by sending food safety officials outside their jurisdictions for inspection. There will be consistent cross-surveillance by officials who would be conducting raids on establishments," said Bhapkar, who was in the city to review the work done by FDA officials.

Officials would register non-cognizable offences against erring chemists if they overcharged or dispensed substandard or spurious medicines. "FDA officials won't be spared if they are found at fault," he added.

"We have received complaints of milk adulteration from Mumbaikars following which we have filed criminal cases against top milk brands. We have registered cases against dairy owners in Jalgaon and Kolhapur. From milk manufacturer to the delivery boy, the entire chain involved in milk business is being monitored across the state," he added.

The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which came into effect on August 5, 2011, looks at various aspects of milk adulteration and divides them into various segments like safe food, food not of the nature or substance or quality demanded, extraneous but harmless matter, misbranded items and unsafe for consumption.

According to the Act unsafe food means an article of food whose name, substance or quality is so affected as to render it injurious to human health. "As per the Act, adding a substance directly or as an ingredient which is not permitted is also considered as unsafe," said Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner (food), FDA Pune.

Toll-free number for complaints

Citizens can register their food and drugs related grievances 24x7 on a toll free number 1800222365. It was launched on December 17 and has already registered 10 anonymous complaints so far.

"Anyone can register complaints regarding adulteration, substandard quality, overcharging. They are free to reveal their identity or remain anonymous. The moment a complaint is registered, we inform FDA officials about it which forwards the same to state FDA commissioner who takes a review of the complaints," said a helpline employee.

Since December 17 the toll free number has received 10 complaints regarding food as well as drugs. People have registered complaints about possible adulteration in milk and milk products. There are complaints about food business operator doing business without obtaining valid licence from FDA. "So far there has been no complaint from Pune. The number became operational two days ago and not many are aware about such a facility," the call centre employee said.

Watch the milk that you drink

Down the drain And fortunately not into our stomachs 

Thanks to middlemen, adulteration is a serious problem. Besides stern punishment, we need more producer cooperatives

With India now celebrating November 26 as National Milk Day to commemorate Verghese Kurien’s birthday, it’s high time the adulteration of milk and milk products was treated as a grave offence. Indeed, food adulteration may be one of the world’s oldest illegal professions.

Recently, the discovery of hydrogen peroxide in milk caused uproarious scenes in the Telangana Assembly. In another instance, detergent and hydrogen peroxide were detected in loose milk.

Neither hydrogen peroxide nor detergent either expand the volume of milk or boost its quality.

As adulterants, both chemicals act as preservatives to extend the shelf life of milk.

This is cheaper than the practice of chilling raw milk as soon as possible before despatch to the main dairy plant for processing and packaging.

Taking cognisance of such cases, the Supreme Court reprimanded the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India for categorising milk adulteration as an offence that attracts a minor penalty of six months’ imprisonment under the Food Safety Act 2006.

The Supreme Court sought amendments to the Act that would provide life imprisonment, observing that many milk samples were laced with “white paint, caustic soda, detergents, shampoo, urea, starch and blotting paper”.

Earlier, the Supreme Court noted that the government was taking the issue lightly.

Rather than waiting for a calamity to occur, the Court said “the Centre must come out with the necessary amendment to the Act to curb adulteration. We hope the government will take appropriate decisions during the winter session of Parliament”.

The Court wondered whether the government was waiting for the culprits to adulterate milk with cyanide.

Mass consumption

It is imperative to comprehend the reasons for the malpractice to combat it. For instance, cases of adulteration surface during summer when production dips but the availability and consumption of milk and milk products is, yet, high.

Moreover, the scourge of synthetic milk production is highest in areas with higher milk processing capacity than the marketable surplus of milk.

The number of factories processing milk and their total processing capacities are very high in Haryana, eastern Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh, with maximum adulteration occurring in these areas.

The most notorious areas for synthetic milk production are Bulandshahr in UP and the Mewat region of Rajasthan and Haryana, as well as Kurukshetra in Haryana.

Some years ago, reports were rife about baby milk foods being adulterated with melamine (a protein-like contaminant) in China. Use of the adulterated baby food caused the deaths of some infants while almost 3,00,000 fell gravely ill.

The Chinese government cracked down and at least three persons were executed.

In India, speedy justice is never delivered. It is rare that those involved in food adulteration are severely punished, leave alone being given capital punishment.

In 1998, mustard oil was adulterated with cheaper argemone oil. Scores of people in Delhi and elsewhere across north India were afflicted with dropsy after consuming the adulterated oil.

But apparently, no serious action was taken against the perpetrators.

Stop the adulteration

All stakeholders should stand up to stop this nefarious practice.

If dairy plants stop accepting adulterated milk, the practice will wane. Most private dairy plants lack their own milk collection network, depending heavily on middlemen for milk supplies via road tankers.

Often, the middlemen practice adulteration. It is common knowledge that a milk-like substance is produced by mixing urea, vegetable oil and sugar. Milk producers selling 5 to 10 litres daily don’t possess the wherewithal to make synthetic milk.

Farmers also do not adulterate milk with anything except water. It is the middlemen — suppliers who sell milk in large volumes of 10,000 litres or more — who indulge in adulteration. It is therefore important that dairy owners establish their own network to collect milk directly from farmers.

Private dairies should replicate the cooperative milk procurement model by creating rural networks of milk producers that act as self-help groups. The private sector baulks from this cumbersome exercise because of the large investments involved — the purchase of electronic milk-testing machines, electronic weighing systems as well as chilling and transportation equipment.

But if this is accomplished, the milk collected directly from farmers will be qualitatively better, unadulterated and cheaper. Above all, milk producers will be at the centre of the system — not middlemen. Verghese Kurien would surely have approved.

The writer is the director of Kwality Ltd. The views are personal

Crackdown on meat shops in Krishnagiri

The district administration conducted a crackdown on butcher shops selling meat under unhygienic conditions here in Krishnagiri. Following orders from Collector T.P. Rajesh, meat outlets that had kept meat in the open were removed.

The crackdown comes after a show cause notice was issued to meat outlets that were already found selling meat under unhygienic conditions.

However, the outlets that had not taken remedial measures as directed by the public health team were removed. Further, all meat outlets have been directed to sell meat by keeping them covered in a glass case.

The crackdown is slated to continue in all blocks, an administration release said.