It has become a bit like the inspector raj of yore. Government assessors walk up to restaurants, groceries, sidewalk cafes, and randomly pick up samples of packaged water, coffee, noodles, sandwiches – as a matter of fact, any packaged or unpackaged edibles – for testing, and leave the owners or managers of the outlets quaking in their shoes.
NEW DELHI: It has become a bit like the inspector raj of yore. Government assessors walk up to restaurants, groceries, sidewalk cafes, and randomly pick up samples of packaged water, coffee, noodles, sandwiches as a matter of fact, any packaged or unpackaged edibles for testing, and leave the owners or managers of the outlets quaking in their shoes.
In the weeks since the Maggi noodles ban, followed by the withdrawal early this week of Japanese noodle maker Indo Nissin's Top Ramen by the central regulator FSSAI, food companies have hit the panic button. It would seem a bout of indigestion has struck the country's $250 billion (approx Rs 1.5 lakh crore) food industry and it's not a happy situation.
This is how it goes: State food regulators pick up random samples and get them tested either in their own laboratories or any Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)-mandated lab. They report their finding to FSSAI.
State regulators can take action on them. They can impose fines and seize. At the national level, FSSAI has the mandate to ban, recall or impose a penalty something it appears to be doing with gladiatorial truculence. It is reportedly sitting on numerous product approval requests, from Tata Starbucks to Kellogg's and McCain, on the ground that these are either unsafe or wrongly labelled.
Underscoring the alarm is an apparent lack of clarity on the objectives of the administrative drive, although there's no gainsaying that one of the end results is that the food industry has pulled itself up by the bootstraps and started putting its products through more rigorous checks.
Ramesh Chauhan, chairman of Bisleri International, put it in perspective, "Some are raising genuine issues, which is good. But some are taking advantage of the business environment."
Praveen Khandelwal, national secretary general of CAIT (Confederation of All India Traders), said, "There's a lot of anxiety and confusion among shopkeepers across the country. We're scared to stock goods. There's no clarity on what FSSAI wants. Sometimes they say retailers will be held responsible, sometimes they say manufacturers. There should be a clear directive."
Large food companies have started taking defensive measures. Kolkata-based ITC, for instance, rushed to remove the "no added MSG" disclaimer from packs of its Sunfeast Yippee noodles and followed it up by creating a media hotline for journalists, who now have immediate access to a senior spokesperson from its foods division.
The consequence of the ban on Maggi in Gujarat has been that it has empowered dubious NGOs to "blackmail" the food industry. "There have been instances of NGOs randomly turning up at restaurants to check food for lead content so that they can blackmail food companies," an industry expert said.
In Chennai, food safety officials say they've collected more than 20 samples from fast food majors like KFC, Dominos, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Marrybrown and Venkys Chicken in the last few weeks, after allegations of substandard food being served at their outlets.
Chennai officials said the food safety department has found one of the three surveillance samples lifted from a KFC outlet substandard. "We've collected legal samples from the same outlet and sent it to King Institute, Guindy to prove the authenticity of the result. We will take action against the outlet if the legal sample results show signs of substandard quality," said a food safety official.
Packaged food manufacturers are nervous. "No one has complete clarity on the food safety act and neither do we have the infrastructure to implement it," said M Krishnan of Chennai's Sree Krishna Sweets and Snacks. "They want us to take responsibility for something that might enter my product from the soil or the raw material. But, we do not have enough food laboratories to check our raw material for banned substances on an everyday basis," he said.
Bengaluru's Jacob Kurian, a partner in private equity firm New Silk Route Advisors (NSR) and CEO of fast food chain Vasudev Adigas, laments the country's lack of infrastructure to handle all the testing, certification and inspections.
"The government seems to be going after packaged food mostly. For those importing ingredients for their products, their products are stuck at ports and airports as these agencies aren't letting them import. Everybody who has packaging and labelling requirements is affected. Everything is stuck in Delhi and there's no clarity about this impasse," Kurian said.
In Mumbai, Prakash Shetty of Lalit Bar and Lunch Home, said, "We never serve Maggi but the ban has meant there is no major demand for Chinese food."
Ahar, an association of over 8,000 bars and restaurants in Mumbai, said, "The Maggi ban has made consumers more cautious and selective about their food choices and are more inclined towards costly but healthy dishes,"
In Chandigarh, Food and Drugs Administration commissioner S Narayan said, "Usually, the department collects 200-300 samples every month but we had a target of 1,000 samples in June." He added that 200 out of 1,000 product samples ranging from packaged food to drinking water have been found sub-par.
An FDA official, KK Sharma, said the intention isn't to create panic, but to ensure that all safety criteria are met. "It appears shopkeepers and packaged food companies have become more alert about quality control," Sharma told TOI.
In Ranchi frequent visits by food safety officers to retail outlets and restaurants are keeping owners and managers on their toes. A recent raid on Big Bazaar by food inspector KP Singh found three samples of packaged food and spices not standing up to scrutiny.
Singh said, "Chicken Miracle Masala and Paneer Miracle Masala of a Gujarat-based company were found substandard while, hakka noodles was found misbranded. Notices were sent to manufacturers of these products as well as to Big Bazaar." He added, "We're not visiting MNC food chains as they usually maintain quality."
Since June 12, raids and random sampling of packaged products in Bhopal by FSSAI officials has sent panic-stricken food chains scrambling for cover. Shantanu Roy, a manager at Amer Palace, said, "Food department raids and sampling has impacted our business. Now hoteliers are on their toes and taking extra care on food served."
Odisha has reported a staggering 80-90% drop in sale of instant food. Rabindra Dash, owner of one of the state's largest grocery chain, said consumers are rejecting instant food products which comprise 50% of products in stores. "The huge dip in sales has hit our business very hard," Dash added.
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