DINAMALAR NEWS

‘Food Ripened Unnaturally With Carbide Can Be Carcinogenic’

Q: What are the challenges before the food safety department?

A: For starters, we need more manpower. We also need a state-of-the-art laboratory where food samples can be tested. The Kamrup (Metro) district is the first in the state to take up the initiative of checking the unnatural way of ripening fruits like bananas.

Q: As the district nodal officer of the tobacco control cell, what obstacles are you facing?

A: Law cannot ban cigarettes and 'gutkha', but it can control their sale and distribution. Another challenge is the ban on the sale of tobacco products in the vicinity of educational institutions. The problem is, most of the educational institutions are located in thickly-populated areas, and some of the shops have been there for years. This is an aspect that needs to be looked into carefully. Fighting the tobacco lobby is itself a big challenge.

Q: What are the current projects that you are working on?

A: The state government wants us to work on adulterated mustard and drum oil. I also want to look into adulterated milk. About 26 restaurants and hotels have been served improvement notices as they were serving substandard cottage cheese (paneer), substandard spices and using low quality mawa for sweets and desserts.

Q: How effective have been the raids?

A: We can say we have been able to control about 60% cases of premature ripening of fruits like bananas. We need to keep a close watch and monitor illegal traders. Restaurants and faulty bottling plants have been served with improvement notices.

Q: How dangerous is the consumption of artificially-ripened bananas, unsafe bottled water and other adulterated food products?

A: Carbide-ripened bananas can lead to cancerous development as the products used are carcinogenic in nature. Regular consumption can lead to stomach and other problems. As for packaged drinking water, samples have showed the presence of metal and bacteria.

Q: How can you identify an artificially-ripened banana?

A: They glow and have a uniform hue. They look very, very bright and tempting. If an artificially-ripened banana and a naturally-ripened banana are placed on a platter, we can easily identify the bad one. But vendors take full advantage of people's ignorance and take them for a ride.

Q: For how long has this illegal business been going on?

A: The illegal business has been on for quite some time. There are some traders who are coming from outside to do trade here.

A few have been booked and cases have been registered against them. The district administration asked us to conduct special drives against such traders. On the basis of information provided, we caught traders indulging in this unlawful act.

A week ago, we conducted a raid at a godown at Hangarabari Road, Ganashguri. We collected a sample of calcium carbide used for ripening. We seized bananas worth approximately Rs 25,000 that were being ripened using the chemical.

The produce was destroyed in the dumping ground of GMC at Gorchuk. The raid was conducted along with Tarun Das, senior food safety officer, and was led by L R Nampui, designated officer of Kamrup (Metro) district.

Q: Besides bananas, the department was also responsible for stalling production of a so-called safe packaged drinking water...

A: It all began with a survey of six facilities in the city responsible for providing safe drinking water. We found six brands flouting norms and their samples were sent to laboratories.

Harmful content was found in the water and, based on the findings, the factories were closed. The water was found unfit for drinking. Most of these brands are quite popular in the market.

‘Honey sold in domestic market not pure and contains sugar-mixed ingredients’

NASHIK: B L Sarswat, the executive director of the National Bee Board, was in the city recently to organise a seminar on Awareness, motivation, and technology transfer for development of beekeeping in Maharashtra. The National Bee Board is a part of the department of agriculture and cooperation, Government of India. 

Addressing the gathering, Sarswat said, "There is a need to promote beekeeping in the country. The honey sold in domestic markets today is not pure and contains sugar-mixed ingredients. Exported honey is the only pure form available as it is tested as per parameters set by the importing countries. Even honey sold by leading companies contains only 10% total honey, while honey sold by a well-known trust run by a yoga guru contains only 1% honey." 

Speaking to TOI, he said, "We don't have a lab in the country to test honey. We had requested the government to provide us with one, but it could not work out. Now, we are preparing a fresh proposal to set up a testing laboratory for honey, which will be submitted once more to the ministry of agriculture for approval. The testing lab is estimated to cost Rs 25 crore. It is also shocking that the country don't have a lab to test honey. 

He further said, "The honey production in the country is 75,000 metric tonnes, of which 35,000 metric tonnes of honey is exported. Today, the country needs 2,000 lakh colonies of beekeeping, but we have have only 18 lakh colonies for beekeeping. It will take 10 to 15 years if we decide to meet this target and it will generate employment for around 2.15 crore people. But we need an investment of Rs 800 to 1,000 crore every five years. We will soon approach the government to allot funds to the NBB for this purpose." 

A spokesperson from one of the leading honey manufacturers in the country said, "It is the Food Safety Standard Authority of India that makes regulations for honey. These regulations are stringent as compared to that in foreign countries. Moreover, the Consumer Voice, which is a body under the ministry of consumers, Government of India, in a report published this month stated our company's honey as superior." 

Chandrakant Pawar the joint commissioner (Nashik division) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said, "We monitor quality of food items as prescribed under the Food Safety Standard Act. There have been strict standards for food items sold in the market. So, I don't think that honey sold by these companies in the domestic market is impure. However, we will collect samples from the market and send them to the laboratory for testing to verify the truth."

Pan traders’ seek quashing of ban order

The Madras High Court has ordered notice on a writ petition by a traders’ association seeking to quash a notification of May 2013 and restrain the authorities’ from interfering with the sale of pan masala, gutkha and tobacco products.

Justice T.S. Sivagnanam admitted the petition. The Additional Government Pleader took notice.

The Tamil Nadu Pan Beeda and Zarda Traders’ Association submitted that the Health Secretary had issued a notification of May 23, 2013, under the Food and Safety Standard Act prohibiting manufacture, storage, distribution or sale of gutkha and pan masala and any other food product containing tobacco or nicotine as ingredients.

The organisation submitted that the authorities had not conducted any scientific research to determine whether the products came under the definition of ‘food products.’ While on the one hand, the impugned notification had been issued, on the other, sales tax and VAT were being collected on the first sale in the State. This was nothing but total non-application of mind, said the petition.

Huge Consignment Of Gutka Seized In Mira Rd

Bhayandar : Continuing its crackdown against the illegal trade of banned tobacco products, officers from the Thane unit of the Food & Drug Authority (FDA) in association with the Mira Road police seized a huge consignment of gutkha worth lakhs of rupees from an apartment in the Naya Nagar area of Mira Road late on Friday evening. 

A tip-off culminated into a raid at a ground floor apartment in Century Park which led to the recovery of gunny bags stashed with thousands of sachets of gutkha, pan-masala and scented tobacco of various brands. The flat in a posh residential locality was used as a godown to store the banned substance, police said. 

The process to ascertain the value of the seized consignment and filing of an FIR under the relevant sections of the IPC and regulations of the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011 was on till reports last came in.

Jaundice Scare: Customers Thin Out At Eateries

Eateries seem to be doing so more out of compulsion than option and prefer packaged water if they are not carrying their own bottles, he added. Akash Damble of Soiree Restaurant in Hotel Saket here said earlier they used to receive customers from as far as Jharsuguda and the tables were booked in advance even on weekdays but their business has declined by half since the jaundice outbreak. On November 28 last year, the district administration had convened a meeting of the owners of restaurants and eateries and asked them to follow food safety rules to prevent spread of the disease. 

A drive to destroy unhygienic and stale food was also undertaken in the city. Food Safety Officer, Sambalpur Municipal Corporation, Rudra Pratap Mandal said around 30 quintals of unhygienic food have been destroyed in the last one and a half months. The drive would continue till normalcy is restored, he added. As per the report of the Health Department, 2,862 persons have been affected and 21 have succumbed to jaundice in the city.