DINAMALAR NEWS

Most organic food in market is fake: food safety official

A.K. Mini, Assistant Food Safety Commissioner (Kollam), inaugurating a seminar on food safety in Kollam on Saturday. 

Much of the organic foods available in the markets are fake, Assistant Food Safety Commissioner (Kollam) A.K. Mini has said.

“Marketers of most organic products are cheating customers by charging more through false claims and this sector is now growing into one of the biggest ways through which people are cheated”.

Ms. Mini said this while addressing a seminar on “safe water and food”, organised by the Laboratory and Technical Division (LTD) attached to the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI), here on Saturday. This situation calls for stringent and flawless methods to certify organic food products, she said.

Overdose of permitted colours in food is rampant in Kollam, and this is harmful to human health.

She said only 100 milligrams of permitted colour was the upper limit for one kilo gram of pastry product. But many bakeries do not have any measuring standards. Adding even permitted colours to meals sold from restaurants is an offence.

Earlier food safety authorities looked only for unpermitted colours. But now, detection comprises quantitative analysis to find out whether permitted colours have been added in excess of the permitted levels. Ms. Mini said all food supplements could be marketed only after obtaining the mandatory approval from the Food Safety Authority of India.

Such food imported should comply with the domestic regulations in force in the country. This is the reason why some food products from China have been denied import permission recently. “Our food products exported should mandatorily comply with the food safety standards of the importing country”. She said while cigarettes were not banned, pan masala was banned under the Food Safety and Standards Act because it was a consumable product. More than 2 tonnes of such tobacco products were seized from the district during raids. The High Court has now given permission to destroy the entire seized quantity.

She said during drives in the past the use of hazardous chemical erythrocin in watermelons was detected in Kollam district. Now with the start of the watermelon, the surveillance has resumed.

Vigilance officials seize Guthka worth Rs. 3 crore

In a major haul, the Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) officials seized gutka products worth around Rs. 3 crore from a private transport godown here on Saturday.

The banned gutka products of various brands were imported from New Delhi in two lorries, said Krishna District Regional Vigilance and Enforcement Officer (RVEO) Y.T. Naidu.

Acting on a tip-off, the team led by V&E Deputy Superintendent of Police G. Purnachander Rao and Tehsildar Indira Devi conducted a raid on Pragathi Road Carrier, located near Gollapudi Market Yard and seized the gutka packets stored in 497 bags.

Two dealers – Shekar and Bheema – natives of Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam respectively, were involved in the illegal trade.

The accused were supplying gutka to various districts in the State from Vijayawada, said Vigilance CIs M. Suresh and P. Rajesh, who participated in the raid.

Three held

The V&E police took the transport company local branch manager Venugopal and two vehicle drivers into custody.

The seized stocks, along with a lorry, were handed over to Bhavanipuram police, said the Deputy Superintendent of Police . Police are inquiring as to since how long the accused had been running the business and whether any other products were being imported from Delhi.

Case registered

Bhavanipuram police registered a case and took up investigation, said the RVEO. Food Safety Officer S. Sunder Ram Reddy and others participated in the raid.

Rajkot civic body fines 36 food shops for substandard items

RAJKOT: As many as 36 food shops, whose samples were taken by health department of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) for its quality check, were found selling substandard items and RMC imposed fined on them. 

According to RMC officials, they have collected various food and dairy items from different shops, parlors in the city from April 1, 2014 to February 2 this year and 36 samples were found to be substandard in its quality parameters. 

RMC has taken samples of Mix milk, loose ghee, Synthetic syrup, palm oil, butter, tomato sauce, Papad, groundnut oil and packaged drinking water. 

'We have sent these food and dairy items for its quality testing in laboratory in Baroda and it found substandard quality in 36 items. We have imposed fined under food safety and standard act-2006 to each of the shop owners from we have taken the samples. We have collected Rs 4.63 lakh from them'' said an RMC official.