Apr 4, 2015
To maximize profit, 50% of retailed salt not iodised: Food Safety Dept
COIMBATORE: In a recent drive conducted by the food safety department in the district, officials found that over 50% of salt samples that they collected were not iodised, making the salt substandard.
With iodine deficiency often leading to disability and sometimes even death in human beings, the food safety department went on a state-wide drive, in December last year, collecting almost 500 samples of salt from production houses and retailers, with more focus on the former. Of the 26 samples that were collected in the district, 13 of them were found to be misbranded and of substandard quality.
"The 13 samples lacked iodine content," said district food safety officer R Kathiravan. "Iodine fructification in salt has been made compulsory by the government, because we have a high rate of goiter in the country," he said.
Iodine deficiency in human beings also leads to goiter, which is a condition that leads to hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism in the form of increased metabolism, heavy breathing and blood pressure. Iodine deficiency also leads to intellectual disabilities and cretinism, and interferes in growth.
A study published in the Indian Journal of Public Health in 2010 found that the goiter rate among 1,230 school children, between the ages of six and 12 in Tamil Nadu, was around 13.5%. They also found that only 56% of the children had iodine excretion of less than 100g/L, which is considered the standard expected levels.
Doctors say that salt is the perfect component for iodine intake, "because it has to be consumed in small doses but regularly". "If Iodine is taken in large quantities it could lead to toxicity, but it is important that it is always in the body," said the deputy director of public health Dr A Somasundaram. "This is a prophylactic measure to control Iodine deficiency disorder," he said.
However, many salt manufacturers fail to fructify their product with iodine to cut costs. "It costs around 3 to fructify one kg of salt. So instead of making a profit of Rs 0.50 per kg, they can make Rs2.50 per kg if they don't iodise the salt," said a food safety officer.
Manufacturers try creating loopholes by printing minute disclaimers in the packet corner that states "only for industrial use". "They make it look the product is meant for use as a preservative in pickles, masala powders and other items," said Kathiravan. "But they end up distributing it to small and medium-sized departmental stores, where many people pick up the cheapest packet of salt," he added.
Experts recommend that people pick up salt made by well-known brands that stick to guidelines and are able to preserve the product well. While the iodine content in salt has to be 30 ppm after it is manufactured, it has to be 15 ppm during consumption." Half of the iodine content gets absorbed during transport especially when exposed to sunlight," said Kathiravan.
FDA’s testing van still lacks equipment
AURANGABAD: Seven months after getting the mobile food testing van, the Aurangabad division of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is waiting for the equipment, apparatus and kits required for on-the-spot testing of adulterated food samples.
Four vans were sanctioned in August 2014 for food inspectors in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad divisions to ensure speedy testing of suspicious samples. However, the van in Aurangabad division lacks testing facilities like advance equipment, apparatus, centrifugal machine and kits required to check food adulteration.
Chandrashekhar Salunke, FDA joint commissioner (Food), Aurangabad division, said that the process of purchasing the equipment is in progress.
Sources said that the van was supposed to be equipped with all the facilities so that the food safety officer (FSO) and a chemist can collect the samples on the spot and test them immediately. This would not only save time but also help in curbing supply and distribution of the adulterated food.
This facility would enable the FDA to get reports within 15 to 20 minutes which otherwise take 15 days to one month. But the van arrived only with an inverter facility and is being used for transportation service, they said.
"Lack of adequate laboratories and manpower is putting a burden on the existing labs. The food samples collected by the FSOs are sent to labs of FDA and the state health department. The labs must submit the analysis within 14 days but due to the lack of manpower and infrastructure, it is not happening," said a food safety officer.
Though the van lacks equipments like a lactometer which is used to test adulterated milk, refractometre to test oil, apparatus to check solid not fat in milk products, moisture analyser, alkaline kits and many chemicals, Salunke said that they are using the mobile apparatus available in the Aurangabad FDA laboratory.
"Utilising the van, the officials conducted a surprise inspection drive in Beed district in September 2014 to crackdown on transportation of adulterated milk. They tested about 50,000 litres of milk, of which one sample was found to be of poor quality," said Salunke.
Since August to March 31, 2015, the FDA officials have tested 53 samples of milk, of which 44 were found fit for consumption, two were unsafe, while seven samples failed to meet the standard criteria, he added.
Avoid food poisoning, foodborne diseases with these 5 WHO-approved tips
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Checkout the key tips for practicing food safety, according to World Health Organization that celebrates World Health Day on April 7. (AFP) Cook it thoroughly: Cook food thoroughly, especially meat, poultry, eggs, and seafood (pictured above, pork on the grill). Bring foods like soups and stews to boiling to make sure they have reached 70C. For meat and poultry make sure juices run clear, not pink. Ideally, use a thermometer. Reheat cooked food thoroughly.
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Separate raw and cooked: Separate raw meat, poultry and seafood from other foods. Use separate equipment and utensils such as knives, cutting boards for handling raw foods. Store food in containers to avoid contact between raw and prepared foods.
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Use safe water and raw materials: Use safe water or treat it to make it safe. Select fresh and wholesome foods. Choose foods processed for safety, such as pasteurized milk. Wash fruits and vegetables, especially if eaten raw. Do not use food beyond its expiry date.
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Keep food at safe temperatures: Do not leave cooked food at room temperature for more than two hours. Refrigerate promptly all cooked and perishable food (preferably below 5C). Keep cooked food piping hot (more than 60C) prior to serving. Do not store food too long even in the refrigerator. Do not thaw frozen food at room temperature.
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Keep clean: Wash hands before handling food and often during food preparation. Wash hands after going to the toilet. Wash and sanitize surfaces and equipment used for food preparation. Protect kitchen areas and food from animals and insects.
Food Safety Message In Your Dabba
(4 Apr) To improve the health of children in the city, a new campaign against rising number of cockroaches has been started this World Health Day. As part of the endeavour, Mumbai's famed dabbawallas will deliver the message against spread of diseases caused by cockroaches to an estimated 1,00,000 homes in the city by April 7. The initiative has been undertaken by Godrej Hit after the World Health Organisation (WHO) identified safe eating as one of the main priorities for public health.
The theme for this year is "food safety" where WHO will alert people about the importance of safe food and how to prevent it from getting contaminated. In its safe food manual, the organisation has identified cockroaches as one of the pests that carry disease-causing micro-organisms and can infest food, which leads to diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery, gastroenteritis etc. Each dabba will carry a message tag and consumers will get an opportunity to participate in a contest and win prizes by sending the name of the disease spread by cockroaches a the number 9902099020.
To achieve this objective, Godrej Hit will be present across key media touch points like TV, print and digital media on World Health Day. The campaign will run a teaser around "someone is coming to deliver a message on food safety to you" and will also hit social media like Facebook with relevant messages. "We are soon to begin the campaign and are to reach out to our every customer with dabbas and messages.
Over 5,000 dabbawalas have been deployed for the purpose as of now," said Krishnakant Palekar, one of the members of the dabbawalas' association. To magnify the impact, the campaign will also be launched on mobile apps and food and health sites like sifybawarchi, burrp, sanjeevkapoor, tarladalal and thehealthsite.com.
Google display network will also reach seven million viewers with the message.
Indian food vendors to participate in World Street Food Congress
New Delhi, April 3, 2015: A delegation comprising six Indian street food vendors will participate in the World Street Food Congress beginning on April 8 in Singapore, it was announced here on Friday.
The delegation will showcase famous Indian street foods, said Sangeeta Singh, head of the street food programme of the National Association of Street Vendors of India.
Alongside the World Street Food Congress, the World Street Food Dialogue would also take place in Singapore from April 8 to 11.
The dialogue would see the presence of over 20 key speakers, Sangeeta Singh said.
The speakers would share, discuss and present ways to empower and engage street food vendors across countries in the enterprise, she said.
Food from temple lands 300 in hosp
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a suspected case of food poisoning reported at Vembayam outside the city, around 300 persons, including women and children, were admitted to various hospitals in the district.
All the affected had had the 'annadana sadya' served at Madan Nada Siva Bhadrakali Temple at Thekkada near Vembayam under Vattappara police station limits on Wednesday afternoon.
Those affected reportedly told doctors that they experienced nausea, diarrhoea and body pain by Wednesday evening after visiting the temple. They first sought treatment at the community health centre nearby at Kanyakulangara and at Nedumangad district hospital.
As many as 87 persons were brought to the medical college hospital in the city on Thursday after their condition worsened.
This included 54 women, 17 men and 16 children. More people were shifted to the medical college during the night. Hospital sources said the condition of the patients was not critical.
According to local police, the annual festival of Siva Bhadrakali Temple was going on for the past four days and they organized an 'annadana sadya' on festival days.
On Wednesday, nearly 3,000 people reportedly ate the food served at the temple. Following the incident, temple authorities cancelled the 'annadanam' scheduled for Thursday.
Food safety officials said they collected samples of dishes available at the temple on Thursday. The food that was served comprised boiled rice and traditional dishes including avial, sambar and pulisseri.
The food was prepared on the temple premises. Water samples were also collected from the tank on the premises since several people were given the water after a procession at 8pm. The samples have been sent for detailed analysis.
Temple trust authorities said the water might have caused the food poisoning. Health minister V S Sivakumar visited the persons who were hospitalized on Thursday afternoon.
Dairy giant Amul planning to launch camel milk
The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) – the owners of Amul brand – is planning to market camel milk to Indian consumers.
“The number of camel breeders in Kutch district is fast dwindling and need to be supported financially. The Kutch unit now wants GCMMF to help them launch camel milk commercially with brand name Amul,” R S Sodhi, managing director of GCMMF told Deccan Herald.
Some estimates put total camel population in Kutch to be in the range of 10,000-12,000, with female camel an average providing up to four litres of milk every day.
The Kutch District Milk Producers’ Union, that runs Sarhad dairy in this largest district of India, has received a sanction of about Rs 80 lakh for support to camel breeders. Sodhi said Amul would need to invest in setting up a milk collection for camel milk and cold chain for its storage across various places in Kutch. “To begin with, it will be on a small scale and if we are able to do 10,000-15,000 litres of camel milk a day, we would be happy,” he said.
Amul feels that it will take at least 3-4 months before they can begin collecting and marketing camel milk in Ahmedabad. “All the stakeholders have approached the Central government with a request to notify camel milk under category of milk. We hope that The Food and Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will categorise camel milk as milk fit for human consumption,” Sodhi said.
The other reason for such a small beginning could be difficulty in sourcing of camel milk in India. “You can get goat milk in bulk but to collect camel milk in huge quantity will be a challenge,” T Nanda Kumar, chairman, National Dairy Development Board, said. India primarily has camel population in the desert regions of Kutch in Gujarat and Barmer in Rajasthan. This could be a limiting factor for Amul to go big.
Talking about the health-related rationale of marketing camel milk, that generally has salty taste to it, Sodhi said that it would find a ready market with fitness and health conscious. “There are people who opt for soya milk too. Similarly, camel milk will appeal to niche audience as it helps improve immunity and has great benefits for diabetics, heart patients, TB patients and children with autism,” Sodhi said.
The project is thus being taken up with twin objectives – one to provide an alternative income to cattle breeders and another to provide milk which is high in nutritional properties, low in fat and easy to digest.
World Health Day 2015: 'From Farm to Plate, Make Food Safe' Says WHO
World Health Day is celebrated every year to mark the anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO) that was founded in 1948. Each year, WHO picks a theme that highlights an important area of public health, initiates discussion and calls for action from countries across the globe. This year, the theme is 'food safety' which focuses on the need of safe food that is 'free from microbes, viruses and chemicals'.
To celebrate this day in India, the Indian Health Ministry joined hands with the World Health Organization (WHO) to urge people to make food safety a priority. Recently, they organized a national consultation on Food Safety which was attended by a number of Indian Ministers and WHO officials to discuss the issue and steps that need to be taken to tackle the problem.
In her opening address, Nata Menabde, WHO Representative to India shared, "About 2.2 million people in the world, including many children, die annually due to food-borne diseases. Unsafe food, containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances, causes more than 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhea to cancer."
In the wake of these statistics, it's about time we address the issue of food safety which is a growing public health concern. Therefore, the objective of WHO this year is to drive collective government and public action by taking into consideration all sectors and departments like agriculture, health, education and trade. It stressed on the collaboration of every government with civil societies, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and consumers to ensure safe food, everybody has a role to play.
To do this, the first step was to identify the major challenges posed to production, supply and distribution of food in India.
Food hazards at farm level -"Pesticides and the use of fertilizers in the past 50 years have grown nearly 170 times," said Ms Menabde. Pesticide residues has been the biggest issue regarding food safety. According to Utpal Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, "A lot of steps have been taken to curb this situation. No pesticide can be registered without risk assessment and knowing about its toxicity. We are working on making labels and leaflets more farmer friendly. Training programs are being organized to make them more aware about the waiting period and the right time to use pesticides. We are also promoting the use of bio-pesticides. In most cases, pesticides may be used just before harvest and this can lead to residues above maximum residue level. Therefore, they need to know how much to use and when to use." The focus is on framing standards and putting in place a system of certification of organic products.
Storage and Distribution - Food adulteration has become very common. These may be chemicals and additives or inferior quality ingredients. Strict vigilance is required at every step. "Our food supply chain is fragmented at every stage. Inspection and certification along with validation is extremely important," says Mr Sudhanshu Pandey, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It is estimated that 20 to 25% of food stocks are lost due to lack of storage facilities. 70% of the items are sold lose in the markets.
"We need to regulate our Public Distribution System. Grains, pulses and cereals should be packaged and sold and for fresh fruits, vegetables and street food standards need to be set for sale and preparation. Statistics reveal that about 42% children in 102 districts suffer from malnutrition. Access to a nutritionally balanced diet for pregnant mothers and children should be the focus," said Mr Keshav Desiraju, Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India.
Processed Food - Reading your labels has become of utmost importance considering the various scandals and risks surrounding processed food. Most products are loaded with saturated fat, sugar and sodium that are increasing the burden of non communicable diseases more than ever. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India was established in 2006 and has been conforming with WHO standards to ensure proper labeling and licensing. "Food safety is the forefront of policy making. Every penny spent on making food safe is equivalent to a reduction in every penny spent on health care. We need to strengthen our laboratory infrastructure at state level to maintain standards and detect discrepancies earlier," said Mr YS Malik, CEO, FSSAI.
"We've conducted studies which show that most people can't read labels. People may only see the brand name or date of expiry. They need to be informed about the scientific rationale behind the use of certain ingredients or practices. Kids should get this knowledge in schools so that they can make better choices," said Dr G.M Subba Roa, Scientist, National Institute of Nutrition
Food processing is a necessary evil; it drives trade through export of food products. Contamination may occur due to failure of application of appropriate technologies or misuse of chemicals. There need to be stringent regulations regarding quality control. Local contamination can easily enter International markets through trade and cause an outbreak.
FSSAI conforms with standards set by various global instruments like International Health Organization, International Network of Food Safety Authorities and CODEX Alimentarius for import and export of safe food products.
Antibiotic Resistance and Microbial Contamination - With increased consumption of animal products, there is a larger risk of exposure to zoonotic diseases. 60% of all infectious pathogens are of animal origin. In the past there have been issues like unhygienic breeding conditions or use of growth hormones. The collaboration between WHO, FAO and World Organization for Animal Health aims to tighten surveillance. Besides this, how we handle food at home also makes a difference. Clean surfaces and hygienic surroundings are the basics that one should never part with. Inadequate cooking, cross contamination, improper holding temperature are some other risks that we should be careful of.
The WHO Global Action Plan for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases 2013 - 2020 will stress on banning all forms of tobacco and alcohol advertising, replacing trans-fat with polyunsaturated fats and reducing the level of sugar and salt added to food or even consumed on daily basis. "The Government of India has already developed a National NCD Monitoring Framework with the WHO Global Action Plan for prevention and control of NCDs," expressed Ms Menabde.
On the other hand, the consumer needs to be more aware to be able to make informed choices. The World Health Organization recommends the following five keys to safer food.
1. Keep clean: We know the importance of a clean and hygienic environment, but sometimes we tend to overlook the basics. Microorganisms can easily be transferred from dirty hands, wiping cloths and utensils (especially cutting boards) and the slightest contact can cause food borne illnesses. Washing and sanitizing all surfaces and kitchen equipment is highly essential.
2. Keep food at safe temperatures: Do not leave cooked food for more than 2 hours at room temperature. Refrigerate all cooked food below 5 degree Celsius. Keep cooked food piping hot. Do not store food in the refrigerator for too long and avoid thawing at room temperature. Microorganisms can multiply very quickly. By storing food below 5 degree Celsius and above 60 degree Celsius, the growth of bacteria can be controlled.
3. Separate raw and cooked food: This reduces the risk of cross contamination. Juices from raw foods like poultry, meat and seafood can contaminate fresh vegetables and fruits when stored together. Raw meat could carry bacteria and should be stored in plastic bag to prevent juices from dripping on other foods. Cooked meat products, dairy products and egg dishes (high protein foods) should be stored carefully, these can be easily contaminated. Eggs should be refrigerated as soon as possible. Never place or serve cooked food in the same utensils that held raw foods.
4. Cook thoroughly: Cooking kills most of the dangerous microorganisms. Previous studies have shown that cooking food at a temperature of 70 degree Celsius can ensure safe consumption. It is especially important to cook meat, poultry, eggs and seafood thoroughly and also reheat cooked food thoroughly. Cooking reduces the risk of food poisoning. Inadequate cooking is one if the common causes of food poisoning. Cover your dishes as steam promotes cooking. Take extra precaution when using raw eggs in batters, dips or spreads. Cooking in a microwave or oven, may sometimes leave the food partially uncooked. To avoid this, place thicker items towards the edge and stir and rotate while cooking.
5. Use safe water and raw materials: Raw materials like water and ice are some of the most common sources of bacteria. Using clean water, pasteurized milk and checking for expiry dates are simple ways in which we can ensure food safety.
Ms Menabde along with other Ministers echoed the fact that the full burden of food-borne illness is not known as most of the cases are unreported. According to surveillance data in the country from 2011-14, food-borne outbreaks and acute diarrhoeal diseases made up nearly half of all the reported outbreaks during this period. There is an urgent need to collate better statistics and data so as to tackle the problem at the ground level. Food safety is a shared responsibility and it needs multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary action.
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