Sep 21, 2015
Wendy's faces food safety issues
NEW DELHI: Wendy's, one of the world's largest burger chains, has run into food-safety issues here after opening its first restaurant in Gurgaon. After a customer allegedly found a worm in a Wendy's burger a few months ago, the US-based chain recently had another customer, who allegedly discovered a pin in a burger patty served at its store in Gurgaon. Wendy's said the issue was brought to their notice and was resolved.
"Nothing is more important than the quality and integrity of our food, we follow stringent procedures and supplier protocols. This was brought to our attention some time ago and was fully resolved at that time," said a Wendy's spokesperson to a questionnaire sent by TOI.
After the worm issue, problems for Wendy's started when a 24-year-old man ordered two burgers at its store in Gurgaon's Sector 29.He said he had discovered the pin when he bit into one of the burgers. "The pin was in my mouth and by the time I realised, it had broken into two," he said. "The Wendy's management was very nice and they assured me that such an incident would never happen again. They were in touch with me even after the incident."
When asked whether it has overhauled its back-end operations after the twin x incidents, Wendy's did not respond. It also did not answer queries on its sourcing procedures in India. International burger chains operating in India usually have third party vendors from where they source their ingredients.
In an interview with TOI earlier, Sanjay Chhabra, director of Sierra Nevada Restaurants, the franchisee for Wendy's in India, had said the company is looking to open 40-50 restaurants in India at a cost of Rs 2 crore each. India's burgeoning $13-billion branded QSR (quick service restaurant) market has attracted nearly all major international burger chains including Johnny Rockets, Carl's Jr, Fat Burger and Burger King, who have come in and opened their stores here. The sector is expected to grow by around 26% year-on-year, according to Crisil.
While Nestle's recent Maggi ban has sparked off food-safety issues here, in markets such as the US, QSR chains have had to pay hefty compensations to consumers for lapses in food-safety. The most memorable incident is the Liebeck versus McDonald's case. In 1992, 79year-old Stella Liebeck bought a cup of take-out coffee at a McDonald's drive-thru in the US and spilled it on her lap. She sued the burger chain as the coffee was not having the prescribed temperature and was awarded around $2.5 million by the jury for punitive damage (burns).
"Nothing is more important than the quality and integrity of our food, we follow stringent procedures and supplier protocols. This was brought to our attention some time ago and was fully resolved at that time," said a Wendy's spokesperson to a questionnaire sent by TOI.
After the worm issue, problems for Wendy's started when a 24-year-old man ordered two burgers at its store in Gurgaon's Sector 29.He said he had discovered the pin when he bit into one of the burgers. "The pin was in my mouth and by the time I realised, it had broken into two," he said. "The Wendy's management was very nice and they assured me that such an incident would never happen again. They were in touch with me even after the incident."
When asked whether it has overhauled its back-end operations after the twin x incidents, Wendy's did not respond. It also did not answer queries on its sourcing procedures in India. International burger chains operating in India usually have third party vendors from where they source their ingredients.
In an interview with TOI earlier, Sanjay Chhabra, director of Sierra Nevada Restaurants, the franchisee for Wendy's in India, had said the company is looking to open 40-50 restaurants in India at a cost of Rs 2 crore each. India's burgeoning $13-billion branded QSR (quick service restaurant) market has attracted nearly all major international burger chains including Johnny Rockets, Carl's Jr, Fat Burger and Burger King, who have come in and opened their stores here. The sector is expected to grow by around 26% year-on-year, according to Crisil.
While Nestle's recent Maggi ban has sparked off food-safety issues here, in markets such as the US, QSR chains have had to pay hefty compensations to consumers for lapses in food-safety. The most memorable incident is the Liebeck versus McDonald's case. In 1992, 79year-old Stella Liebeck bought a cup of take-out coffee at a McDonald's drive-thru in the US and spilled it on her lap. She sued the burger chain as the coffee was not having the prescribed temperature and was awarded around $2.5 million by the jury for punitive damage (burns).
Food safety tools sharpened
The Health Department took a major step forward in the enforcement of food safety regulations across the State when it entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, for enhancing the State’s laboratory capabilities.
Kerala is the first State to enter into a formal agreement with the CFTRI, one of the referral labs for food analysis under the CSIR, for the enforcement of Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar, who formally inaugurated the MoU signing function, said.
He said the State would strictly enforce the mandatory FSSA licence/registration for food-related businesses. Anganwadis, school canteens, hostels, and mass feeding or mass food distribution by religious organisations and institutions would be brought under the ambit of the FSSA.
Strict enforcement
The concept of food safety and the public’s right to safe and hygienic food have been gaining much ground in Kerala in recent times, especially after the food safety wing began strengthening the enforcement of regulations guiding food safety, Health Secretary K. Ellangovan said.
An increasing number of judicial pronouncements in recent times in the enforcement of food safety has boosted the awareness of consumers and the confidence of food safety enforcement officials.
Improving labs
Enhancing the capability of the State laboratories in the scientific analysis of food and various aspects of what makes a food safe or unsafe for consumption is thus the natural step forward in ensuring food safety.
Director of the CFTRI Ram Rajasekharan said the State’s commitment to ensuring food safety would inspire others to do more in the area of food safety
Under the terms of the MoU, which will initially be for 18 months, the CFTRI will lend its technical capabilities in modernising and strengthening the State analytical laboratories in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, and Kozhikode.
Scientists’ training
Over 100 scientists and laboratory staff in the State laboratories will undergo training at the CFTRI, which has the expertise to conduct over 250 chemical and biological tests in the area of food analysis.
Some of the areas that the State food safety wing has specified include tests for detecting the presence of antibiotics/hormones in meat and poultry, formalin, mercury in fish, trans fats and acrylamide in fried foods, and safe limits for food additives/preservatives. The CFTRI will also conduct food-related studies for the State as and when requested.
The MoU was signed by Commissioner of Food Safety T.V. Anupama and CFTRI administrative officer Mallika P. Kumar.
State government inks MoU with CFTRIto enhance lab capabilities.
Kerala is the first State to enter into a formal agreement with the CFTRI, one of the referral labs for food analysis under the CSIR, for the enforcement of Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar, who formally inaugurated the MoU signing function, said.
He said the State would strictly enforce the mandatory FSSA licence/registration for food-related businesses. Anganwadis, school canteens, hostels, and mass feeding or mass food distribution by religious organisations and institutions would be brought under the ambit of the FSSA.
Strict enforcement
The concept of food safety and the public’s right to safe and hygienic food have been gaining much ground in Kerala in recent times, especially after the food safety wing began strengthening the enforcement of regulations guiding food safety, Health Secretary K. Ellangovan said.
An increasing number of judicial pronouncements in recent times in the enforcement of food safety has boosted the awareness of consumers and the confidence of food safety enforcement officials.
Improving labs
Enhancing the capability of the State laboratories in the scientific analysis of food and various aspects of what makes a food safe or unsafe for consumption is thus the natural step forward in ensuring food safety.
Director of the CFTRI Ram Rajasekharan said the State’s commitment to ensuring food safety would inspire others to do more in the area of food safety
Under the terms of the MoU, which will initially be for 18 months, the CFTRI will lend its technical capabilities in modernising and strengthening the State analytical laboratories in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, and Kozhikode.
Scientists’ training
Over 100 scientists and laboratory staff in the State laboratories will undergo training at the CFTRI, which has the expertise to conduct over 250 chemical and biological tests in the area of food analysis.
Some of the areas that the State food safety wing has specified include tests for detecting the presence of antibiotics/hormones in meat and poultry, formalin, mercury in fish, trans fats and acrylamide in fried foods, and safe limits for food additives/preservatives. The CFTRI will also conduct food-related studies for the State as and when requested.
The MoU was signed by Commissioner of Food Safety T.V. Anupama and CFTRI administrative officer Mallika P. Kumar.
State government inks MoU with CFTRIto enhance lab capabilities.
The sinking ship of the desert
"Tourists say that one of the most enchanting experiences you can have in India is to ride through the desert on camel back." Photo of a camel in the Thar Desert.
Despite legal strictures on the slaughter of camels for meat, police turn a blind eye as several animals are killed during the festival of Bakrid
The Indian camel, the single humped or Dromedary, is the pride of Rajasthan and thousands of poor families are dependant on it for their travel across the desert. They are low maintenance animals, subsisting on dry grass and shrubs .
However, this iconic animal is disappearing before our eyes. In Rajasthan the camel has become expensive and rare with less than 50,000 animals and has been declared an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
In some of the more remote villages, camels are still used by the post offices to deliver mail. Camels carts are used to deliver goods, in banking and to draw water out of deep water wells. Entire families and their household equipment migrate on their backs. It is a common sight to see camel caravans with large bags filled with grass used for feeding horses, oxen, water buffalo. Tourists say that one of the most enchanting experiences you can have in India is to ride through the desert on camel back and camp out under the stars.
With falling numbers, the price of a camel has soared and a sturdy male now fetches up to Rs 50,000. In the last ten years, the camel population has reduced by a fourth due to illegal slaughter outside the State during Id-ul-Adha or Bakrid.
The camel is smuggled in large numbers to the States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and through Bihar to Bangladesh as camel meat is considered a delicacy. Once a luxury for the rich, over the last few years, the festival demand has become more widespread with an illegal market for camel meat now in Hyderabad to which the Municipality turns a blind eye.
Illegal trade
So how does the camel find its way to the southern markets? The trade is largely controlled by gangs from Bhagpat in Uttar Pradesh. Camels are bought by these traders at weekly bazaars in Rajasthan and even the famed great Pushkar mela, which used to be a celebration of the camel. The animals are then taken by road through Haryana, either on foot or crammed into trucks with their legs tied. In Baghpat, they are slaughtered and the meat sent to Meerut and Hyderabad. I have had occasion to intercept several such animals in Delhi and Jhajjar enroute to Meerut and Baghpat.
Other camels are sent to Bangladesh via Bihar. The traffic before Id is so heavy that every night NGOs such as People For Animals intercept trucks crammed with camels.
Though Karnataka has forbidden the entry of camels, the smugglers bring them in on the pretext of offering children joyrides. The Kerala High Court has ruled that camels are not meat animals and hence cannot be killed and eaten. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has also banned the killing of camels and the consumption of camel meat. But the police turn a blind eye to the groups of camels being taken across India.
The slaughter of camels at Bakrid also contravenes religious injunctions because only the sacrifice of goats is sanctioned. Today it is camels, tomorrow it might become fashionable to kill tigers for this day.
Apart from all the legal reasons the camel cannot be killed for Bakr-Id because:
1) Camels belong in the deserts of Rajasthan. They are marched 2000 kms in a cruel way and can never be called healthy and killing them is thus against Islamic teachings.
2) The Koran allows killing of animals as a justification only for food.
3) One is supposed to befriend an animal before offering it for sacrifice — this is never done for a camel.
4) The killing of a terrified animal is something the Prophet would never allow.
5) Bakrid refers to the killing of a ram by Ibrahim when God replaced the son with a goat. Why kill camels which cannot even be legally eaten?
Tardy courts
The Chief Kazi to the government of Tamil Nadu, Dr Salahuddin Mohammed Ayub, has discussed the issue of banning the slaughter of camels for meat with his congregation and said he was prepared to talk to the government committee organised for this purpose in Chennai. Despite a ruling by the Madras High Court last month setting up a committee to regulate camel slaughter and directing that the committee should hold its first meeting within a week and place preliminary recommendations, the Secretary for Animal Husbandry has refused to convene the committee till after Bakrid — too late for the camels now in Tamil Nadu facing illegal slaughter.
The Rajasthan government in July, 2014 passed an Act declaring the camel a State animal. This was followed in March 2015 with the Rajasthan Camel (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Bill, 2015, which banned the slaughter, trading and unauthorised transportation of camels. No camels can be sold at weekly bazaars and certainly no “farmers” from outside Rajasthan are allowed to buy the animals.
However, everytime illegally transported camels and poachers are caught, the courts intervene to release them — back to the poachers. The seized animals spend a couple of nights in shelters or jails and then, for reasons best known to the judges, are given back to the poachers.
The impact of the loss of camels in India will be most severe on our vulnerable western border in Jaisalmer. This region routinely used by smugglers of drugs and arms is patrolled by the Border Security Force (BSF) which uses camels ideally suited to the terrain. The forces are now finding it difficult to replace ageing animals.
The slaughter of this iconic animal, full of temperament and pride must stop before it is too late. The camel has become another victim to our inability to enforce laws in India.
(Maneka Gandhi is the Union Minister for Women and Child Development)
However, this iconic animal is disappearing before our eyes. In Rajasthan the camel has become expensive and rare with less than 50,000 animals and has been declared an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
In some of the more remote villages, camels are still used by the post offices to deliver mail. Camels carts are used to deliver goods, in banking and to draw water out of deep water wells. Entire families and their household equipment migrate on their backs. It is a common sight to see camel caravans with large bags filled with grass used for feeding horses, oxen, water buffalo. Tourists say that one of the most enchanting experiences you can have in India is to ride through the desert on camel back and camp out under the stars. With falling numbers, the price of a camel has soared and a sturdy male now fetches up to Rs 50,000. In the last ten years, the camel population has reduced by a fourth due to illegal slaughter outside the State during Id-ul-Adha or Bakrid.
The camel is smuggled in large numbers to the States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and through Bihar to Bangladesh as camel meat is considered a delicacy. Once a luxury for the rich, over the last few years, the festival demand has become more widespread with an illegal market for camel meat now in Hyderabad to which the Municipality turns a blind eye.
Illegal trade
So how does the camel find its way to the southern markets? The trade is largely controlled by gangs from Bhagpat in Uttar Pradesh. Camels are bought by these traders at weekly bazaars in Rajasthan and even the famed great Pushkar mela, which used to be a celebration of the camel. The animals are then taken by road through Haryana, either on foot or crammed into trucks with their legs tied. In Baghpat, they are slaughtered and the meat sent to Meerut and Hyderabad. I have had occasion to intercept several such animals in Delhi and Jhajjar enroute to Meerut and Baghpat.
Other camels are sent to Bangladesh via Bihar. The traffic before Id is so heavy that every night NGOs such as People For Animals intercept trucks crammed with camels.
Though Karnataka has forbidden the entry of camels, the smugglers bring them in on the pretext of offering children joyrides. The Kerala High Court has ruled that camels are not meat animals and hence cannot be killed and eaten. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has also banned the killing of camels and the consumption of camel meat. But the police turn a blind eye to the groups of camels being taken across India.
The slaughter of camels at Bakrid also contravenes religious injunctions because only the sacrifice of goats is sanctioned. Today it is camels, tomorrow it might become fashionable to kill tigers for this day.
Apart from all the legal reasons the camel cannot be killed for Bakr-Id because:
1) Camels belong in the deserts of Rajasthan. They are marched 2000 kms in a cruel way and can never be called healthy and killing them is thus against Islamic teachings.
2) The Koran allows killing of animals as a justification only for food.
3) One is supposed to befriend an animal before offering it for sacrifice — this is never done for a camel.
4) The killing of a terrified animal is something the Prophet would never allow.
5) Bakrid refers to the killing of a ram by Ibrahim when God replaced the son with a goat. Why kill camels which cannot even be legally eaten?
Tardy courts
The Chief Kazi to the government of Tamil Nadu, Dr Salahuddin Mohammed Ayub, has discussed the issue of banning the slaughter of camels for meat with his congregation and said he was prepared to talk to the government committee organised for this purpose in Chennai. Despite a ruling by the Madras High Court last month setting up a committee to regulate camel slaughter and directing that the committee should hold its first meeting within a week and place preliminary recommendations, the Secretary for Animal Husbandry has refused to convene the committee till after Bakrid — too late for the camels now in Tamil Nadu facing illegal slaughter.
The Rajasthan government in July, 2014 passed an Act declaring the camel a State animal. This was followed in March 2015 with the Rajasthan Camel (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Bill, 2015, which banned the slaughter, trading and unauthorised transportation of camels. No camels can be sold at weekly bazaars and certainly no “farmers” from outside Rajasthan are allowed to buy the animals.
However, everytime illegally transported camels and poachers are caught, the courts intervene to release them — back to the poachers. The seized animals spend a couple of nights in shelters or jails and then, for reasons best known to the judges, are given back to the poachers.
The impact of the loss of camels in India will be most severe on our vulnerable western border in Jaisalmer. This region routinely used by smugglers of drugs and arms is patrolled by the Border Security Force (BSF) which uses camels ideally suited to the terrain. The forces are now finding it difficult to replace ageing animals.
The slaughter of this iconic animal, full of temperament and pride must stop before it is too late. The camel has become another victim to our inability to enforce laws in India.
(Maneka Gandhi is the Union Minister for Women and Child Development)
Food Safety Act is for citizens' benefit, says Bombay HC
MUMBAI: Observing that the Food Safety and Standard (FSS) Act is meant for the benefit of citizens and has direct nexus to right to life, the Bombay high court upheld the constitutional validity of the 2006 law, its provisions and the rules framed under it.
"This is a social legislation and provides for solution to the problems which would be a creation of nobody else but the members of the society,'' said a bench of the HC while dismissing a bunch of petitions filed by restaurant owners and others who challenged the Act for being "violative of fundamental rights to equality, trade and life.''
Association of the Traders claiming to carry on business in various foods, Indian Hotel & Restaurant Association, Mumbai Mewa Masala Merchants Association, a registered Association of the retailers - wholesalers of dry fruits and spices had moved the HC in 2012 to set aside provisions of the Food Safety Act. Though not make clear the foundation of the challenge, the traders said the Act had "vague and excessive'' provisions that affected their business and could be prone to abuse.
The HC found no merit in the challenge but in fact said, "we cannot lose sight of the evil which is sought to be remedied by this Act...Humans have a tendency to deal in food products which would not be safe for human consumption...''
The court suggested that it was "every citizen's fundamental duty to nurture such morals, ideals and discipline'' to eliminate the availability of unsafe food in the market through "sheer social responsibility.'' The court went by the legal concept of construing a law that makes it effective, rather than voiding it. The HC held that every officer and authority in charge of implementing the FSS Act that governs food safety and regulates manufacture, storage, sale and import food safe for human consumption in India have an "onerous responsibility'' and must not derelict either.
The HC said that the Act "serves a pivotal role in securing the citizens a minimum degree of purity in food and preserve public health. It is aimed at preventing fraud on the consumers and those who are guilty of endangering human life by indulging and dealing with the unsafe food are required to be dealt with iron hands.''
"If the provisions intend to curb such social evil, we are of the considered opinion that the challenge as raised by the petitioners on every count ought to fail.''
"If the provisions intend to curb such social evil, we are of the considered opinion that the challenge as raised by the petitioners on every count ought to fail.''
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)