DINAMALAR NEWS

100 food streets to be adopted during first phase of Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan

The campaign, planned by CII and its partners, including consumer organisation VOICE, and National Association of Street Vendors of India, was rolled out in July.

NEW DELHI: As many as 100 food streets across the country will be adopted during the first phase of the Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan, an initiative to develop a culture of food safety in the country. 

The campaign, planned by CII and its partners, including consumer organisation VOICE, and National Association of Street Vendors of India ( NASVI), was rolled out in July this year. 

"In phase one, the target is to adopt 100 food streets across the country, generate awareness on food safety among 10,000 consumers and build capacity on good hygiene and manufacturing practices by training employees of 300 SMEs towards food safety," CII said. 

Under the campaign, nation-wide sensitisation sessions on cleaning, hygiene and sanitation for safe food, walkathons and media dissemination programmes for consumers and street food industries will be organised across the country. 

CII is also organising Food Safety Advocacy and Capacity Building programmes across Delhi, the North-East, Mumbai, Bangalore, Lucknow, Jamshedpur, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Siliguri, among others. 

The industry programmes are designed to upgrade supply chain participation across the food industry to international standards. 

More workshops on good agricultural, manufacturing and hygiene practices in the North-East, in partnership with the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, are also on the anvil, starting mid-October. 

The broader objective is to enhance consumer awareness on food safety aspects like labels, storage conditions and related hygienic practices. Street food vendors, schools and colleges are also part of the programme. 

Food service providers, including the Railways, street vendors and mass caterings, will be sensitised on how to produce and serve safe food.

Haryana info panel slaps '25,000 fine on two food safety officers

Chandigarh, Oct. 10 -- The Haryana information commission on Friday slapped '12,500 each on two state public information officers (SPIOs)-cum-food safety officers for delay of over a year in providing information to a Gurgaon based applicant.

Information commissioner Hemant Atri, who fined Om Kumar, the then SPIO-cum food safety officer, Bhiwani as well as Shyam Lal, who was also SPIOcum food safety officer, Bhiwani, during different periods, also observed in his order that the two officials had been found to be arrogant, careless, high-headed with no respect for the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Appellant Mehar Dass had moved an application for information pertaining to samples of milk and milk products taken by the food safety officer.

Food checks in festival time

NASHIK: Ten food safety officers of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Nashik division have been deployed in various parts of the district, mainly on the roads leading to the Saptashringi Garh to keep a check on the food quality served at the joints during Navaratra.

They would collect samples from food vendors to ensure that there was no health problems among people having food at hotels, restaurants and eateries festival between October 13 and 22.

Joint commissioner of FDA (Nashik division) Y K Bendkule said, "We have started the drive to check eateries across all the routes leading to Saptashringi Garh. Our 10 officials will be collecting food samples from different hotels and restaurants and places of bhandaras where food is donated as Prashad. Strict action will be taken against those not adhering to the norms laid under the Prevention of the Food Adulteration Act."

Saptashringi Garh, being one of the most important temples in Maharashtra, is visited by lakhs of people from across the state and the neighbouring ones.

Bendkule said, "Thousands of food stalls will be put up on all the roads leading to the Saptashringi Garh. The devotees will also halt at places such as Malegaon, Chandwad, and Dindori en route to the Saptashringi Garh to have breakfast and meals."

He added, "In this backdrop, it is all the more important to keep a check on the quality of food provided at such places. The 10 food inspectors will continuously keep a check on the food quality. If they are suspicious about the quality of food in certain cases, the sample of the food will be collected and sent for further investigation."

The food inspectors would also attempt to spread messages among people that consuming unhygienic food kept in the open or at road-side eateries could be dangerous and that people should purchase food products only from licenced shops.

NHRC alarmed over pesticide levels in food samples

According to a Union Agriculture Ministry report, harmful chemicals are present in alarmingly high doses in food items across the country, with the highest number of failed samples being that of vegetables.

There has been an almost two-fold increase in the number of vegetables, fruits, meat and spices samples containing pesticides above the permitted level in the last six years, suggests a report by the Union Ministry of Agriculture.

The report has caught attention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which has taken suo motu cognisance of the matter, while pointing out that any food article injurious to public health is a potential danger to the fundamental Right to life.

Citing Supreme Court’s rulings, NHRC member Justice D. Murugesan said over the weekend that the right to food was a fundamental Right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

“The enjoyment of life and attainment, including right to life and human dignity, encompasses within its ambit availability of articles of food without insecticides or pesticides residues, veterinary drugs residues, antibiotic residues, solvent residues, etc.”

The NHRC has now issued notices to the chairperson of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Secretary of the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries, and secretaries in charge of food and agriculture in all States.

All of them have been asked to inform, within eight weeks, about the action taken to minimise residue level in vegetables, foods, meat and spices.

Justice Murugesan said that though it was the paramount duty of the State and its authorities to achieve an appropriate level for protection of human life and health, a fundamental right, reports of rampant use of pesticides continued to pour in.

According to the reports, harmful chemicals are present in alarmingly high doses in food items across the country, with the highest number of failed samples being that of vegetables.

The situation is reportedly said to be more alarming in New Delhi and Mumbai.

Of the 629 samples analysed in the national Capital, 223 reportedly contained residues while 20 of them had levels above the permitted residue level.

Among the 1,149 samples collected in Mumbai and Kolkata, 352 contained residue, while 22 reported levels above the permitted.