Sweet indulgence can turn sour

AHMEDABAD: As he countdown to Diwali picks pace and free indulgence of the sweet ooth is expected, it's time that you make a closer look at what's on your platter. And with palate and tradition o egg us on, most of us down many chocolates, laddus, kaju katris, fafdas and jalebis during this festive season without realizing the danger that awaits us. In Rajkot for instance the municipal corporation seized 255 kilograms of fake butter' on Friday . All that butter was waiting to be supplied to sweet hops. The ingredients were, vegetable ghee, ,mixed with white colour and soya bean oil. Each of tinned containers seized was sold at Rs 1,600."We have not deciphered the chemical nature of the white color. We suspect t to be a banned substance," says a senior Rajkot Municipal Corporation RMC) health official. 

In Ahmedabad on Wednesday more han 100 workers and officials of Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd at their Dholka plant were taken ill by food poisoning.The patients had complained of nausea, vomiting and acute abdominal pain.They had consumed 'Dudhi ka Halwa' which used contaminated mawa. 

A low conviction rate in food adulteration cases has now become a major worry for many municipal corporations as there are several nstances of repeat offenders in each city. In Ahmedabad for instance there has been just one conviction in the entire year and that too of a ghee sample that was taken in 2011. As per the Food Safety and Standards Act punishments for mislabeling, adulterating or sale of unsafe food can range from six months in jail to life imprisonment, and fines up to Rs 10 lakh. 

But the Act is useless unless courts act fast. There are close to 100 cases in which food samples have failed laboratory tests and are pending hearing with the Ahmedabad resident district collector. Another major issue is of mushrooming of unlicensed sweet shops in many Gujarat cities. In Ahmedabad for instance there are more than 1,000 such shops while in Surat there are 500 such major shops. "Most of these sweet shops are do not have building use permissions and hence under the present food safety Act they cannot be recognized as authorized sellers," says a senior AMC health official. 

Times View 

Extremely low conviction rates in food adulteration raises a finger towards a weak enforcement and will to book culprits. There is no denying the fact that health officials file cases against adulterators , but it is often seen that the evidence does not convince our courts. It is important now that special courts consisting of food safety experts be instituted to try adulteration cases. 

"Can't adhere to safety standards always" 

AHMEDABAD Surprising as it may seem, several sweet mart owners in city had bluntly told the AMC that raiding their shops or quality checks was unjust due to commotion during festivals. They had also given a written representation saying that safety standards have to be given a go by sometimes. They had made this representation just two days before Dusshera when AMC teams had collected 91 samples of sweets, mawa and farsan. Of these, 16 were found "unsafe", 13 cases pertained to false claims of nutrition and one sample tested unsafe. Laboratory tests on 400 other samples are pending. 

Maximum adulteration in mawa 

VADODARA: The civic body in city has only recently stepped up its drive to collect and check samples of food items ahead of the festive season. Officials of said that the highest adulteration was found in milk products including mava.Like every year, the VMC took samples of fafda-jalebi ahead of Dussehra and other sweet and savories during Rakshabandhan and Diwali. Besides adulteration, a major issue being faced was that of use of stale raw materials and unhygienic storage conditions . VMC's health officer Dr Mukesh Vaidya said that the sellers were still relying on old methods for adulteration. 

It's margarine not butter! 

SURAT: No amount of butter is enough for Surtis who gorge on dosas, sandwiches and paav bhaji at roadside eateries. Most foodies ask for an extra dollop. But not many know that it's not butter but table margarine that they are gulping down. Nearly 5,000 road side eateries in the Diamond City pass off table margarine as butter. Interestingly, SMC food department has provided license to just two agencies to supply table margarine in the city. "We are investigating as to how such huge quantity of margarine comes to the city as very few buy from registered margarine sellers," says KG Patel of SMC.

FOOD SAFETY OFFICIALS IN SLUMBER DURING PUJA

It is common to find vendors selling edible items outside the puja pandals but the main question arises are these food items checked according to the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) norms.

The food safety officers were unable to conduct the inspection this year during the Durga puja. However, the letter for conducting inspection was issued by the Health Department before the Durga puja started.

Citing details about the (FSSAI) guideline, Director Health Services Dr Pravin Chandra said, “The registrations of the street food vendors are mandatory. In exercise of the powers conferred under section 92 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, FSSAI has proposed Draft of Food Safety and Standards Regulation, 2010 under which Part 3.2 makes it mandatory for all Food Business Operators in the country to be registered or licensed in accordance with the procedures laid down in the regulation.”

“We have also issued a circular for all Food Safety Officers to conduct an inspection drive in there respective areas. Those vendors who come from other places have to get temporary registration from the local authorities. It is mandatory for vendors to have ID proofs with them,” Chandra further added.

However, the Food Safety Officer Gulab Lakra informed, “Last year the inspection was conducted but this year we just collected samples from the sweet shops owners, betel shops owners. We were unable to inspect the vendors this year. However, the officials will form teams for the upcoming Diwali festival.”

Stating about the circular Lakra said, “We received the letter from the concerned department after the Durga puja. Now I am waiting for the instructions from the authorities to conduct a meeting and form teams, so that the inspection can be conducted on the regular basis even for the vendors.”

Moreover, when contacted the other two Food Safety Officials on the matter, the officials were unavailable for the comment.

As many as 125 puja pandals are constructed for the auspicious occasion of Durga puja in the city and maximum numbers of vendors come from the adjoining areas too to earn money during the peak season.

The Registration of the food vendors has started since April 2014 in various cities across India.

Food safety regulator spots few grains of real dal in hostel dal, sends the sample to forensic department for further testing

Rourkela: Food safety regulator does not want to take any more chance after Maggi and Dadri episodes. As per the Indian food safety act 2006, the regulator needs to take proactive steps to check the food quality served in different places like hotels, hostels or the packaged foods which are readily available.

Mess cooks working hard to ensure that the Tur dal to water ratio remains 1:15

According to our sources recently the regulator did a surprise raid on Hostel number 12 mess of NIT, Rourkela. During check they found all the food materials are up to the standard expected from hostel food except dal which looked like containing too many real grains of Tur dal.

Looking at the cost of Tur Dal that is running now and historically the density usually maintained in hostel dal, this was a big surprise for the food safety regulator team and they gave special focus to the dal during their raid.

MTech Student Bhola Shankar who is a regular late comer to the mess explained to us the scenario as it unfolded on the day of the raid.

Bhola said, “Being a lazy person, on Saturday and Sundays before lunch hour, I will not wake up. Last Sunday was terrible for me; there was no water by the time I woke up. As I called the boy in charge of our corridor, he told me lot of extra water has gone to the preparation of dal. Earlier our dal preparation had 1 kg grains for 5 liter of water. Now hostel warden has instructed the cook to make the ratio 1:15 as the Tur Dal price has tripled in last few months.”

“When I reached mess, most of items were over except huge quantity of ultra-liquid dal which was left on our table for flies. Somehow I managed with papads which had become soft like rotis and rotis which had become hard like papads, when the raid happened. As some of the team members who have been ex-NITians have stayed in this hostel and have tasted similar food for years, they were surprised as soon as they found five grains dal while lifting a spoon of yellow liquid. This is when they called the hostel mess supervisor and grilled him to know if it’s real dal,” Bhola said.

“Poor supervisor had to show the chart and ratio to the hostel warden and superintendent to convince the raid team. Also he demonstrated the running test of dal which the management asked him to do before food is served to students. Dal should be able to run at least 100 meters if thrown on the floor. Raid team did not want to take it lightly; they decided to send the samples to nearby forensic lab for further testing,” Bhola added.

One of the members of regulator team told us the reason for such strict checking. He said, “We must avoid repeat of Dadri kind of incident in future, Government has empowered us with additional powers so that we can check the food prepared or stored at home. We will not check only hygienic issues which anyway most people are already adhering to after the initiation of swachh bharat abhiyan, in addition we will check what you are eating as per the law or not. The message is loud and clear, Government knows best. They would decide what our citizens will be allowed to eat and what might be bad for their health which they must avoid at any cost.”

Nestle is ready to restart plant at Maulinguem

Panaji: Nestle has written to the food safety and standard authority of India (FSSAI), Mumbai, informing them that it is ready to start the process to resume production of Maggi noodles at their Maulinguem plant.

A copy has been marked on Friday to food and drugs administration (FDA), Goa, along with reports of fresh safety tests.

The production at Nestle's Goa plant was stopped following a directive by FSSAI. The production of Maggi noodles at the Goa plant was stopped along with other states earlier this year. The FSSAI had said tests taken from across the country had found lead exceeding the permissible limits in 15 of 29 samples.

Samples which had been drawn by FDA Goa and which were independently tested at its laboratory as well outside Goa, had no negative reports.

Confirming the receipt of the communication from Nestle, Salim Veljee, FDA director, told TOI on Friday that Nestle is not required to take permission from the Goa FDA.

Nestle, apparently is gearing up to start production again, after the Bombay high court set aside the countrywide ban on nine variants of Nestle's Maggi instant noodles.

The court has however ordered Nestle India to conduct fresh safety tests on the product before relaunching it.

Over 300 contractors at Maulinguem plant who lost their employment after the production at the plant stoppped, have been agitating demanding that they be taken into service again.

Samples which had been drawn by FDA Goa and which were independently tested at its laboratory as well outside Goa, had no negative reports.

FSSAI invites suggestions on standards for alcoholic beverages

New Delhi, Oct 23 (PTI) Food regulator FSSAI has invited comments and suggestions from stakeholders on the proposed standards for alcoholic beverages, including beer and brandy, in the next two months.

The Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) today issued a notice inviting claims, suggestions, views and comments from stakeholders within 60 days on proposed standards for alcoholic beverages.

The regulator has issued standards for both distilled and un-distilled alcoholic beverages.

Earlier this year, a meeting of the Central Advisory Committee had also discussed having standards for alcohol and alcoholic beverages.

It was also decided that once standards for alcohol and alcoholic beverages were finalised, it shall be intimated to all States and UTs so that they may suitably advise the respective excise departments.