Mineral oil issue: 600 tonnes of pepper released

Release occurs after a Kolkata-based food testing laboratory okayed 1,500 tonnes of total stock
After a gap of three years, 600 tonnes of black pepper stock, allegedly contained mineral oil, were released in the open market. This is for the first time a major chunk of the 6,400 tonnes of the stock which was sealed in December, 2012, after a complaint of mineral oil coating, is being released.
Sources close to the issue said Business Standard that the releasing was made possible after a Kolkata-based food testing laboratory has okayed 1,500 tonnes of the total stock. 1,000 more tones will be released to the local market, immediately after the civic body elections in Kerala.
Top exporters of the commodity told Business Standard that the part of the stock tested okay by the laboratory will be sold in the Indian market.
They said that the stock is not fit for exports as it has a muddy odour and has the presence of insects. An exporter said that this is because of such a long period of keeping in the warehouses and can be removed through fumigation, warming in day light and using other cleaning process.
Leading dealers from Tamilnadu and Karnataka had bought the stock and this is being sold in retail markets in Mumbai and Delhi at a price tag of Rs 640-660/Kg.
In August, 2014 Kerala High Court directed the Food Safety Commissioner to allow NCDEX to clean the stock of pepper and to sent it to a laboratory notified by FSSAI.
The petitioner, Suresh Nair, vice president, NCDEX submitted that even if the allegation was true, it could be removed by a process of steaming. Mumbai based Kalimirchi Vyapari Association also moved Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking urgent justice as the traders' money of over Rs 300 crore was stuck in the issue.
The laboratory report said that traces of mineral oil was not detected in the 20 samples tested.
Mineral oil used in adulterated black pepper is made of burnt diesel, paraffin oil, white petroleum and other un-digestible and insoluble petroleum products. Black pepper coated with mineral oil is considered carcinogenic and even otherwise harmful for human consumption.
Over a complaint six warehouses in Alappuzha and Kochi, accredited by the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), were sealed by the Food Safety Authority of Kerala in December, 2012.
This was according to a direction from the Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSA). It also directed that 93 lots should be destroyed immediately. When the samples were tested in Kerala 60-65 per cent of the lots were found to contain traces of mineral oil.

DINAMALAR NEWS

DINAMANI NEWS

Food safety measures in view of ensuing festival

Port Blair:
For the ensuing Diwali festival, a meeting with the representatives of Bakery Association of Andaman’s, was held in the Conference hall of the Directorate of Health Services/ Commissionerate of Food Safety on 30/10/2015, wherein, 15 (Fifteen) members of the Association attended. The meeting was chaired & presided over by Dr. (Mrs.) Shipra Paul, Commissioner of Food safety, A & N Islands and Officials of Food Safety. The Commissioner of Food Safety has instructed the stakeholders about the safety measures and precautions to be taken by the manufacturers, during the festive seasons. The Officers and Officials of Food Safety Department, apprised the Food Safety Norms, to be followed by the Food Business Operators on manufacture of sweets and other bakery products under the Food Safety & Standards Act’ 2006. Various issues pertaining to the procurement, storage, manufacture and sale of products were discussed with the Operators. The Food Business Operators were briefed about the Personal Hygiene and Sanitary conditions to be followed in the Food Business Premises and also by the employees engaged in Bake Houses/ Sweet Stalls.
The Food Business operator were also warned against malpractices in preparation of Sweet items/ Bakery products and if found involved, action deemed fit shall be initiated against the offenders.
Further, the Commissioner of Food Safety has formed Flying squads of Enforcement Officials, to keep a strict vigil on the manufacturers and sellers, during the festive season.
The Association has assured full cooperation with the Department and the association has thanked the Commissioner of Food Safety for organising such an awareness programme among the Bakery Association, which is 1st of its kind after the establishment of Food Safety Department.

Kerala court ruling on Nirapara sparks debate on substandard and unsafe

New Delhi
The Kerala High Court recently, while hearing a petition of KKR Foods, an FBO, observed that the ban imposed under FSS Rules, 2011, on the company’s product Nirapara Spices, was done in excess of the jurisdiction vested with the commissioner of food safety under the rules. The said product was found substandard by some state labs as it was adulterated with starch. But they did not find it unsafe for human consumption.
The court headed by Justice Muhamed Mustaque on October 13, 2015, dwelled upon aspects such as “Whether the commissioner of food safety was justified in issuing the order of prohibition?” and “If the commissioner is not justified in issuing order of prohibition, what is the extent of the power that could be exercised when spices powder or condiments are found as substandard?.”
Substandard, unsafe
Though the order appeared contradictory as presumably both substandard and unsafe seemed to be same. However, anything which was substandard might not necessarily be unsafe, like in this case, wherein it was found that the product was substandard but not unsafe to health.
According to Section 3(zx) of FSS Rules 2011, "substandard" as "An article of food shall be deemed to be substandard if it does not meet the specified standards but not so as to render the article of food unsafe."
The court observed, it is to be noted that FSS regulation prescribes standard for various food products. ”No doubt, for want of such standards, an action can be initiated for imposing penalty either under Section 51 or under Section 54 of the FSS Act. However, that does not extend a power to issue an order in the nature of prohibition.”
Health risk
Further the court observed that the commissioner acted invoking power under Section 34 of the FSS Act. This power can be invoked if there exists any health risk condition. The commissioner of food safety has power under Section 30(2)(a) to prohibit manufacture, storage, distribution or sale of any article of food in the interest of public health. The pre-requisite of exercise of this power is satisfaction, in respect of article of food that it is unsafe for human consumption.
As regard to second question, the court observed that "informed choice' is the right of choice in selecting a food product by a consumer. lf certain standards are to be required to be maintained in terms of the standards prescribed under the Additives Regulation 2011, those standards have to be achieved. 'Deception' of consumers has to be distinguished from 'sale of unsafe food products to the consumers. And the food authority has duty to inform the citizens, as the citizens have a correlated right to know about the standards of food they consume. The court had urged the commissioner to use methods like name shaming or publicity about the offence done by the manufacturer or even revoking the licence than ban.
Meanwhile, according to sources in Kerala food safety department, the order shall be challenged. “The order is quite contradictory. How can court allow the sale of substandard food item. We will challenge the court in a division bench,” says a senior official with the department.
With recent controversies like ban on Maggi noodles of Nestle, the arbitrary powers of food safety officials were under question. The court seems to have tried to clarify on the subject of how ban can be avoided, feels an industry insider.

IAS officer triggers organic food drive in Kerala

Anupama took on the powerful pesticide lobby and food adulterators.

When a young IAS officer in Kerala took the powerful pesticide lobby and food adulterators head on, little did she knew that she was triggering a healthy food campaign across the state. 

Kerala’s food safety commissioner TV Anupama opened a Pandora’s box when she conducted raids across the state and banned products of an established food brand citing that it contained alarming levels of non-permissible substances.
Thanks to the startling facts that the raids threw up, jolting Keralites into realising the need to have home-grown vegetables, the state that used to buy 70% of vegetables for consumption from neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka now produces 70% on its own.
The state government pitched in by providing grow bags, seeds and saplings home-delivered free of cost. It also provided subsidy to install drip-irrigation facility and bio-gas plants in homes, paving way to a silent organic revolution of sorts.
“She is a bold and committed officer. Her continuous pursuit for safe food items has started yielding results,” said legislator VT Balram.
After taking over 15 months ago, Anupama conducted random checks in markets and checks posts and seized adulterated products. At least 6,000 samples were collected from various farms in a year and 750 cases were registered against defaulters. This awakened the conscience of people, who started growing vegetables without pesticides.
“We were shocked to hear that some fruits and vegetables carried 300% pesticide residues than the permissible limit. She opened our eyes,” said Vijayalakshmi Nair, a retired teacher, who now has an organic garden on her terrace.
“We realised the importance of the chief election commissioner when TN Seshan took over. Similarly, we realised such a post existed after Anupama,” said another homemaker.
“I did my duty. The government and people stood with me in my endeavour,” is all the 2010-batch IAS officer (she was the fourth-rank holder) had to say.

Government clips food safety wings Deccan Chronicle

T.V. Anupama
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government is understood to have ordered the Commissionerate of Food Safety to stop collecting vegetable samples from markets and checkposts.

This is set to upset the ongoing fight of the Commissionerate against toxic and dangerous fruits and vegetables coming from other states.
Sources say that the inter-state relations between Tamil Nadu and Kerala may turn murky if the food safety authorities pursue their campaign to prevent the flow of polluted vegetables. The collection of statutory samples at checkposts has come down drastically recently.
The Crop Care Federation of India had come out strongly against the move of the Kerala government and has filed a case against four food safety officials, including the Commissioner of Food Safety.
“There was tension on Tamil Nadu border since we took the decision to block vegetable-laden trucks for sample collection. The pesticide lobby is too strong and it may instigate this tension and the situation might blow out of proportion. We have no plans to stop our drive and for the time being we have slowed down a bit so that the situation doesn’t worsen further,” said the source.
However, Commissioner of Food Safety T.V. Anupama claimed that they haven’t stopped sample collection.
“Last month we collected statutory samples from Palakkad and Idukki checkposts. The residue lab at Kerala Agricultural University has handed over the results of the statutory samples collected by us. The presence of pesticide residue is still there but most of them are new generation pesticides. But unfortunately we won’t be able to initiate action as the permissible limits of new generation pesticides are yet to be fixed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI),” said Ms Anupama. The results have been forwarded to the analytical laboratories under the Commissionerate for further scrutiny, she said.