Only 'expiry date' for food items, not 'best before': Paswan

Hyderabad: The Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Sunday said labels printed on food items should carry only "expiry date", and not "best before", which has no meaning."We want that only there is 'expiry date'. There is no meaning in 'best before'", Paswan, the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister, told PTI here. 

Paswan said he would convene a meeting of his department to "work out" and implement this measure.
National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) President D K Jain said last week consumers get confused about labels printed on food items and the Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) should look into labelling issues related to 'expiry date' and 'best before'.
Jain had wondered if 'best before' label means it is fit for human consumption after six months.
Paswan also said the Centre is in discussion with National Association of Street Vendors of India vis-a-vis earmarking certain areas in cities for selling of such good.
"We want a system for (selling of) street food. We want this activity to take place in particular place", he said.
Paswan noted the people enjoy food in "dhabas". Similarly, street food can also be safe and cheap and can be sold in an enjoyable atmosphere.
Noting that the Association had held a "mela" in "Dilli Haat", Paswan said such an initiative, whereby certain areas are earmarked for street food, should be implemented in other places in the country.

Govt orders testing of edible oils over cancer link

Manzoor-ul-HassanSrinagar, Dec 26:
The government has ordered state-wide testing of edible oils as reports suggest that top brands sell “substandard and adulterated” cooking oil in J&K containing cancer-causing agents.
The State Drug and Food Control Organization has raided all major outlets of edible oils with the aim to identify and punish distributers and manufacturers producing adulterated cooking oil refined from low quality and discarded rapeseeds.
"We have taken open samples for lab testing from nearly 10 top brands. If any of the brands are found adulterated with harmful and substandard oil, their outlets and industrial units will be immediately sealed,” Assistant Commissioner, Food Safety Srinagar, Hilal Ahmad Mir told Rising Kashmir.
He said most of the top oil brands available in the market are under scrutiny including Jammu and Punjab based like P-Mark, Jumbo, Zamindar, V-brand and Noori.
“As of now we have send it to the local Food Analyst for testing. Let’s see how many parameters he can check. We can send the samples to referral laboratories in Kolkata and Ghaziabad for precise testing,” Mir said.
Earlier, edible oils were found containing recycled oils and oils extracted from discarded rapeseeds, which contain highly toxic carcinogenic substance including ‘dropsin’ and ‘aflatoxin.’
Sources said the Food Analyst Lab in Srinagar was unequipped for checking the actual adulterants like Dropsin, accumulation of fluids and mixture of inferior oils.
“The food analyst in Kashmir can only test oil for simple things like color, ash value, turbidity, concentration, iodine value and water,” said an official in the DFCO.

Taking Food Safety Seriously

India needs to treat food-borne diseases with much more seriousness than it does at present.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in its first global estimates of preventable food-borne diseases has reported that 600 million people (one in 10) fall ill and 420,000 die every year from contaminated food. According to the report, “WHO Estimates of the Global Burden of Foodborne Diseases,” the highest number of cases occurs in Africa and South-east Asia which includes India. Children under five bear the brunt, accounting for 40% of the population that falls ill and 30% (125,000) who die from food-borne diseases mostly due to diarrhoeal diseases. The report affirms and quantifies the magnitude of what is familiar knowledge. What is disturbing is that these deaths are preventable to a large extent and the illnesses which rob so many of their productivity and well-being can be avoided if all stakeholders are serious about taking preventive measures. The suffering and deaths target the poor and marginalised sections the most.
Nutritionists point to emerging economies—India included—constituting the “hotspots” of food safety concerns. As the Inter­national Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) says in its “2014–2015 Global Food Policy Report,” these economies witness a rapidly growing demand for foods but a weak food governance system. The report also notes that in the poorest countries food-borne diseases cannot be separated from other diseases that are waterborne, vector-borne or due to sheer poverty. IFPRI observes that the widely publicised findings about food inspections, even negative ones (in China), “may be more positive than the situation in India, where no reports on food safety inspection or results are publicly available.”
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), an independent statutory authority under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (which replaced the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA), Act 1954), has been in the limelight in the past few months thanks to the controversy over Maggi noodles. But the ongoing episode has been more confusing than enlightening. Different states have come out with different test results and there is confusion about the permissible levels of lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG) that the food can contain. Overall, food safety laws and regulations need much better streamlining, better qualified staff followed by stringent implementation.
Starting from agricultural practices (use of unsafe agrochemicals and contaminated groundwater), poor hygiene in storage and handling to food cooked and distributed in unhygienic surroundings and with unsafe water there are myriad factors that need regulation and monitoring. Studies show that the diarrhoeal deaths among Indian children below five are mostly due to food and water contamination. One study of mothers with children below five in Hyderabad titled “Perceptions of Women on Food Safety” by the National Institute of Nutrition found that while the mothers had good food safety awareness and practices, what was needed was “an enabling environment” with better access to potable water, sanitation and cooking fuel along with awareness of adulteration and ways of complaining to the relevant authorities. Where the risk factors for persistent diarrhoea such as hygiene were concerned, other studies have found that caregivers need to be given health education, but keeping in mind sociocultural and socio-economic factors that come into play. Another area that needs special attention is surveillance of food-borne diseases without which there cannot be a good monitoring system. This will entail in-depth training of inspection staff and the involvement of a number of government agencies. A recent research study in the journal Epidemiology Research International finds that food-borne diseases are not categorised separately in the Health Information of India, an annual statistical publication by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (GoI).
The WHO report says governments and industry must “improve inspections and control of the food chain from the fields and farmyards to the factory and plate.” It points out that instead of trying to penalise street vendors it is better to invest in their training and education. Considering the proportion of the urban population in India that depends on street food for its daily meals, this recommendation is of great significance. Once again, like the monitoring of food safety regulations, the ball comes back to the authorities’ court. Consumer awareness is an important factor but basic amenities, responsiveness of the authorities and well-thought-out policy decisions form the basis for better food safety. It is obvious that food safety is a complex issue that calls for a multipronged solution. Success on this front will be directly proportional to the commitment of all stakeholders to saving the lives of future generations and the productivity of millions.

How food became a talking point in 2015

Food debates of varying kind dominated the year – from middle classes shedding tears over recall of instant noodles to villagers in Bundelkhand eating grass rotis – exposing vast inequities in the Indian society, notes the writer Dinesh C Sharma
If we were to shortlist subjects that dominated public discourse in the country during 2015, food will be a surprise pick along with usual suspects like corruption, intolerance, pollution and so on. The noodles controversy, food safety regulation, beef bans, launch of ‘yogic’ noodles, ban on junk food products in schools, skyrocketing prices of pulses and reports of hunger in Bundelkhand dominated news headlines and public discourse at various points during the year. If the middle class was saddened over recall of contaminated Maggi noodles and then rejoiced over its return as if it was their life savior, images of poor villagers in drought-hit Bundelkhand eating rotis made of grass made shocking television though the administration remained in denial.
While every move related to the Maggi ban and its eventual return to superstore shelves was covered in detail along with live discussions, Bundelkhand horror did not get the attention it deserved. The shooting prices of pulses, a major source of protein for the poor, garnered much attention and led to import of dals and their distribution through government outlets. The beef ban in some states took violent turn and led to a brutal murder in Dadri near the national capital, on the suspicion of presence of beef in a household refrigerator. The beef issue also caused avoidable tension in the Osmania University and other campuses across the country.
The recall of Maggi noodle packets from markets in Uttar Pradesh triggered discussion on food safety regulation in the country. This was the first time, a major food company, Nestle, was booked for misbranding its products and for contamination with excess amounts of excess toxic heavy metals. Though the two-minute noodle brand is back in food stores after necessary action, we are yet to hear the last word on this controversy as the matter is still subjudice. The stand taken by the Minister for Food Processing Industries in this matter was shocking.
Instead of sharing concerns of consumers, the minister chose to side with the junk food industry and said that the controversy would affect investment in food processing sector. The minister even took the matter to the Prime Minister. Such pressure from inside the government, coupled with high intensity lobbying by the industry, led to sacking of the chief executive officer of food regulator, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), who had gone after violations by Nestle. Instead of weakening the food regulator like this, the government should amend the law to make it completely independent and autonomous much like stock market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
The noodle debate took a curious turn when yoga exponent and promoter of Patanjali Ayurved Limited, Ramdev, launched a new brand of noodles. The move was extremely ironic because someone who claims to be a proponent of Ayurveda – which propagates principles of slow food – becomes a champion of very fast food which he has been criticizing all along. Like Nestle, Ramdev too ran into regulatory roadblocks when FSSAI found that his noodle brand had not been approved for food safety. Ramdev responded by saying that his company had a manufacturing license to make pasta, which entitled it to manufacture noodles too.
This means the yoga expert is now making both noodles and pasta. This thoroughly exposed his public stand that fast foods are bad for health of children. On March 15, 2014, Ramdev had famously tweeted asking his supports “let’s junk junk food for a healthy nation.” He had also denounced sports icons who advertised junk food products. The launch of Patanjali noodles exposes that his ‘boycott junk food’ call was a mere posturing of a businessmen just to denounce competing products and had nothing to do with the health of children. Factory processed and mass marketed noodles will come with a tag of junk food, whether they are sold by Nestle or Patanjali.
On the positive side, the food regulator published ‘Draft guidelines for making available wholesome, nutritious, safe and hygienic food to school children in India’. The guidelines are a result of an ongoing litigation in the Delhi High Court and have been developed by experts based on scientific evidence regarding link between consumption of foods high in fat, salt and sugar and non-communicable diseases. Among other things, guideline suggests restricting sale of junk food in schools and areas up to 50 meters nearby. The year 2016 will crucial to see how these guidelines are implemented.
-The writer is Fellow, Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi. Views are personal.

Corporate world saw both ups and downs

FSSAI banning Maggi noodles was the highlight of 2015 From bans to recalls to mergers and acquisitions, it was a year filled with events, negative as well as positive for corporates. It all started with the famous two minute snack — Maggi noodles. 

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), on June 5, 2015, ordered Nestle India to withdraw and recall the nine approved variants of its Maggi instant noodles from the market for having been found unsafe and hazardous for human consumption.
Nestle was instructed to stop further production, processing, import, distribution and sale of the product with immediate effect. FSSAI had also asked Nestle to withdraw and recall its Maggi Oats Masala Noodles with Tastemaker, for which risk/safety assessment has not been undertaken and product approval has not been granted.
Legal battle
While Nestle India sought legal recourse, retailers including Kishore Biyani-owned Big Bazaar and Reliance Retail decided to take the product off their shelfs in the interest of the consumers.
HUL also decided to withdraw Knorr, its Chinese range of instant noodles, from the market following the problems surrounding Maggi.
However, after fresh testing of the newly manufactured samples, the product was brought back on the shelf early last month, nearly five months after the product was banned by the FSSAI.