Implement new relaxed regulations: FSSAI to state regulators

New Delhi, Jan 25 (PTI) In a bid to ease product approval system, food safety watchdog FSSAI has asked all state food regulators to implement the new relaxed norms for those items wherein standards have not been laid down so far.
FSSAI had earlier this month said that products for which standards have not been framed but have ingredients and additives that are approved by the regulator, may not require any approval.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has laid down quality standards for 370 products. Its approval is a must for all other products, which are also known as Proprietary food.
The notification, dated January 12, was issued to amend the Food Safety and Standards Regulations.
The central food safety regulator has issued a circular, dated January 14, directing all the state food regulators to implement the new relaxed norms for product approval process.
In the notification, the regulator said: "Proprietary food shall contain only those ingredients other than additives which are either standardised in these Regulations or permitted for use in the preparation of other standardised food under these regulations."
The notification also adds that the proprietary food shall use only such additives as specified for the category to which the food belongs and it shall be clearly mentioned on the label.
However it has also been clarified that the food business operator shall be fully responsible for the safety of the proprietary food. These new norms will not apply to novel food, food for special dietary use, functional food, nutraceutical and health supplement articles of food.

For taking action against spice brand

Food Safety chief faced threat: Chief Secretary
Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson on Saturday said that there was tremendous pressure on Food Safety Commissioner T.V. Anupama after she had taken action against a certain spices brand on food adulteration charges. “She received direct threat after she took the bold step of testing and later banning some products of the brand. Her action provoked high-level intervention and even I came under pressure,” he said at the annual convention of the Kerala Management Association in response to a query from the audience as to why the government was not taking adequate steps to curb dangerous levels of pesticide residue in vegetables and provisions. Ms. Anupama told The Hindu that she had received eight threatening letters, some from a national forum in which most leading pesticide manufactures are members. “While some letters originated from anonymous sources, some were from this association. It wasn’t a big trouble, but there sure were attempts to put me under pressure… They had also filed a case in the High Court in which I was made to respond in my personal capacity. The case is still on,” she said.

New FSSAI rules bring welcome change

Approval yoke on proprietary foods goes, but ensuring safety is now food industry’s burden
Last year, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) hit the headlines for being at loggerheads with the food industry. The ‘product approval’ system of the FSSAI attracted the maximum criticism, till it was struck down by the Courts. As per the system, food business operators (FBOs) had to obtain prior approval for all non-standardised food products (only 377 food items were standardised) before dealing in them. FSSAI had also not spared those ‘proprietary foods’ which had a history of being consumed for a long time.
Although the Supreme Court struck down the FSSAI product approval system, the industry’s doubt that it could return persisted because it had been struck down primarily for not following the correct procedural route before promulgation. The provisions under the system had not been tested in the courts. So, industry feared that FSSAI might bring it back after following due procedural formalities. However, to the great relief of the food industry, FSSAI has now taken a more pragmatic approach. Two recent developments show that the food regulator has decided to adopt a more sensible and practical manner.
First, FSSAI notified the operationalisation of standards for food additives for use in various food categories. Earlier, under the Food Products (Standards and Additives) Regulation, 2011, a very limited number of additives were allowed to be used against certain categories of food items. This posed significant problems to the food industry as they were required to obtain product approval for almost all kinds of processed food items. Now, FSSAI has come up with a detailed list of additives allowed for different categories of food items. This automatically reduces the need for obtaining any product approval for a vast majority of food items.
Second, departing from its earlier stand, FSSAI has now specifically allowed the manufacture and sale of ‘proprietary food’. Section 22 of the FSS Act defines proprietary food to mean an article of food which is non-standardised, but safe. Section 22 prohibits the manufacture, distribution, sale or import of proprietary foods unless it is specifically provided for under the Act and the Regulations made thereunder. Till now , such foods were being manufactured and sold by virtue of Regulation 2.12 of the Food Products (Standards and Food Additives), which described proprietary food as non-standardised food which needed to conform to certain requirements. However, FSSAI had taken a view in the past that such foods were not to be allowed without product approval. Even after the product approval system was struck down, industry remained doubtful.
Now, Regulation 2.12 has been changed so as to allow the manufacture, sale, distribution or import of proprietary foods without product approval. As per the changed description of proprietary foods, it will be permissible to use all standardised ingredients as well as ingredients allowed to be used in standardised food items. Through this change, FSSAI has now allowed manufacturing and sale of a vast majority of proprietary foods without the requirement of any approval.
However, while doing so, FSSAI has also introduced two very important changes which a FBO has to bear in mind. First, FSSAI has shifted the burden of ensuring safety of proprietary foods on the FBOs. Until now, the approach of FSSAI was to first check the safety of the proprietary food item and allow its usage after it passed all tests. From now onwards, though the FBO is allowed to use different kinds of ingredients and additives, it will be responsible for checking and ensuring that the final food item is safe for consumption and does not have any adverse effect on the consumer. The second change is that the scope of proprietary food has been restricted by specifically excluding certain categories of food products like neutraceuticals, health supplements, food for special dietary uses, functional food and novel food. Therefore, a food item falling under any of these categories cannot be manufactured, sold, distributed or imported because of the bar imposed under Section 22. Therefore, the food industry units need to cross-check whether their products fall under any of the excluded categories.
There is no doubt that the changes brought by FSSAI, i.e., putting a detailed list of food additives allowed to be used and allowing usage of different kinds of ingredients for proprietary foods without product approval, are welcome steps and the industry would cheer for it. At the same time, the exclusion of certain food products from the category of proprietary foods must have been disappointing for certain sections of the food industry. However, a draft regulation dealing with these categories of food items was put in public domain a few months back for public consultation and it is expected that the concerns of the industry would be definitely taken care of when the final regulation is brought into force. Nevertheless, the food industry now needs to be very careful while dealing with proprietary food items, and must check whether the additional conditions put under the changed description are met or not.
The author is joint partner, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan. Views are personal

State ranks 2nd in food adulteration

Grim scenario

• Most food samplestaken from the state were found adulterated
• Adulteration is rampantas the Health Department doesn’t conductfrequent checks

Food adulteration the state is the second highest in the country. As per the Food Safety and Standards Authority in India, 1,458 food samples were found to be adulterated, unsafe and misbranded in the state. Uttar Pradesh with 4,119 failed food samples has the poorest record.
Health Department officials said except certain fruits, most food items in the state were found adulterated. Milk products, cheese, ghee, tea, bottled water, chillies, garlic, turmeric and black pepper are some of the food items that are usually found adulterated in the state.
Harmful chemicals are reportedly found in numerous food items and adulteration is rampant as the Health Department doesn’t conduct frequent checks.
“Shopkeepers too promote such products in a bid to make a killing,” said a Health Department official. He further said the highest percentage of milk samples fail in the state with the rate having doubled from 22 per cent to 44.3 per cent last year.
On Friday, the Bathinda police raided a factory that mixed fake ghee with desi ghee. Similar incidents have also been reported in other parts of the state. There are also reports of pulses and apples being coloured with harmful chemicals.
Commissioner of Food Safety, Hussan Lal, said the government had devised a mechanism wherein a person with a particular quantity of milk would be given a licence to sell. “Similarly, 50 designated food safety officers have been deployed across the state.
Soon, their number will be raised to 60,” he said. Lal further said they would focus on active surveillance to stop the sale and manufacture of adulterated food.

Seminar for entrepreneurs in food industry on Jan.30

CONCERT (Centre for Consumer Education, Research, Teaching, Training & Testing) and Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation will be organising a seminar on “Resource Efficiency” for small and medium enterprises on January 30. Time: 10 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. Venue: Hotel Raj Park, Alwarpet.
According to a press release, the programme is meant for entrepreneurs in food processing and beverages industries.
There will be sessions on understanding the basic principles of sustainable consumption and production; resource efficiency methodology specific to the industry; food safety regulations, licensing and registration, added the press note.
Officials from Food Safety and Standards Authority of India will be handling the sessions.
For registration and other details, call 98412 26768 / 94442 53739.

Meat stalls to be monitored

The City Corporation and the district unit of Food Safety and Drug Administration have evolved a mechanism to constantly monitor hygiene in mutton, chicken and fish stalls, as instructed by the district administration.
Awareness programs are being conducted at zonal levels involving top-level officials of the Food Safety and Drug Administration department, and sanitary inspectors to sensitise sellers to identifying apt locations for retail sale of meat, the ways to safeguard meat from contamination, hygienic disposal of wastes, keeping surroundings clean, self-hygiene, and other safety practices.
Mutton sellers have been told that the goats must be culled only at the Corporation Slaughter house, and advised to utilise utensils without rust for carrying the meat to the selling points. They were told about the ways to obtain licence for meat sale.
Safeguarding meat from contamination, hygienic disposal of wastes in focus

UT health department to launch mobile food testing laboratory in Feb

with the UT health department all set to launch a mobile food testing laboratory in February, the city residents will be able to get food samples tested in their sectors only. The laboratory will roam across the city, collecting samples and spreading awareness about common food adulterants.
The main aim of launching the mobile food testing lab is to check adulteration in milk and related products, ghee, spices, etc. Besides, experts will also make people aware about how to differentiate original food items from adulterants.
The lab will be equipped with automatic machines which will give instant results.
Sukhwinder Singh of the food safety cell said, “The mobile lab van will have an automatic machine for checking adulteration in milk and related products. After picking up a sample, the machine will tell within three-four minutes whether it’s adulterated or not. It will also find out the kinds of adulterant — like water, urea, detergent, etc.”
The adulteration in several other food items like curd, sugar, khoya, spices, pulses, etc can also be detected with the machine.
Citing a few common adulteration practices, Singh said, “Pulses can be polished with lead chromate, spices are adulterated with artificial colouring, starch is added in khoya, chalk powder in sugar and mineral oil in edible oil.”
The food safety officers will also educate public about common adulterants. “People will be taught to differentiate original from artificial like mixing dried payapa seeds with black pepper.”
Dr VK Gagneja, director health services, said, “The food testing lab service will be launched in February. It will move across the city to collect samples for testing. The van will be stationed in different sectors on selected days.”

3 teams to check samples of food to be served to VVIPs

According to the UT health department, teams from the food wing will check samples of the food items to be served to the VVIPs.
THE UT health department has deputed three food safety teams in view of French President Francois Hollande’s visit to the city on Sunday.
According to the UT health department, teams from the food wing will check samples of the food items to be served to the VVIPs.
A senior officer from the UT health department on Friday said that the food safety teams visited several places where Hollande and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit on Sunday afternoon.
“Our teams are already on the job and they are carrying out inspections,” said Dr Rajender Sharma, from Government Multi-Specialty Hospital in Sector 16, who is involved in the food safety arrangements.
Dr Sharma said that the food department office situated at GMSH would remain open on Sunday due to the visit. “For the entire day, all the staff will be available at the office to meet any exigency,” he added.
A food official said that once the department received the final schedule about the visit on Saturday, the teams would be deputed to those particular places. “Sampling would be done before the food is served to them,” he said. “It is all part of the protocol which is being followed.”

JD(U) asks Nadda to stop lifting of ban on Khesari dal

JD(U) today opposed any decision to lift the 55-year-old ban on Khesari dal and sought Health Minister J P Nadda's intervention, alleging "vested interests" in central government and research organizations were behind the move.
Party general secretary K C Tyagi targeted Consumer Affairs Ministry headed by Ram Vilas Paswan for favouring lifting of ban on the pulse and claiming that it will help reduce pressure on pulses imports.
He also hit out at Agriculture Ministry headed by senior BJP leader from Bihar Radha Mohan Singh, accusing the government of resorting to this move due to "agriculture failure".
Paswan had on Thursday said,"I read in newspapers that three new varieties of Khesari dal have been developed. If these varieties prove to be fit for human consumption, I think its cultivation should be allowed. This will help reduce stress on pulses production and imports."
The Food Minister had also said he himself has eaten Khesari dal for 15 years and never had any health problems.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) plans to come out with a draft notification to allow three variants of Khesari dal following a green signal from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Agriculture Ministry said on Thursday that the government was promoting cultivation of three drought-resistant new varieties of khesari dal, with low neurotoxin ODAP content, in traditional areas.
Tyagi, however, alleged the recent proposal has nothing to do with the extra pulse production and arranging protein for the poor but "there seems to be the vested interests of the Consumers Ministry and other so-called research organisations".
Holding that the lifting of the ban could be "injurious" to health, he also wanted that the matter should be discussed in the coming Parliamentary session.
"This is to bring to your notice that the Indian Council of Medical Research has proposed to lift ban on the Khesari dal, which was banned in the year 1961 by Jawaharlal Nehru government as its consumption was linked to a neurological disorder called latheism.
"This issue is much important as it is related to the health of the citizens. The lifting of the ban could again be injurious to health and will lead to paralysis of the lower parts of body and numbness in the limbs and spine," he said in the communication.
The JD(U) leader alleged that as the government has not succeeded in bringing up the production of pulses, the lifting of ban and introducing Khesari for public consumption is being used as "political tool to escape its agriculture failure".
"Such proposal, which affects public health directly, should never be taken into consideration by Government," he said alleging the government after "failing" to control prices of food commodities, now propose to allow cultivation of banned toxic Khesari dal in order to give cheap pulses to the poor.
He held that the proposal of the government will create a class differentiation. "Rich will consume Tur, arhar, moong and urad and the poor will restrict to Khesari only."
Tyagi told Nadda that being Health Minister, he should acknowledge "ill-effects" of Kheari dal and intervene into the matter. Tyagi urged him "not to give consent" to the draft notification for public consultations on the issue.
"This issue should not be dealt in a hurry and should be discussed in coming Parliament session," he said.

Now, areca tea hits the market

Dharmastala Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade, on Friday, launched areca tea in the City. The beverage is developed by Nivedan Nempe, a postgraduate student in pharmacy.
The product, initially available in the State, will be launched nationwide in a span of two months. Speaking on the occasion, Nempe said the tea helps improve digestion and act against depression. The product has been certified by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and has also received the Make in India Excellence Award-2015.
Speaking on the occasion, Heggade said that farmers were becoming victims of fluctuations in the price of farm produce and the government should therefore ensure stable prices for agricultural produce.
Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Kimmane Ratnakar, opined that a suitable market should be provided for the product, which would otherwise vanish from the market.

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