நாகூர் கந்தூரி விழா காலாவதியான பொருள்களை விற்றால் நடவடிக்கை

காலாவதியான, தயாரிப்பு விவரமில்லாத எந்தவித அடைக்கப்பட்ட உணவுப் பொருள்களையும், இறக்குமதி உள்ளிட்ட தகவல் இல்லாத எவ்வித வெளிநாட்டு உணவுப் பொருள்களையும் விற்பனை செய்தால் நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்படும் என நகராட்சி உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அலுவலர் ஏ.டி. அன்பழகன் தெரிவித்தார்.
நாகூரில், உணவு பாதுகாப்பு குறித்த விழிப்புணர்வுக் கூட்டம் திங்கள்கிழமை நடைபெற்றது. கூட்டத்துக்கு நாகூர் வணிகர் சங்கத் தலைவர் ப. ராமச்சந்திரன் தலைமை வகித்தார். கூட்டத்தில் நாகை நகராட்சி உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அலுவலர் ஏ.டி. அன்பழகன் பங்கேற்றுப் பேசியது:
நாட்டின் பல்வேறு பகுதிகளிலிருந்தும் நாகூர் கந்தூரி விழாவுக்காக வரும் பக்தர்களுக்கு தரமான உணவு கிடைக்க அனைத்து உணவு விற்பனையாளர்களும் ஒத்துழைக்க வேண்டும்.
உணவு விடுதிகள், தேநீர் கடை உள்ளிட்ட அனைத்து உணவு விற்பனையாளர்களும், தங்களது கடையை சுகாதாரமாக வைத்திருக்க வேண்டும். கடைகளில் பணிபுரிபவர்கள் தங்களுடைய சுத்தத்தையும் பராமரிக்க வேண்டும். அதேபோல் சுத்தமான பாதுகாக்கப்பட்ட குடிநீரை மட்டுமே வழங்க வேண்டும். தரமான தேயிலை தூளை மட்டுமே பயன்படுத்த வேண்டும். பிளாஸ்டிக் கேரி பைகளில் டீ பார்சல் வழங்கக் கூடாது.
அரசால் தடை செய்யப்பட்ட புகையிலைப் பொருள்கள் விற்பனை செய்யக் கூடாது. காலாவதியான, தயாரிப்பு விவரமில்லாத எந்தவித அடைக்கப்பட்ட உணவுப் பொருள்களையும் விற்பனை செய்யக் கூடாது. அதேபோல் இறக்குமதி உள்ளிட்ட தகவல் இல்லாத எவ்வித வெளிநாட்டு உணவுப் பொருள்களையும் விற்பனை செய்யக் கூடாது. ஆடு, உணவுக்காக வெட்டப்படும் பொழுது நகராட்சியின் ஆட்டுத் தொட்டியில் மட்டுமே வெட்ட வேண்டும்.
ஆய்வுக் குழு அமைப்பு: 5 உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அலுவலர்களைக் கொண்ட குழு, கந்துரி முடியும் வரை ஆய்வுப் பணியில் ஈடுபடும். அவர்கள் சந்தேகப்படும் உணவு மாதிரிகளைச் சேகரித்து பகுப்பாய்வுக்கு அனுப்பி வைப்பர். ஆய்வு முடிவின் அடிப்படையில் வழக்குத் தொடரப்பட்டு நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்படும் என்றார்.
கூட்டத்தில் வணிகர் சங்கச் செயலர் எஸ். மன்சூர்ஷா, பொருளாளர் கே. சரவணப்பெருமாள், முன்னாள் தலைவர் கே. பிலிப்ராஜ், உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அலுவலர்கள் ஆர். மஹாராஜன் (நாகை வட்டாரம்), எஸ். ஆண்டனி பிரபு (தலைஞாயிறு வட்டாரம்) உள்ளிட்டோர் பங்கேற்றனர்.

37 food business operators penalised

During the Month of February, 2016 the Enforcement Officials of the District Food Safety Office, South Andaman under the Commissionerate of Food Safety has compounded 36 Food Business Operators for their 1st Offence and one Food Business Operator for 2nd Offence for violation of different sections of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and a sum of Rs. 41,000/- (Rupees Forty One Thousand only) was realised as fine.
Meanwhile, on 29-02-2016 a case against a Food Business Operator is admitted in the Court of the Additional District Magistrate, South Andaman, for adjudication for violation of Rule 3.1.1.6 of Food Safety and Standards Rules, 2011. Yet, in another case at the Court of Additional District Magistrate, South Andaman, a case against a Food Business Operator has been disposed of without any fine and advised him that his premises will be re-inspected & discrepancies if any found will be viewed seriously in future, a communication from the District Food Safety Officer, (SA) said here today.

Suspect detergent in milk? DRDO's test kit will tell you in minutes

More than two thirds of the milk in India does not meet the food safety standards.

India is today the world’s largest producer of milk thanks to the white revolution. Yet more than two thirds of the milk in India does not meet the food safety standards. Adulteration of milk is rampant, a startling six per cent of the samples tested in 2015 by the Ministry of Health had presence of ‘detergents’ in them confirming that ‘synthetic milk’ is a huge problem.
For a lay person trying to differentiate between contaminated and pure milk is a tall order and only specific chemical tests can reveal the truth. Contaminated milk can be a huge health hazard especially when it has been laced with urea, detergents and other toxic chemicals. With the festival of Holi round the corner, it is time to be alert about the dangers of milk contamination.
Now a cheap milk testing kit has been developed by the Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) in Mysuru, which is a part of the gigantic Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). This kit, which even an untrained person can use at home, helps within minutes detect contamination of six common adulterants in milk.
Recently as part of another initiative, Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan unveiled another dedicated system for the detection of adulteration and analysis of milk, developed by Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CEERI), Pilani.
According to Vardhan, “The gravity of the situation had been such that the National Institute for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) identified the problem of detecting adulteration in the milk within three minutes at Rs 4 or less, as one of the grand challenge areas being considered under the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’.
In this backdrop, Vardhan appreciated the initiative of CSIR for developing and deploying this technology solution, ‘Ksheer-Scanner’, which instantaneously detects the above- identified adulterants in milk. It is a low-cost portable system with user-friendly features. It enables detection of contaminants in just 40-45 seconds at the per sample cost of less than 50 paise.
Earlier, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh while speaking at National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana said, “India stands first on global milk product scenario. Milk production has been increased from 137.68 million tonne in 2013-14 to 146.31 million tonne in 2014-15. For the first time there is a record enhancement of milk production as 6.3 per cent whereas on international scenario there is only an increment of 2.2 percent enhancement of milk production.”

This is a spectacular achievement for the country which in 1950 was producing a mere 17 million tonnes of milk. An almost nine-fold increase in milk production in a little over 60 years.
However, what is most embarrassing for the country is a 2015 admission by Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare J P Nadda that “the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had conducted a nationwide survey on milk adulteration in 2011. A total of 1791 samples were drawn from 33 states and were tested in the government laboratories. 68.4 per cent of the samples were found to be non-conforming to the prescribed standards. Out of these, in 46.8 per cent samples, milk found to be sub-standard in respect of fat and solid not fat (SNF) contents. Another 44.69 per cent of the samples (548) in respect of skim milk powder were found to be non-conforming to the prescribed standards where presence of glucose was detected in 477 samples. A total of 103 samples (5.75 per cent) were found to be adulterated with detergents.”
“Milk adulteration is particularly high during the festival season, when the demand peaks but production cannot be increased,” explains M C Pandey, a scientist at the DFRL who has helped develop the milk testing kit.
The kit developed by the defence institute uses just a few chemicals and strips of paper dipped in a different chemical. A change in colour of the milk or a change in colour of the paper indicates the presence of a contaminant. When detergents are present in the milk the colour of test turns to green, yellow or blue and Pandey says the test can detect as low a value as 0.5 per cent of the contaminant.
Especially in north India, a lot of milk during the festival season is made using detergents and urea. Called ‘synthetic milk’, it resembles milk but can be very harmful.
Every day washing powder and refined oil are mixed and then diluted to make it look and have the consistency of real milk.
Scientists at this nondescript lab in Mysuru developed the kit at a mere cost of Rs 9 lakh and the box containing 320 strips for testing 8 different contaminants with the cost of each test strip coming to just about Rs 2.

Pandey says all the other milk-testing kits require sophisticated laboratory settings but this simple strip based test helps Indian soldiers test supplies of fresh milk even at remote locations.
Occasionally to make milk look fresh, some ‘neutralisers’ are added using the strip test the contaminated milk becomes pink in colour. If the milk contains urea the test becomes yellow.
The technology for the milk testing kit has been transferred to a private company Pearl Corporation says Pandey who says the DRDO sold the technology at a royalty of Rs 1.25 crore annually, this according to him marks the success of this technology.
Pandey explains this kit should be very helpful to plug ingress of contaminated milk at source. He suggests if such tests become common then milk when it is collected by suppliers at the level of the households could be tested and if found contaminated it should be rejected right at the doorstep of a small dairy supplier.
Rather than a large consignment of milk being rejected for contamination at the level of a milk plant, where hundreds of tons of milk gets collected for further processing.
Singh says, “Dairy plays an important role in agriculture domain of the country with the 3.9 per cent contribution to the national gross product. It is not only a substantial source of livelihood but also most credible basis to ensure the national food requirement. It is the repercussion of the growth in dairying that the growth rate of agricultural sector has been 4 per cent unabatedly.
“Today we have been able to provide on an average 302 gm per person per day milk in the country which is more than the minimum required recommended by the WHO.”
So even as India feels proud of being the number one producer of milk in the world having outpaced US, China and Brazil, the large-scale contamination of milk remains a big blemish for the White Revolution.
Towards that Nadda says “the menace of food adulteration and particularly milk adulteration needs to be eliminated.”

Cops cannot take action on gutkha traders, rules HC

Only food inspectors have the right to take action against illegal retailers
A Bombay High Court (HC) order has effectively declared any police action against people possessing and storing gutkha as illegal, stating that only food safety inspectors have this right. Over the last three years, traders in Pune had come under the police scanner and cops, acting on tip-offs, have conducted raids and booked offenders under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Many traders had objected to this suo-motu action by police, with 45 cases filed against traders since 2013, when the state banned sale, manufacture and storage of gutkha.
The raids, however, showed that the ban remains mainly on paper and Pune continued to receive a huge stock via the Goa-Karnataka route.
The HC held that police action under various sections of the IPC, applied on people possessing and storing gutkha was illegal, and under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, only the food safety inspector had the powers to take action.
A division bench of justices AV Nirgude and Indira K Jain, while quashing criminal complaints against 21 people from Pune and other parts of the state, issued this order.
The court also objected to Section 328 of the IPC being applied in such cases, which states that retailing gutkha would amount to administering poison and is a non-bailable offence.
Advocate Rajesh Kavediya, who represented traders in the HC and sessions court, said, "The city police misused the law and arrested many traders, some of them faced police and judicial custody for several months. The sections applied by the police were stringent due to which judges did not risk granting immediate bail. With this HC order, misuse of power by the police will stop, else they are liable to face contempt."
Advocate Sujit Mundada said, "Over 45 cases were registered by the police and crime branch in the past couple of years. Police need to pay an attention towards the issue of law and order and trade of narcotic substance, but by conducting raids on small traders, which is not their job police only harass the community," said Mundada.
Talking to Mirror, joint commissioner (food) of FDA's Pune division, Shashikant Kekre, said, "We heard about the order and will conduct raids on illegal trade of gutkha. If required, we will take help from the police."
An officer attached to the crime branch, requesting anonymity, said, "It is true that police were taking arbitrary action against gutkha traders, but we will rectify this. Instead, we shall pass on information to the FDA officers to take appropriate action according to provisions in the law."