மாவட்டத்தில் புற்றீசல்போல் பெருகும் கம்பெனிகளால் சுகாதாரமற்ற குடிநீர் விற்பனை

ராம நா த பு ரம், ஏப்.1:

ராம நா த பு ரம் மாவட் டத் தில் சுகா தா ர மற்ற குடி நீர் விற் கப் ப டு வ தாக புகார் எழுந் துள் ளது. நோய் கள் பர வும் அபா யம் நில வு வ தால் அதி கா ரி கள் உட ன டி யாக நட வ டிக்கை எடுக்க வேண் டும் என பொது மக் கள் வலி யு றுத்தி உள் ள னர்.

ராம நா த பு ரம் மாவட் டத் தில் குடி நீர் பிரச் னை யைப் போக்க அரசு காவிரி கூட்டு குடி நீர் திட் டத் தின் மூலம் குடி நீர் விநி யோ கம் செய்து வரு கி றது. தற் போது காவிரி நீர் வ ரத் துக் குறை வால் ராம நா த பு ரம், பர மக் குடி, ராமேஸ் வ ரம் உள் ளிட்ட மாவட் டத் தின் முக் கிய நகர் பகு தி க ளின் அனைத்து இடங் க ளுக் கும் குடி நீர் வரு வது கிடை யாது. அத் யா வ சி யத் தேவை க ளுக்கு பொது மக் கள் பலர் மின ரல் வாட் டர், பாக் கெட் குடி நீ ரையே அதி கம் பயன் ப டுத் து கின் ற னர்.

தற் போ தைய நிலை யில் குடி நீரை பாட் டில் க ளில் அடைத்து விற் கும் கலா சா ரம் தவிர்க்க முடி யா த தாக மாறி வரு கி றது. தமி ழக அரசு பாட் டில் க ளில் அடைத்து குடி நீரை விற்று வரு வது குறிப் பி டத் தக் கது. பாட் டில் கள், கேன் கள், பாக் கெட் டு க ளில் விற் கப் ப டும் குடி நீர் ஐஎஸ்ஐ முத் தி ரை யு டன் விற் கப் பட வேண் டும் என சட் டம் உள் ளது. இருப் பி னும் மாவட் டத் தில் பலர் சட் டத் தைப் பின் பற் று வது கிடை யாது.

பெட் டிக் கடை க ளில் வாங் கப் ப டும் பாக் கெட் குடி நீ ரில் பிளாஷ் டிக் வாடை அடிக் கி றது. கேன், பாட் டில் க ளில் விற் கப் ப டும் குடி நீ ரில் ரசா ய னப் பொருள் நெடி வீசு கி றது. பல கடை க ளில் இதை பிரிட் ஜில் வைத்து குளி ரூட் டப் பட்டு விற் பனை செய் யப் ப டு வ தால் இதை குடிக் கும் மக் க ளுக்கு தொண்டை சம் மந் த மான நோய் கள் பர வு கின் றன. மாவட் டத் தில் ஏற் க னவே நடத் திய ஆய் வு க ளின் போது பல பெட்டி கடை க ளில் ஐஎஸ்ஓ தரம் இல் லாத தண் ணீர் கேன் கள், பாக் கெட் டு கள் இருந் தது தெரிய வந் தது. அவை கள் பறி மு தல் செய் யப் பட்டு அழிக் கப் பட் டன.

வெயி லின் தாக் கம் அதி க மாக உள் ள தால் சுகா தா ர மற்ற குடி நீர் மீண் டும் விற் பனை செய் யப் பட்டு வரு கி றது. இந்த குடி நீ ரால் தொற் று நோய் பர வும் அபா யம் உள் ள தால் சம் மந் தப் பட்ட சுகா தா ரத் துறை அதி கா ரி கள் அவ் வப் போது கடை க ளில் சோத னை நடத்தி தரம் இல் லாத குடி நீர் பாக் கெட் டு கள், மின ரல் வாட் டர் களை பறி மு தல் செய்ய வேண் டும் என பொது மக் கள் கேட் டுக் கொண் டுள் ள னர்.

ராம நா த பு ரத்தை சேர்ந்த ராம் கு மார் கூறு கை யில், “நகர் பகு தி யில் விற் கப் ப டும் குடி நீ ரின் சுகா தா ரம் கேள் விக் கு றி ய தாக உள் ளது. புற் றீ சல் போல புதிய பெய ரில் தரம் இல் லாத கம் பெ னி கள் குடி நீரை விநி யோ கம் செய் கின் றன.

சில தண் ணீர் பாக் கெட் டு கள், மின ரல் வாட் டர் க ளில் ஐஎஸ்ஐ முத் தி ரை யி டப் பட் டுள் ளது. இருப் பி னும் சுகா தா ர மாக இல்லை.

தாங் க ளா கவே அந்த லேபி லில் ஐஎஸ்ஐ முத் தி ரையை பிரின்ட் செய்து கொள் கின் ற னர். தண் ணீ ரில் துர் நாற் றம், பிளாஷ் டிக் வாடை அடிக் கி றது. இத் தொ ழி லில் பல் வேறு நிறு வ னங் கள் ஈடு பட் டுள்ள நிலை யில் அவை கள் அனைத் தும் அரசு அங் கீ கா ரம் பெற் றுள் ள தாக என தெரி ய வில்லை. பல கடை க ளில் காலா வ தி யான தண் ணீர் கேன் களை விற் பனை செய்து வரு கின் ற னர். இது நோயை உரு வாக் கும்” என் றார்.

சுகா தா ரத் துறை அதி கா ரி க ளி டம் கேட் ட போது, “அவ் வப் போது கடை க ளில் ஆய்வு செய்து வரு கி றோம். இருப் பி னும் குடி நீர் இல் லா மல், டீத் தூள், பருப்பு, மசாலா என அனைத் தி லும் கலப் பட பொருட் கள் சேர்ந்து விற் பனை செய் யப் ப டு கி றது. ஆய் வின் போது பிடி ப டும் கடை கா ரர் க ளி டம் தயவு காட் டு வது கிடை யாது. விரை வில் திடீர் ஆய்வு நடத்தி நட வ டிக்கை எடுப் போம்” என் றார்.

உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அதிகாரிக்கு கொலை மிரட்டல் வியாபாரி மீது வழக்கு பதிவு

அம்பை, ஏப்.1:

அம் பை யில் உணவு பாது காப்பு அதி கா ரி யாக இருப் ப வர் நாக சுப் பி ர ம ணி யன். இவர் இங்கு வந்த பின் னர், உணவு பொருட் களை சோதனை செய்து அதில் கலப் ப டம் செய் தி ருந் தால் அதை பறி மு தல் செய்து அழித்து வரு வ தோடு சம் பந் தப் பட்ட வியா பா ரி கள் மீது போலீஸ் மூலம் வழக் கும் பதிவு செய் யப் ப டு கி றது.

இது போல் நேற்று வாகை கு ளம் விலக்கு பகு தி யில் நாக சுப் பி ர ம ணி யன் சோத னை யில் ஈடு பட் ட னர். அப் போது பைக் கில் வந்த பால் வியா பா ரி ரமேஷ் என் ப வரை மடக்கி சோத னை யிட முயன் றார். ஆத் தி ர ம டைந்த வியா பாரி, அதி கா ரி யி டம் எப் படி சோதனை போட லாம் என தக ராறு செய் த தோடு கொலை மிரட் டல் விடுத்து அதி கா ரி யின் பைக்கை இடித்து தள் ளி விட்டு பைக் கில் பறந்து சென் று விட் டார்.

இது கு றித்து அதி காரி நாக சுப் பி ர ம ணி யன் அம்பை யாத வர் கீழ தெரு ரமேஷ் மீது அரசு பணி செய்ய செய் ய வி டா மல் தடுத்து, கொலை மிரட் டல் விடுத் த தாக அம்பை போலீ சில் புகார் செய் தார். போலீ சார் வழக்கு பதிந்து விசா ரித்து வரு கின் ற னர்.

DINAMALAR NEWS

Nestle: Not notified of any noodle issues in India

ZURICH: Swiss food group Nestle said on Friday it had not been informed by Indian authorities of any new health issues with its instant noodles after a newspaper reported tests had detected higher-than-permissible levels of ash in the product. 

"We have not received any notice from the concerned authorities about samples of Maggi noodles collected from Umesh Chandra, Barabanki. We have also not received any notice from the court and we have heard about this only from a media report," a Nestle spokesman in India said. 

The Wall Street Journal had cited food safety inspectors in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh as saying they had filed a lawsuit accusing Nestle of substandard practices after ash content in samples of its Maggi 2-Minute Noodles was found to exceed the legal limit. 

The Indian unit of the Swiss food giant had been grappling with a public relations crisis that hit sales after local regulators reported last year that some packets of the Maggi noodles contained unsafe levels of lead. Sales resumed in November. 

Nestle said on Friday its products were safe, adding it had come across instances in Uttar Pradesh in which standards for macaroni products were being applied for instant noodles with seasoning, which it called "erroneous and misleading".

Traders warned against ripening fruit artificially

Even as mango season sets in, fruit vendors have been put on notice by authorities against selling artificially ripened varieties. 

With mangoes started to arrive in markets in the city, officials of the Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department has asked traders not to use calcium carbide for artificially ripening mangoes.

District Designated Officer T. Anuradha, who conducted a meeting with traders and stockiest on Wednesday, said that mangoes should ripen naturally and use of calcium carbide for ripening is against the law as it causes health hazards.

The chemical is banned under the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011, as it would cause diarrhoea, skin ulcers, peptic ulcer and irrigation in mouth for the consumers, she added.

Officials said that while natural ripening takes two to three days while artificial ripening takes less than 20 hours.

Officials said that naturally ripened mangoes would become yellow gradually and have good aroma while the ripened mangoes turn yellowish fully.

They asked the consumers to purchase mangoes and allow it to naturally ripen in their homes. During, the mango season, despite officials conducting raid in markets and godowns, ripening of mangoes artificially is carried out by traders for making quick money. Traders were warned against such practices.

Fruit Vendors Shutdown Decrying Frequent Raids by Food Safety Department

VIJAYAWADA: All the 150 wholesale and retail shops in Vijayawada were closed on Thursday in protest against ‘frequent raids’ by the Food Safety Department.

Led by Fruit Merchants Association at Kedareswarapet in Vijayawada, they took out a protest rally in and around the fruit market raising slogans against the undue pressure being exerted by the Food Safety Department.

They said they do not produce the fruits and only sell what is being brought by the farmers, but are being wrongly accused by the Food Safety Department of using calcium carbide. They alleged that fruit shops in the city were being raided time and again whenever food-related incident happen elsewhere.

“A rumour or a news in the media that fruits are not safe as they are coated with harmful chemicals is ruining our business. Frequent raids by the authorities are giving an impression that something is wrong and people are hesitant to purchase fruits. It if goes on, we have to close our businesses,” Fruit Merchants Association secretary N Chiranjeevi Rao told Express.

When pointed out about a fruit merchant caught using calcium carbide to artificially ripen Papaya couple of months ago during raids by officials, Rao said it was an isolated case. “Since then, we have been constantly vigilant and ensured that all the fruits sold here are carbide-free. But the officials don’t believe us,” he said.

According to him during season, Vijayawada fruit market does a business of Rs. 1 crore per day and during non-season, it is less than 75 per cent business. “Today, with frequent raids, the business has come to just 10 per cent. It is not just affecting our business, but also the livelihood of the hamalis who are dependent on us,” he pointed out.

Each shop supports on an average 30 hamalis, who earn Rs. 400 per day during peak season and half that amount during non-peak season. Today, with drop in business, they are unable to earn much and the number of the workers supported by a shop has also dropped. The hamalis at fruit market also participated in the bandh.

New FSSAI rules on nutraceuticals may leave companies like Sun Pharma, GSK ailing

MUMBAI: Drug companies, still reeling from a recent health ministry ban on some of India's most popular antibiotics and cough syrups, may be facing another stiff challenge with a regulatory notice threatening the Rs 20,000-crore nutraceuticals industry, the leading lights of which include Sun Pharma, Abbott Nutrition and GlaxoSmithKline.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has ordered companies to follow strict norms in manufacturing and testing of health supplements launched after 2011, based on a draft report. Apart from the firms mentioned above, Amway Nutrition, Mankind Pharma and Herbalife are among manufacturers of health supplements in India.

"It has (been) decided that till the standards of nutraceuticals food supplements and health supplements are finally notified, the enforcement activities against such food business operators may be restricted to requirements given in the draft notification on such products," said the FSSAI notification issued by Rakesh Chandra Sharma, its director of enforcement, on Thursday.

Companies will get an exemption if the supplements were available in the market before the Food Safety and Standards Act came into effect in 2011 or if product approval was pending on August 19, 2015, when FSSAI's product approval advisory committee was scrapped after a Supreme Court judgement. Products explicitly covered under the draft notification on nutraceuticals, food supplements and health supplements will also be allowed.

The industry's fear is that the notification could effectively mean a ban on all products launched after 2011. The notice was "too high-handed", said Ramesh Juneja, managing director of New Delhi-based Mankind Pharma, which sells popular brands such as Health OK and Nurokind.

Issue brewing for some time

The issue has been brewing for some time, starting with the Patna food and drug regulator banning all health supplements in 2014. The matter went to the Supreme Court. In 2011, FSSAI had set up the product approval committee, which was supposed to approve such products using the same parameters as those for drugs. But last year, the Supreme Court ruled against the establishment of the committee, which FSSAI had to abandon.

There was no immediate response to emails sent to the other companies cited above.

A drug company executive suggested the notification may not be in line with the apex court's decision. "A Supreme Court order last year had dismantled the advisory board that FSSAI had set up and now we are told that the products under that committee will be considered for approval," the person said. "How can the regulator approve products by a body that does not exist?"

Drugmakers said the move was similar to the ban on fixed-dose drug combinations (FDCs) that has led to sales of top-selling medicines such as Corex, Saridon and D Cold being halted. That ban imposed by the health ministry has been challenged in court.

"The regulations for health and food supplements are not in place," said RK Sanghvi, who heads the nutraceuticals committee of the Indian Drugs Manufacturers' Association, a lobby group of more than 300 companies. "If there are no regulations, we cannot rely on drafts for enforcement. This is like the ban on fixed dose combinations all over again."

The ban on FDCs that lack "therapeutic justification" threatens to put an end to sales of drugs worth about Rs 3,000 crore annually if it's upheld.

Absence of FSSAI laboratories at Indian ports hampering trade: BRIEF

The absence of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) laboratories at Indian ports is one of the major hurdles that is hampering trade. It not only delays the entry and exit of products but also leads to increased logistic costs.

Apart from it, frequent breakdowns in the Custom Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) systems and shortage of round-the-clock functioning container freight stations were among the key factors hampering the growth of the Indian ports.

These were some of the highlights of a comparison study of select ports in India which was released by the Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF), an economic research organisation, on Wednesday.

The study was undertaken for nine ports across the country and analysed the performance of ports in the last five years along with visits to them.

These included Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (Maharashtra), Paradip Port Trust (Odisha), Haldia Dock Complex (West Bengal), Cochin Port Trust (Kerala) and Attari Integrated Check Post, Punjab. The report points out various deficiencies on each port and specific patterns of issues based on their demographies, capacity, operational aspects and measures to resolve them.

The report ‘Bridging infrastructural deficits at select trade ports in India’ funded by British High Commission said that port capacity and traffic handled by various land and sea ports in the country have remained under-utilised for the last five years and the gap between traffic handling capacity and the actual traffic handled is still wide.

The reports said that India needs to have a user information website for import data, which is a data pool for importers to look up relevant products imported in the previous three months as well as clearance related to documentation and procedures required for the same. Moreover, clearance of part-shipment cargo was also required as it was one of the major causes of increased dwell time of cargo.

It suggested that there is a necessity for more round-the-clock functioning container freight stations to reduce congestion at the ports and provide for faster clearance to cargo. Encouragement of self sealing and factory stuffing of containers at all ports is one of the habits, BRIEF says, needs to be developed in India.

HC seeks FSSAI reply on Lucknow office closure

Lucknow: The Allahabad high court has directed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to explain the rationale behind its decision to close its Lucknow office and delegate of control to the authority's New Delhi headquarters. The regulator has to file its reply within three weeks. The direction, issued by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, came in response to a PIL filed by Amit Kumar Mishra. The petitioner has challenged the closure of Lucknow office.

Listing the matter for next hearing on April 20, Chief Justice Chandrachud told counsel of the Union government and FSSAI to file replies "explaining the basis of the decision taken on February 9 2016 by the FSSAI to close down the Lucknow regional office and to confer jurisdiction in respect of the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh upon the office of the deputy director at Delhi regional office."

The closure orders of the Lucknow office have also surprised the state government offices. While CEO, FSSAI, Pawan Agarwal, told TOI that the charge of enforcement and monitoring of food standards have been handed over to the state government, UP officials confirmed to TOI they have not received any such orders from the Authority or the ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which governs the authority.

The FSSAI decision to issue closure orders also appear in contravention of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which mandates that any change in respective areas of which a designated officer is in charge for food safety administration -- in this case, the person in charge of the Lucknow office -- must be announced through a gazette notification, and not through an internal office order. Speaking to TOI, advocate Aseem Goswami, who has in the past represented FSSAI independently, said, "All changes in rules and regulations pertaining to a designated officer must be ratified by both the houses of Parliament. In this case, however, the closure orders were neither notified, nor tabled before parliament for its approval."

Nestlé's noodles face more scrutiny in India

NEW DELHI--Months after Nestlé SA resumed selling its popular instant noodles in India following a food-safety scare, regulators on Thursday delivered a fresh jolt to the world's biggest food company, saying tests had detected higher-than-permissible levels of ash in the product.

Food-safety inspectors in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh said they filed a lawsuit accusing Nestlé of "substandard" practices on Wednesday after ash content in samples of its Maggi 2-Minute Noodles was found to exceed the legal limit, said Vijay Bahadur, an assistant commissioner at the state's Food Safety & Drug Administration.

Nestlé maintained its noodles were safe to eat and said the root of the problem was ambiguous rules for testing products like instant noodles in India. It added the ash in its noodles wasn't hazardous for human consumption, and was made up of residues from the oxidation of minerals like calcium and potassium.

Still, the announcement will come as a blow to the Swiss giant, which had just begun to recover from a food-safety crisis in India.

Nestlé's woes began last year after the same state department alleged its Maggi noodles contained dangerously high levels of lead. Tests in some other states echoed these findings, leading the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, the national food-safety watchdog, to ban the sale of the noodles in June.

Nestlé pulled millions of packets of noodles from store shelves and burned them in cement kilns, even though it said its own tests hadn't detected illegally-high amounts of the toxic metal.

The company challenged regulators' tests and raised questions over India's testing techniques and capabilities in court. Later, court-ordered retesting of the noodles failed to find any lead or other harmful ingredients. Nestlé resumed sales of the noodles in November.

The recall cost the company millions of dollars in lost sales and tainted its reputation in the South Asian nation. Net profit at Nestlé's Indian unit was sliced by more than half in 2015 compared with a year earlier, with sales sliding 17%. One in every five dollars the company earned in India before the recall came from its Maggi noodles, its best-selling product here.

Nestlé had just begun to claw its way back to the top of the noodle market when news of the fresh lawsuit broke Thursday.

Food-safety regulators in Uttar Pradesh said they tested the noodles as they would test ready-to-eat pastas. Nestlé said this approach was flawed.

"Standards for macaroni products are being applied for instant noodles with seasoning which is erroneous and misleading," Nestlé's Indian arm said in an email. "We categorically reiterate that testing of instant noodles against norms set for macaroni products will reflect in incorrect results and wrong interpretations," the company said.

India doesn't have specific standards to test products like instant noodles. India's food-safety watchdog attempted to set testing standards in the wake of the food-safety scare last year, and directed food inspectors to test instant noodles as they would test ready-to-cook pastas.

At the time, Nestlé and other consumer companies opposed the move. In a letter to the food-safety watchdog, the Confederation of Indian Food Trade & Industry, a body that represents companies like Nestlé, Unilever PLC, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Co., among others, had asked the regulator roll back this directive.

"Noodles and pasta are two different types of food products...Kindly withdraw the advisory to avoid confusion and chaos in enforcement officers as well as within the industry," the body said in the letter, a copy of which was seen by The Wall Street Journal. It further appealed the regulator to set different standards for testing instant noodles. "This will remove ambiguity and bring transparency," it added.

Nestlé has also raised concerns over testing delays in India's overburdened and understaffed state-run laboratories. Lawyers for the company had argued in court that samples take several months to be tested, during which they could be contaminated.

Mr. Bahadur, the food-safety official in Uttar Pradesh, said his department collected samples of Nestlé's noodles from the market mid-last year. Test results, including those that detected higher-than-permissible levels of ash, came out in February, he added. It wasn't immediately clear when the noodles were tested.

Presence of natural MSG not an offence, says FSSAI

In a bid to clear the confusion over the presence of a tasteenhancer – Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) – in noodles and pasta, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), on Thursday said MSG, originating from natural sources, could not be questioned under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

This is being seen as a clean chit for products containingMSG as there are no established procedures to ascertain if it was added artificially through laboratory testing, experts said.

Last year, the issue came to the fore when FSSAI banned Maggi instant noodles. It alleged Nestlé misled consumers by declaring that its products did not contain any “added MSG”.

While, noodles and pasta, containing MSG from natural sources cannot be probed by food regulators. Packaged food manufacturers can no longer use “No MSG” or “No added MSG” on their products if it contains the ingredient even from natural sources.

“Commissioners of Food Safety are advised that specific enforcement/ prosecution may not be launched against the manufacturer of noodles/pasta on account of presence of MSG or Glutamic Acid unless it is ascertained by the department that Monosodium Glutamate enhancer (INS E-621) was deliberately added during the course of manufacture without required declaration on the label”, FSSAI notified. It also acknowledged the beleaguered food major’s argument that MSG is found naturally “in several common foods such as milk, spices, wheat, vegetables etc”.

“To prevent, both, avoidable harassment/prosecution of Food Business Operators (FBOs) as well as to ensure that consumers are facilitated to exercise informed choices in respect of what they eat, proceedings may be launched against” manufactures in case of mislabeling, the regulator instructed food commissioners.

Food safety authority clarifies on MSG content

NEW DELHI, MARCH 31: 

In a relief for the noodles and pasta makers, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India on Thursday cleared the air over the presence of the controversial flavour enhancer Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) in the products. MSG was in news following the Maggi controversy.

Acknowledging that there was no analytical method to check whether MSG was added to the product during manufacturing or is naturally present in the product, the FSSAI has asked food safety commissioners to prosecute noodles and pasta makers only if it was ascertained that Monosodium Glutamate was deliberately added during the manufacturing of the products. This even while their packaging claimed “No MSG” or “No Added MSG”, the order said.

FSSAI said that presence of added MSG can be checked through inspection of the manufacturing premises.Naturally found

It also said that it is widely known that Glutamate is naturally found in several common foods such as milk, spices and vegetables.

Clarification on use of Monosodium Glutamate in Noodles and Pastas