Jun 1, 2016
FSSAI asks licensing wing to issue notice to Patanjali for misleading ads
Food regulator FSSAI has asked its central licensing authority to issue a show cause notice to Patanjali Ayurved over complaints about misleading advertisement of mustard oil product.
The development has come after edible oil industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) filed complaints with FSSAI and advertising industry watchdog ASCI against Patanjali Ayurved for alleged misleading advertisements for mustard oil and sought action against the yoga guru Ramdev-promoted firm.
FSSAI in an order asked its Central Licensing Authority, Northern Region, to issue a show cause notice to Patanjali Ayurved for "violations of FSS Act 2006, Rules and Regulations made thereunder and submit action taken report thereon to this office at the earliest".
The copy of the order was made public SEA today. Sources in FSSAI said that the authority has sought a response from Patanjali over the issue. There was no immediate response to queries sent to Patanjali in this regard.
"Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has also taken serious note of misleading statements made in advertisement of Kacchi Ghani oil and hauls up Patanjali for misleading advertisement," SEA said in a statement.
The advertisement is unnecessarily misleading the consumer and also derogatory and denigrating to the oil industry, SEA had said, adding that the vegetable oil industry was a responsible industry and such unfounded communications negate the image of the industry.
Also, ASCI has rapped Patanjali Ayurved for "false and misleading" claims in its various advertisements. "The advertisement's claims 'Other than Kacchi Ghani process most of the other edible refined oils and mustard oil are made using neurotoxin Hexagon solvent extraction process. To make profits at the cost of consumers' health many companies mix cheap palm oil in mustard oil", were not substantiated and the claims were misleading," ACSI said last week.
Patanjali, on the other hand, had insisted that its commercial was based on facts, findings and research. They did not intend to mislead anyone.
Despite ban, gutka sale rampant in dist
Aurangabad: Despite the sale or possession of gutka prohibited across the state, the banned material continues to be sold on a large scale Aurangabad district.
According to the District Tobacco Control Cell (DTCC), gutka is being sold at an exorbitant price at as many as 7,000-8,000 illegal kiosks in the city, which has been brought to the notice of FDA officials.
A health official from DTCC, established under the National Tobacco Control Programme at the district civil hospital, said a large number of local vendors as well as paan kiosks can be seen flouting the rules openly. Gutka shops have also been set up at many public places such as bus stands, railway stations and government offices, he said.
The official said this was brought to the notice of FDA officials on many occasions, but to no avail. "In fact, we identified three prime locations - Cidco bus stand, Kalda Corner and near Deepali Hotel in Cidco - where the sale of gutka was rampant about three months ago. But no action has been initiated till date," the official added.
"The ban on gutka and other chewable tobacco products imposed by the government in the state appears to be only on paper. The sale continues unabated due to apathy of the officials tasked with enforcing the ban," said social activist Anna Vaidya.
"With clinical studies proving that chewable tobacco products were highly carcinogenic and were the prime contributors of oral cancers, most of the states in the country had banned them. The Maharashtra government then followed suit by imposing a ban on the manufacture, transportation, distribution and sale of gutka and other similar products in the state," he said.
"However, failure on part of the authorities from the departments of food safety, labour, commercial tax, medical and health as well as police and municipal corporations in enforcing the ban has led to violation by sellers and consumers," he added.
However, officials of the food safety department, the prime monitoring and ban-enforcement agency, claimed that they regularly conduct raids and file cases, but the gutka business is still thriving in the Aurangabad division.
"We have seized gutka worth over Rs 1.5 between April 2015 and March 2016 in Aurangabad district, while 40 cases of illegal gutka sale are being tried in different courts. Moreover, altogether 28 licences of illegal paan kiosks have also been cancelled," said Anand Pardhi, FDA (food) assistant joint commissioner, Aurangabad division.
Pardhi said only 30% of staff is making efforts to curb the illegal business. "As part of our duty, we conduct raids on illegal stock holders of foodgrains and other commodities. On similar lines, we are also identifying the stocks of banned tobacco products," he said."We recently raided a paan shop at Sajapur village in Aurangabad taluka engaged in the sale of gutka and paan masala. We confiscated goods worth Rs 33,240," Pardhi added.
In the meantime, experts at the Government Cancer Hospital (GCH) in Aurangabad said despite the Maharashtra government extending the ban on the sale and manufacture of processed or packaged tobacco products, around 30-40% of the total cancer cases are oral cancer cases of which 90% are due to chewing tobacco.
Recent reports of the GCH clearly indicate that nearly 30% of all the cancer cases fall in the category of oral cancer. Moreover, the presence of high-risk groups, especially tobacco chewers and smokers besides others comprising people using tobacco in other forms such as betel quid, is enough cause concerns.
"Of the 100 cancer patients turning up at the surgical oncology department, nearly 30 are diagnosed with oral cancer. Nearly 25% of the remaining patients are diagnosed with cervical cancer, while another 20% belong to the breast cancer category," said Arvind Gaikwad, officer on special duty at GCH."The heavy presence of high-risk groups, especially those involved in indigenous form of smoking as well as chewing tobacco, increases the threat and burden of oral cancer in the region," the officer added.
FSSAI extends last date of registration for food companies
Food safety regulator FSSAI has extended the deadline for food companies to get a license to run their businesses by another three months, to August 4.
"It has been decided that the time-line mentioned in..Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, be last time extended for another three months up to August 4, 2016," the food regulator said in a notification.
This is the eighth time that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has extended the deadline. The last date to get the licence had lapsed on May 4.
The decision has been taken after the Union Health Ministry considered representations from various stakeholders, including food companies and industry associations, it added.
As per the Food Safety and Standards Act, no person shall commence or carry on any food business except under a licence.
There are about 3 crore food business operators in the country out of which 37 lakh are registered with the food regulator.
Strict enforcement of gutka ban sought
Activists say chewable tobacco is still available in the vicinity of schools and minors have access to it
The enforcement of the ban on the manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of pan masala and gutka containing tobacco and nicotine, seems to be an uphill battle. In 2015-16, the Food Safety Department seized a total of 62,175 kg of banned products across the State. However, activists said the products continue to be available.
Madan Kumar, president, Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry, Tamil Nadu, said chewing tobacco continues to be very much available in the market. “What is distressing is that it is even available in the vicinity of schools, and minors have access to it.”
A survey by Children Against Tobacco, a student movement of 22 schools in Chennai , both government and private, found that in every school, there was a violation of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, which prohibits the sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of an educational institution, said a note from S. Cyril Alexander, State convener, Tamil Nadu People’s Forum for Tobacco Control.
“Sale of gutka is continuing with packets being sold at a 100 per cent increase in the price. There is no fear because there is no proper enforcement. Action should be taken at the primary level and agents and company officials should be penalised. If it is coming in from other States, there have to be checks at entry-level points. Right now, the government is seizing and destroying the products, but where is the penalty,” asked E. Vidhubala, head, Resource Centre for Tobacco Control, Cancer Institute, Adyar.
The gutka and pan masala ban came into effect in June 2013. It is extended yearly and was extended this year too on May 23. However, a total of only 14 civil cases and two criminal cases have been filed. Nine cases have ended in conviction. Penalties imposed have come to Rs. 2,37,500. A senior official of the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department said that it was mainly wholesalers who had been charged. “The fine is not a major amount, but the seizures are huge,” he pointed out. Food safety officials said that the court process is long and difficult. Mostly, the banned items are tested for tobacco/nicotine, and then destroyed. “Over the last two years, the number of banned products entering the State has reduced,” an official said.
Another official said that methods to bring in and sell the products too kept changing.
Dangerous bottled water
Strange are the ways of the country's food quality regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). After the inept handling of the controversies involving a ban on Nestle India's Maggi noodles and the issue of product approvals, it is now displaying similar inconsistencies on the presence of potentially hazardous potassium bromate in bakery products and drinking water. Reacting to the detection of bromate in many samples of bread by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the FSSAI hastened - and rightly so - to indicate that it would ban the use of this chemical as an additive in breads and other bakery products. But, at the same time, it sought to defend its earlier proposition to permit limited amounts of bromate in packaged drinking water. It, obviously, disregarded the fact that bottled drinking water is consumed in substantial quantities and that the presence of even a small amount of this toxin can be potentially highly hazardous.
The FSSAI has since sought to mitigate the damage by saying this proposal was meant only to seek stakeholders' feedback and that it might revisit it now. But its credibility has been dented further. The FSSAI could not have been unaware of the findings of a 1999 study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer which had revealed that potassium bromate could be a possible human carcinogen. Some other laboratory studies on animals exposed to this toxin have also concluded that ingestion of this chemical resulted in a significant increase in the incidence of cancer of kidneys, thyroid and other organs.
Interestingly, the FSSAI's other explanation is that the proposal to allow bromate (up to 10 microgram per litre of drinking water) was based on "ground realities" that this contaminant might, in any case, be found in water in some cases. This contention, too, seems untenable, especially because similar arguments can be offered to justify the presence of various other kinds of contaminants in commonly consumed Indian foods. It is true that when ozone is used as a reagent to disinfect water, some amount of bromate tends to develop. But ozone is no longer the only disinfecting agent available now. Commercial houses which process and package water for discerning and quality-conscious consumers can surely afford to use less hazardous, even if more expensive, methods to decontaminate water.
The World Health Organization's stipulation on the quality of drinking water is quite clear - toxic contaminants should ideally not be present in it at all. The Codex Alimentarius, which has laid down globally accepted food quality standards - many of which are followed by the FSSAI - is also unambiguous on this issue. It states: "All treatment of water intended for bottling should be carried out under controlled conditions to avoid any type of contamination, including the formation of toxic products (particularly bromates)." This is a proviso that merits attention of all stakeholders, particularly the FSSAI.
FSOS COLLECT BREAD SAMPLES, REPORTS AWAITED
Following the revelation over the presence of carcinogenic compounds in packaged bread food safety officers (FSOs) across the state have been instructed to collect the bread samples at earliest from their respective areas for evaluating the chemical contents present in the bread which is consumed in maximum households as one of the most preferred edible items.
“We have ordered all the food safety officers (FSOs) to collect the bread samples from grocery shops and retail stores. However, the department has yet not received any official notification from the nodal agency, Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) for conducting any inspection regarding the issue, the department is doing it on its level. Moreover, the department has yet not received any report from the labs. Actions will be taken after getting the final reports,” informed, Director, Food Safety, Ramesh Kumar Dubey.
18 of 29 bread samples pass FDA test
Panaji: All 18 samples of bread including the local pao, sliced bread (brown and white) and pizza bread tested at the food and drugs laboratory at Bambolim by the Food and drugs administration (FDA) were found to be in compliance with the requirements of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Rules/ Regulation, 2011.
Of the 18 samples tested, 14 samples (including sliced bread, pizza bread and local pao) did not show any presence of potassium bromate. Four bread samples (pre-packaged bread, including three sliced bread brands and one pizza bread) tested positive for potassium bromate, but these were reported to be below 25 parts per million as against the permissible limit of 50 parts per million as stipulated under Food Safety and Standards Act. FDA also found that the labels of these four products mentioned potassium bromate in the list of ingredients of the product. Potassium bromate is used as a flour improver and when combined with dough, it acts to strengthen and allow the dough to rise higher.
If there is ban or prohibition on the use of potassium bromate and is notified by FSSAI, the additive will not be permitted to be used.
The food safety officers of the FDA had drawn 29 samples of bread sold in the state, including pao, sliced bread, pizza bread, cakes, hotdog bread and bun bread among others. The results of 11 samples are awaited from the laboratory. These 11 samples include four cakes brands, four slice bread brands, one each of pizza bread, bun bread and local pao. The results are expected by Thursday, June 2.
FDA has instructed customers to check the labels of food products for the list of ingredients added in bread food articles to ascertain the presence of potassium bromate.
Bread samples test positive to potassium bromate
Contrary to the claims by manufacturers that no Goan bread contains potassium bromate, an analysis of 18 samples drawn by the FDA and released on Tuesday shows four samples testing positive to the harmful chemical.
Of the four that tested positive, three are sliced bread and one is pizza bread. More breads testing positive cannot be ruled out as report on 11 samples is to be released and expected by June 2.
FDA director Salim Veljee said that all the four samples contained potassium bromate below 25 parts per million as against the permissible limit of 50 parts per million as stipulated under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Rules / Regulation.
The manufacturers “indicated or disclosed in the list of ingredients on the label that potassium bromate was added”.
Potassium bromate is used as a flour treatment agent to give a blooming effect. It is used for the bread which is to be consumed over a period of “more than a day”, he said.
Last week, a report of the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment said the use of potassium bromate as an additive in food products may lead to cancer. As a result, food safety officers in Bambolim had taken samples of 29 breads. It included local pao, sliced bread (brown and white), pizza bread, certain cakes and other bread variations like hotdog bread, bun bread, etc.
While the laboratory report of 18 samples came in on Tuesday evening, the report of 11 samples (including four cakes, four sliced breads, one pizza bread, one bun bread and one local pao) is expected shortly.
At present there is no ban or prohibition on addition of potassium bromate in bread but once the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India notifies or issues a ban on addition of the chemical it cannot be added as an additive, said Veljee.
He said that as a matter of precaution consumers should check the labels for the list of ingredients added in bread which is prepackaged like sliced bread, pizza bread to ascertain the presence or addition of potassium bromate.
The CSE study discovered the presence of potassium bromate in 38 samples of popular bread brands in the national capital. The CSE also found the presence of potassium iodate, a thyroid inducer.
The presence of iodate in bread can be attributed to salt, said Veljee.
Damodar Naik, manufacturing franchisee of Monginis, said the entire bread controversy seems to be kicked up by somebody who wants to enter the bread market.
Naik said that news of cancer causing chemicals needs to be trashed as the chemical is being used by manufacturers within permissible limits, and as laid down by the FSSAI.
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