DINAKARAN NEWS

48,733 bags of sago nearing expiry date seized

Officials of the Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department raided seven godowns in Attur taluk and seized 48,733 bags of sago that were nearing expiry date, but were stocked for sales.

Based on complaints that sago were sold in the market even after the expiry date, a team led by District Designated Officer T. Anuradha and food safety inspectors raided the godowns in Thammampatti, Keeripatti, Olipuram and Gangavalli in the past 10 days.

Commodity loans

Officials found that all the goods were under the custody of collateral management companies as the manufacturers had pledged their goods and obtained commodity loans from many nationalised banks.

The manufacturing date in most of the bags were mentioned as January, 2016 as the manufacturer pledged the goods and obtained loans.

Officials learnt that after repaying the bank loans only, the goods will be released after which it will be taken to the market for sale.

Officials found that recently manufactured sago were sold immediately as they manufacturers reaped good profit. But sago bags produced before six months were not sold as the manufacturer was unable to get good price.

On Thursday, during their raid in Attur, officials found 5,357 bags that were about to expire.

Of this, 3,500 bags were found without manufacturing date or the details of the manufacturer.

Samples were taken and sent to the Government Food Laboratory in Udayapatti. All the bags were kept in the godowns under the custody of the collateral management companies and sealed by the officials.

“Based on the laboratory report, further action will be initiated”, officials said.

The manufacturing date in most of the bags were mentioned as January, 2016

Cancerous bread tangled up in red tape

Officials raid shops, hotels in Dharwad

Officials inspecting a hotel in Dharwad on Friday.

Food was being prepared in unhygienic conditions and permit licences were not renewed

Official teams of the departments of Food and Civil Supplies and Health and food inspectors of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) raided over 80 shops including bakeries, hotels, khanavalis and milk parlours here on Friday.

The raids were headed by Food and Civil Supplies Deputy Director Sadashiv Mirji and HDMC Food Safety officer K. Shivakumar. There were three teams comprising six officials each.

Shops in the main market area, Saptapur and Srinagar Circle were raided and two khanavalis, three hotels, a bakery and a milk parlour were sealed.

It was found that these shopkeepers had failed to adopt food safety norms and were preparing and serving food in unhygienic conditions. Some of the hotels had not allowed the suppliers and cooks to undergo medical treatment, while others had not renewed their permit licences. The officials sealed Damodar Hotel and Rupali Hotel in front of the Central Bus Terminus, and Dosa Den located at the basement near Hedge Medicals.

The officials also raided Royal Kitchen located at the entrance of Akkipeth and have warned the hotel owner of legal action if food safety measures were not adhered to. There were complaints from the public about this hotel using artificial colours and some banned chemical substances to prepare food.

The officials found that at the Hiremath Khanavali and Prabhu Khanavali located near the CBT, the rice being used was of sub-standard quality, the vegetables were rotten and the kitchen was in a poor condition. Sri Krishna Bakery located in the same area too was sealed.

Fungus on cup cakes

The officials found fungus on cup cakes and there was a foul smell from snacks like chips and others because low quality oil was used to prepare them. The bakery was selling branded biscuits whose expiry date was over, Mr. Shivakumar said. The officials had issued warning to the bakery owner thrice, but he had not adhered to safety norms. The bakery has been sealed. The soft drinks stored in the refrigerators too had expired a year ago.

As the monsoon has arrived, the hotels and restaurants have to adopt precautionary measures to contain outbreak of epidemics, the officials said.

The raids will continue for another week. All the hotels and eateries which fail to adopt the norms would be sealed, they said.

At a Nandini milk parlour located near the Regal Circle, the officials found that the expiry date of several Nandini products kept for sale had expired three months ago. The officials took to task the owner of the milk parlour and directed for its closure.

ROAD MISHAPS: CHAMOLI FOOD INSPECTOR, WOMAN KILLED

Two persons - Chamoli food safety inspector and a woman - died in road accidents reported from Dehradun and Tehri on Friday. In Tehri district, Rakesh Singh, resident of Chamoli, was posted there as food safety inspector. He died after the car he was driving fell into a gorge of around 200 metres. He is supposed to have lost control over his car while negotiating a sharp band at Thindhara in Devprayag. He was going to Dehradun cantt where he had built his house. 

The accident occurred around 2.35 pm, police said. Along with local police, SDRF personnel plunged in the operation to drag his body up. The body was later sent for postmortem. At Patelnagar police station area in Dehradun, Sushila, resident of Panditwadi, died when she was riding pillion while her husband was riding the bike. 

The couple was going towards ISBT to catch a bus for Ambala.

HC directs for setting up of Food testing labs

 

Srinagar, June 10: The State High Court today directed the Government to initiate process for setting up of testing laboratories, manpower and other infrastructure like transport facility to check and curb the food adulteration across the State.

The direction was passed by the Court after the amicus curie senior advocate Bashir Ahmad Bashir informed the Court that nothing is being done on ground except paper work by the Government functionaries. He submitted before the court that 4 posts in the Food Safety department have been referred to Service Selection Board six years ago but till date the department has not been able to fill these posts.

The amicus curie further submitted that there is no laboratory functional, no manpower, and no scientist and how State expect that the food adulteration be curbed and stopped and ‘without manpower if machines are available in the department those will get rusted’.

The court told Advocate General of the State that he (Advocate Bashir) is submitting harsh realities. “Manpower is the fundamental issue. If you fail in it then court shall proceed in the manner, in which it is required to proceed” court further added.

Court after hearing a battery of lawyers including those who represent manufacturing and food processing unit holders directed the Government to set up testing laboratories and other infrastructure to curb the food adulteration.

“The respondent-state to initiate action in setting up of testing laboratories one at Srinagar and one at Jammu”, directed the Division Bench of Justice MH Attar and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey ‘with the hope and trust’ court said that before next date two laboratories would be made functional.

Court also directed for providing technical manpower which is required in terms of the FSS Act of 2006 and rules made there under. “The recruitment shall be made on fast track basis and as far as possible appointments made before the next date,” court said adding “The laboratories shall be fully equipped before the next date to make them functional”.

With regard to transport facility to the department, the court said the mobile vans shall also be purchased and put to service before the next date and order the listing of PIL for further consideration in the week commencing from July 11.

Meanwhile, court directed all those manufacturers and unit holders who have not filed their undertakings in terms of Supreme Court directions, to file their undertakings before the next date.

It may be mentioned here that the High Court had earlier directed to all the food manufacturers and food processing unit holders for filing of undertaking before the Registrar Judicial of the court indicating therein that in case their food items are found adulterated then their units shall be sealed by the authorities.

The traders body has challenged the DB order before the apex court and the apex court recently modified the order with regard to providing of undertaking to the extent that in the event the food item of any manufacturing and processing unit is found adulterated then authorities will take action as per law instead of sealing their units.

“Instead of sealing the concerned authorities shall take necessary action as per provisions of the act. We are modifying only this part of the order”, Supreme Court said while modifying the order of High Court.

Court also after perusal of the status report of the Government said that it does not show that some steps have been taken in implementing the provisions of food safety and standards act but a lot is required to be done to alleviate and ease the sufferings of the people.

The suo moto cognizance has been taken by the court after various reports coming in media about the lack in checking the poor consumption of foods in the Valley and about the food items like oil, milk etc consumed by general masses according to the reports are contaminated and such kind of adulteration have flooded the markets of the Valley as there is no mechanism in place to check the purity of eatables.

‘Make food testing labs functional by July 11’

High Court directs Govt to provide manpower to 2 labs on fast-track basis

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Friday directed the government to set up Food Testing Laboratories in Jammu and Srinagar immediately and make them functional by July 11. 

Hearing a Public Interest Litigation against food adulteration, a division bench of Justice MuzaffarHussain Attar and Justice Ali Muhammad Magrey said: “We hope and trust that before next date of hearing, two laboratories one at Srinagar and one at Jammu would be made functional. The laboratories shall be fully equipped.”

While the court directed the government to provide required technical manpower to the laboratories in terms of Jammu and Kashmir Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, it said the recruitment be made on fast-track basis before the next hearing as far as possible.

Listing the case for further hearing in the week commencing July 1, the court also directed the government to purchase Mobile Vans and put them to service before the next date of hearing. 

Earlier this year—in response to the status report by government that attested bad the state of affairs—the court had said the respondents in the compliance report have stated how only two Food Testing Laboratories, one at Dalgate here and another at Patoli Jammu, are completely outdated and equipment installed in these labs is dysfunctional.

Meanwhile, the Court took on record Supreme Court order of June 7, 2016 in a Special Leave Petition whereby J&K High Court order dated April 27 asked the authorities to seal business units whose products were found adulterated, was modified. 

On June 7, the apex court had modified a Jammu and Kashmir High Court order and asked a state traders' body to give an undertaking that if the food items supplied by them are found to be adulterated, then the authorities will take action as per law instead of sealing their units.

In its order of April 27, this year, the High Court had earlier this year asked the traders' body to give an undertaking that if prima-facie the food items supplied by them were found to be adulterated, then their units would be liable to be sealed.

While senior lawyer and Amicus Curie Bashir Ahmad Bashir and Advocate General Jahangir Iqbal Ganai submitted that modification of the High Court order by the apex court does not mean that the respondents will not file the undertakings, Advocate Ashok Bhan and other counsels appearing for respondents countered the submission. 

“All those respondents, who have not filed the undertakings till date, shall file the same before the next date in the light of Order of Hon'ble Supreme Court passed on 7th June, 2016,” the court said 

Taking on record the latest status report filed by government through AAG, M I Dar in the Open Court, the court said: “Though it does show that some steps have been taken in implementing the provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Rules made therein, a lot is required to be done to alleviate the sufferings of the people”.

Regulator sat on decision to ban cancer-causing food additive for 4 years

Potassium Bromate — used to make bread rise — is known to cause cancer of the thyroid, kidney and abdominal lining, and is banned in several countries including the European Union, Canada, China, Australia and New Zealand. 

A recent study found 85% of bread and bakery samples tested in Delhi contained potassium bromate, a known carcinogen. An HT investigation has now revealed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had made up its mind to ban the chemical’s use as a food additive four years ago but never implemented its decision.

Potassium Bromate — used to make bread rise — is known to cause cancer of the thyroid, kidney and abdominal lining, and is banned in several countries including the European Union, Canada, China, Australia and New Zealand. The WHO, Food and Agriculture Organisation, and International Agency for Research on Cancer have all found it to be potentially carcinogenic.

Following last month’s revelations by the Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment, the FSSAI said it would issue a notification to remove potassium bromate from the list of permitted food additives.

Records of FSSAI meetings accessed by HT, however, show that on June 6, 2012, the food regulator “approved the recommendation” of its scientific committee to ban the “use of potassium bromate as a food additive”. The committee had reached this conclusion at its meeting on December 23, 2011. It backed its recommendation by saying safer alternatives were available in the market.

Asked why the ban wasn’t implemented all these years, FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal said, “The notification is a long-drawn process. There has been no consensus among scientists on the carcinogenicity of potassium bromate. The United States has not banned it yet. Plus, the bread industry told us it would not use bromate and we believed it. We were shocked to know about the CSE findings.”

The FSSAI is still to issue a formal order banning bromate though bread manufacturers, in the wake of the CSE study, announced they would stop using the rising agent.

Chandra Bhushan, CSE deputy director general who was part of the Delhi tests, said his organisation had approached the FSSAI several times seeking a notification banning bromate after the regulator approved the scientific committee’s recommendation in 2012. But when the FSSAI made no such move, “we decided to carry out the lab tests as we believed it was important to remove bromate from bread in the interest of public health”.

The think tank’s report said bromate “was allowed based on the assumption that no residue would be found in the final product. However, studies began to find detectable residues of bromate in finished products”.