New liquor safety regulations to keep responsible drinkers in high spirits

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Welcoming the central health ministry's notification of the draft of Food Safety and Standards (Alcoholic Beverages Standards) Regulations, 2016, the representatives of both the bar hotel association and alcohol consumer protection forumhave said that the regulations, once in force, would pave the right way in preventing adulteration in liquor. However, they preferred to keep their fingers crossed on how effective the implementation would be in the state 'flooded with illicit or spurious liquor'.

At least the central government, through this draft regulations, has acknowledged that adulterated or quality-less liquor is being sold in various states, and the regulations can make a huge impact if strictly applied at all levels of manufacturing, distribution and consumption, said V M Radhakrishnan, the state president of theKerala Hotel Industrialists Association.

Meanwhile, M Damodharan, the state convener of the Alcohol Consumer Protection Forum, welcomed the notification, saying that liquor is finally being considered an edible drink in its complete sense. "Now they have to equip the food safety department with adequate staff and testing facilities for a strict implementation," he said.

"About 90 percent of the liquor being sold as IMFL (Indian made foreign liquor) through the outlets of state beverages corporation are not what they are supposed to be. Manufactured using spirit which even do not have the quality of formalin, these bottled liquors violate all norms with regard to ingredients and prescribed time for preservation and production," Damodharan pointed out.

The sampling and testing done by the Excise department, according to him, so far has not been able to prevent the sale of such adulterated liquor. "The samples which are collected from the private distilleries (who form the major chunk of suppliers) may be of good quality. But the quality of liquor that reaches the distribution outlets are not examined, which are said to contain even dangerous narcotic or psychotropic substances," he added.

Besides the sampling of each batch of liquor bottles at each distillery, the excise department also conducts random sampling at bars and toddy shops which are also sent to the state-owned chemical examiners laboratories. The state food safety department also conduct sample tests in analytical labs, but mainly that of toddy.

"However, it's a known fact that a major volume of toddy being served are illicit arrack or drink containing chemical substances. Stricter rules and regulations will definitely put an end to this, besides the sale of substandard liquor through outlets and bars," Radhakrishnan said.

The new regulations, according to him, will also help prevent beer manufacturers using substances like glycerine above permitted limits (a usual method to increase the shelf life), and thus prevent serious side effects in consumers. 'However, here we have the state government's monopoly of liquor sale and distribution, and nothing can happen without their knowledge," he said.

The draft regulations proposed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India(FSSAI), is the first of its kind in the country, and is expected to be finalised in a month's time. "If implemented strictly, thousands of families can be saved, as we find nowadays youth consuming low-quality liquor turning addicts in a short period. These regulations can do justice to responsible drinkers," Damodharan added.

House in shambles

Europe was outraged at the condition of slaughterhouses in the 19th century. India still isn’t .

This is a continuation of the last column ‘Who has the licence to kill’ (IE, September 1). An abattoir is no different from a slaughterhouse, except the use of French suggests it is more modern. “Everything is in shambles.” We have often used the word “shambles” in such contexts, to connote confusion. Before the usage changed, the word meant slaughterhouse and our slaughterhouses are indeed in shambles.

“Any urban authority may, if they think fit, provide slaughterhouses, and they shall make byelaws with respect to the management and charges for any slaughterhouses so provided. The owner or occupier of any slaughterhouse licensed or registered under this Act shall, within one month after the licensing or registration of the premises, affix, and shall keep undefaced and legible on some conspicuous place on the premises, a notice with the words ‘licensed slaughterhouse,’ or ‘registered slaughterhouse,’ as the case may be.” This is obviously from a statute. When this was said is more important than what it says. This is from the UK’s Public Health Act of 1875. The UK still has the Public Health Act. What I have just quoted is from the 1875 legislation, not the present one. The original sections (Sections 166 to 170) on slaughterhouses were repealed in 1938. They were no longer necessary because of stringent laws on food standards. For instance, if all abattoirs in India are licensed/registered under FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India), you don’t need municipal governments to licence/register them.

The Public Health Act of 1875 wasn’t just about slaughterhouses. It dealt with public health and urban living conditions, sanitation, drainage, sewage treatment, water supply, housing and food. On slaughterhouses, the legislation only allowed for the construction of public slaughterhouses and licensing/registration of private ones (powers to close down unsatisfactory private slaughterhouses came later, in 1890). At the time, there were more than 1,400 private slaughterhouses in London alone. If one reads the newspapers and magazines from the period, debates about the rights of unorganised sector butchers (in private slaughterhouses), or their possible loss of employment, featured prominently. So did complaints about the lack of enforcement of extant legislation. Across the channel, if you go to Paris, you will probably visit the park known as Parc de la Villette. What you may not know is that this park resulted from an urban development project in the1980s. Before that, there used to be abattoirs there, and these were relocated in 1974. However, these earlier slaughterhouses were consciously constructed in 1867, to get away from disorganised, unhygienic and chaotic slaughterhouses to organised and centralised abattoirs.

Across the Atlantic, the changes came a little later and Upton Sinclair had a little bit to do with it. His 1906 novel, The Jungle, was supposed to be about harsh lives faced by immigrants. But most people focused on food safety and his descriptions of the meat-packing industry. There was an enquiry that led to the 1906 Meat Inspection Act and Drug Act, ancestors of the present Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In urban habitations, whether in Western Europe or North America, there was a movement from individual butchers slaughtering by hand in slaughterhouses to centralised municipal abattoirs and processing in factories. The subsequent transition of moving them out from urban areas entirely occurred much later. How many years does India lag advanced countries, in terms of number of years, measured by any yardstick of governance and development? That’s an impossible question to answer since it is a function of the indicator. India’s per capita income, using official exchange rates (not PPP), is around $1,600. Even if I leave out Monaco, Liechtenstein and Bermuda, Norway is at $94,000 and the US at $55,000. Angus Maddison’s work and PPP give us a better benchmark.

In constant 1990 dollars, India was at 2,160 in 2003 and USA was at 2,445 in 1870. That’s a gap of more than 130 years.

The legislation, and their consequent enforcement do not occur in a vacuum. They are often driven by what society wants. More than 130 years down the line, I still do not see the public outrage unorganised and unhygienic slaughterhouses led to in Europe in the 1850s, 1860s and 1870s. Not too many people know, a scheme to modernise abattoirs was launched in 2009, with financial assistance from the Union government. But this was demand driven. Local bodies, or private parties, would have to opt for it and there were few takers. In Delhi, take the Ghazipur abattoir and closing down/shifting of the Idgah slaughterhouse there. The relatively modern Ghazipur abattoir has also confronted controversies on other grounds. The Idgah one has been described as 200-years-old. It wouldn’t have closed down and moved to Ghazipur had it not been for a PIL filed by Maneka Gandhi in the Delhi high court in 1992, the case meandering through the court system until 2005. In the process, apart from closing Idgah, the new one in Ghazipur came up. In every argument and agitation, the loss of livelihood and employment came up, reminiscent of the mid-19th century in other countries. Finally, Idgah was closed down in 2009. But this is a quote from a Delhi high court’s 2015 judgement. “A perusal of the affidavits placed on record by the respondents (North Delhi Municipal Corporation and Delhi Police) shows that they have admitted that despite there being a complete ban on slaughtering in Kasab Pura, Idgah Road, Delhi, slaughtering is going on in the area.”

The writer is a member of Niti Aayog. Views expressed are personal

FSSAI sets the bar for spirits

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has for the first time drawn up standards for an entire range of alcoholic beverages such as whisky, brandy, beer, gin, rum, vodka, and the like, including arrack and country spirit and various kinds of wines, with specifications for the alcohol content in each and the additives which may be used in each.

The draft regulations have been put up on the website of the FSSAI and the public has been invited to write in with any objections or suggestions, with scientific evidence in support of the same, within a period of 30 days, ie, by October 4, so that these may be taken up by the FSSAI.

The proposed regulations are in line with the standards drawn up by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), an intergovermental organisation which defines international standards and regulatory practices for the wine industry and whose recommendations are approved by member countries, including India

The draft regulations clearly define what each alcoholic beverage is and specifies the amount of ethyl alcohol that each beverage should contain, the additives which may be used, and the production methods which should be adopted for each beverage.

For example, the beverage tequila, “shall be aged in oak barrels”.

The FSSAI has also specified the labelling requirements for each alcoholic beverage. The labelling information should specify the alcohol by volume (abv) and the number of standard drinks each bottle/package has. It has defined each standard drink as 10gm or 12.7ml of ethyl alcohol measured at 20 degree C.

Thus, a 750 ml bottle of 36 per cent abv spirit should be labelled as “contains 22 standard drinks”.

The draft regulations say that no alcoholic beverage should contain nutritional information on the label and that an alcoholic beverage which contains more than 8.0 per cent abv shall not be represented as a “low alcohol beverage”.

The labelling requirements for wines require manufacturers to mention the origin of the wine, generic name of the grape used, and geographic origin and vintage dates.

Joint Commissioner of Food Safety K. Anilkumar said this was the first time that such a comprehensive set of standards, including specifications for labelling declarations, ingredients and even the quality of water to be used were being brought out for alcoholic beverages.

Hygiene check: 5 eateries raided

INDORE: In order to keep a check on adulteration and hygiene, the district food and drug department carried out raids at five food outlets that college students frequently visit. In the second phase of Operation Vishuddha, a food safety drive, the district administration chose dhabas, small pocket-friendly restaurants and tiffin centres as their focal points of inspection.

"Since the new academic session recently began in colleges, we want to ensure that students, especially the ones from outstation, get healthy food while they are away from home," said Manish Swami, district food official. The five food centres where raids were carried out are located on Bhawarkuan and Khandwa Road areas where several educational institutes, including Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalya (DAVV), are located.

"We collected samples of oil from Shubh Tiffin Center, Kashish Dhaba and Gayatri Kirana to check the quality of oil being used to cook the food. We also collected cold drink samples from New Kanchan Restaurant and Sawariyan Restaurant to check if the owners of these places weren't using duplicates of popular soft drink brands," said Kirti Rawat, District Food Officer.

She added that the samples will be sent to the laboratory and suitable action will be taken against the owners once test results are out in a fortnight. The district food and drug department also found that these restaurants and food centres were not adhering to guidelines issued by them regarding maintenance and hygiene.

"We have issued notices to them and will keep a tab on whether they comply with all the guidelines in the future or not," said Rawat.

Officials also raided other small food outlets and spelt out guidelines issued by the department to the owners, cooks, waiters and cleaning staff so that they could maintain hygiene at the eateries they were working at within their respective spheres of work. "A number of waiters did not know that they had to submit a medical health certificate to the district administration for the dhaba to run smoothly," said Rawat.

Are food labels helping or wrecking your diet?

Don’t look just for food label instructions such as sugar-free, low calorie etc but also for the nutritive value in them. 

Choosing a healthy snack at a supermarket or grocery store has become as tough as voting in a dependable political candidate. In India, food labels appear to be designed to mislead consumers by providing information in ways that confuse rather than help shoppers choose healthier products, eat smaller portions and get more active.

Most people think they are on the right track as long as they choose foods that are sugar free, low cal, low fat, low cholesterol, low starch, skimmed, toned, double-toned, baked not fried etc and end up choosing foods with no nutritive value or foods low in one unhealthy ingredient but high in others.

Supermarket shelves are packed with examples of misleading claims. Sugar and wholewheat flour are mixed with artificial additives to make ‘high-fibre’ cookies, juice labelled ‘with no added sugar’ may have other equally harmful sweeteners such as fructose, dextrose, dextrine and high fructose corn syrup, ‘healthy’ fruit yoghurts are loaded with sugar and preservatives, and oils labelled ‘cholesterol-free’ and ‘heart-friendly’ may have other fats that block up arteries just as efficiently as cholesterol.

In India, most packed foods have a nutrition label on the back or side of the packaging that includes information on energy in kilocalories (kcal) -- popularly referred to as calories -- fat, saturated fat, sugar, salt, carbohydrates, protein and essential vitamins and minerals in either 100 grams and sometimes per portion of the food. It’s vital for consumers to take a close look at the portion size, as foods high in calories may be listed.

With people spending six seconds looking at a food package before deciding what to buy, the best labels are those that provide basic information at a glance. Symbols work better than numerical information, with activity-equivalent calorie labels being the most easily understood by all, particularly by lower socioeconomic groups who often lack nutritional knowledge and health literacy, reported a study in Nutrition Reviews. The study recommends nutrition labels use text and symbolic colour to indicate nutrient levels rather than nutrient-specific labels with numeric information, as done in India.

Simple colour coding to share nutrition information is increasingly getting popular. 

Simple colour coding to share nutrition information is increasingly getting popular. Studies have shown that ‘traffic light labels’ used in the Australia, New Zealand, UK and Sri Lanka have helped change eating and drinking behaviour. These labels are designed to give independent scientific dietary advice to help people make healthier food choices quickly and easily. Green, amber or red coloured labels in the front of the pack show at a glance if the food shoppers are thinking about buying has low, medium or high amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt. Red indicates that the food is high in fat, sugars or salt and should be eaten occasionally or in small amounts. Amber indicates it’s an okay choice and green certifies it as a healthier choice.

If a food package has all three colours – different for saturated fat, fats, sugar and salt – people are advised to pick products with more greens and ambers and fewer reds. If two products have similar colours, comparing the amount of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt in a portion and choosing the one which has lower values helps you make a balanced choice.

People can use colour-coding to judge how healthy is the amount of fat, sugar and salt listed in the nutrition label of whatever they are eating or drinking. On display is a UK shopping card.

Chuffed with the success of traffic light labelling in the UK, the Royal Society for Public Health has called for introducing ’activity equivalent’ calorie labelling, with symbols showing how many minutes of several different physical activities is needed to expend the calories in the product. For example, the calories in a can of fizzy drink would take a person of average age and weight about 26 minutes to walk off. Given its simplicity, activity equivalent calorie labelling offers a recognisable reference that is understood by everyone, write researchers in the BMJ.

The aim is to make people more mindful of the calories they end up eating and how these calories relate to activities in their everyday lives. The message, say researchers, is more positive because instead of asking people to cut down on specific foods or drink, activity labelling encourages people to do something to counter their dietary choices.

You can’t out-run a bad diet, just as you can’t build lean muscle on empty calories that lack the foundation of a healthy diet – high on vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans, fish, wholegrain and legumes and low in sugar, saturated fats, dairy, starch and meats. Each one of us needs to create a balanced relationship between the calories consumed and the calories expended to stay healthy.

Time for the Government to look at the waistline

A lot has been talked about and debated around the topic of processed food and unhealthy eating habits at an early age. Britainsaid it would tax companies which sell sugary soft drinksand invest that money in healthprograms for school children saying nearly a third of those aged 2 to 15 are already overweight or obese. Other countries such as France, Hungary, Belgium and Mexico will also impose some form of tax on drinks that have excess sugar. Similarly in India, Kerala government is planning to tax junk food at 14.5%. The ‘fat tax’ will be levied on burgers, pizzas and processed foods (ie. taxing the food groups that make one fat or increase their risk of developing diabetes) served in organized international fast-food outlets such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut and Domino’s. Aim is to try to cut fast-rising obesity & diabetes rates in the state. Presently, 28.1% women and 17.8% men in Kerela are either overweight or obese, putting it close to India’s second most obese state, Punjab.

In my opinion, the Government of India should take measures to identify the problem from the root. Obesity is a challenge not only in countries like US and China, but also in India- known to be the third largest in the world. One recent studysuggests that the medical cost of obesity was nearly $150 billion in 2008 which seems to have doubled last year.

Campaigns on smoking and alcoholism is common, then why doesn’t the Government investigate & study obesity and diabetes which is an immediate need? Government actions won’t directly alter someone's decisions about eating and exercise. Education efforts have not worked, and we can't regulate or litigate any citizen's access to total calories or exercise choices. Instead, the Government should look at educating consumers in general about obesity and diabetes especially children and adolescents. They should encourage outdoor sports, physical activities and adopt a regular fitness regime rather than engaging in unhealthy lifestyle habits. This will do wonders in improving health and well-being of our citizens.

Encourage schools to front this initiative in the age brackets (3-8) and combine an increased physical education/activity emphasis linked with dietary education as well.

The government should avoid subsidizing food products that form the basis for unhealthy food options. There has been a discussion on the new Govt directives on dangers of Trans Fats & hydrogenated oilsand phasing out of artificial trans-fats (5-12x higher TF’s in Indian foods than global standard), however there has been no discussion on dangers of hydrogenated oils. Regulation on FMCG, F&B food ads hasn’t yet been applied.

Positive incentive, voluntary programs or responsibility given to public schools can be ensured to promote healthy choices in physical activities and diet plans. Allocating more funds to community level parks that can open up spaces for physical activity for citizens should be looked into. Change in our current tax and agricultural system to stop subsidies for many sugar products can perhaps help reduce consumption of junk foods.

Obesity in part is a matter of personal responsibility, however, as a nation, we need to start paying more attention to the impact of the social determinants of health to our society.