Shot in the arm for food safety department

KOCHI: The food safety department inErnakulam, which was struggling with 14 vacant posts, finally heaved a sigh of relief as the government has approved the posting of 10 officials.

Sources in the department said that the 10 officials will be posted soon, without giving an exact joining date. At present the department has only two squads, comprising five members each, to conduct raids and rein in the sale of adulterated food items.

Assistant food safety commissioner, Ernakulam, Shibu K V said: "We can increase the number of raids and address the list of complaints with the arrival of more officials. As we don't have more officials we have only two squads, one concentrating in Muvattupuzha andKothamangalam areas. The other squad is busy in western and central regions of the district."

Plans are afoot to reorganize the existing squads and form five squads with a team of three members. 

The two squads conduct 70-75 raids and address around 100 public complaints each month.

Besides, they also collect samples for test.

FDA seizes 870kg of ghee worth more than 2.6 lakhs

Acting on a tip-off, theAurangabad Food and Drug Administration seized 870 kgs of unlabelled ghee worth Rs 2.60 lakhs, which was being sold at a dairy shop in N-3 Cidco area on Wednesday. The FDAofficials had kept a vigil on the sweet shops in the city during the Ganesh festival celebrations and also carried out surprise checks at four sweet shops, inspecting the quality of raw material used for preparing sweets and also examining the hygiene standards maintained by them. 

During the raid we found that the shop-owner was found to be violating the Food Safety and Standards Act-2006 and selling unlabelled ghee which raises suspicion of adulteration. "We seized 58 tins of ghee containing 15 kgs each, which weighed altogether 870kg of ghee, worth Rs 2.60 lakhs," said Ram Munde, the food safety officer.

"In a bid to ensure safety of citizens, the FDA officials were directed to keep a close vigil and inspect all concerned food establishments and ensure that high standards of quality are maintained in order to help prevent any cases of food poisoning. This issue becomes particularly important during the festivals where sweets are consumed in large quantities," said Anant Pardhi, FDA deputy joint commissioner (food), Aurangabad division. 

"The officials raided four places, of which one shop was selling ghee in adulterated form. Samples of the confiscated ghee have been sent to laboratory for further testing, the reports of which will be procured in 10 days," said Munde.

FDA Aurangabad division had also apprised the sweet and other food product dealers in the city of the norms and the criteria. They had also appealed all the Ganesh Mandals to register with them in case they are organizing bhandara during the 10-day festival.

FSSAI to classify 200 pesticides residues as Harmful to Humans

Since excessive use of antibiotics on animals can cause harm to humans consuming their meat and other products, there is need for stronger regulation.

"149 types of pesticide residues have been classified as potentially harmful to human health and environment by the FSSAI and a panel from FSSAI has further recommended adding 60-70 more remnants to be brought under the prohibited list" said Dr. A.K. Sharma, Consultant at Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) at a talk titled ‘The Food – Pesticides and Plastics in It!’ held at India International Center in New Delhi recently.

Dr Sharma also felt an urgent need for FSSAI to make stronger regulations on animal products as WHO has issued a warning on excessive use of antibiotics on animals.

Dr Sharma pointed out how pesticides are a major source of poisoning worldwide: "Three million agricultural workers in the developing world experience poisoning from pesticides concludes a report published by UN Environment Programme in 2014. The same report states that 25 million unorganised sector and industrial workers in the developing world may suffer from mild pesticide poisoning” he said. He highlighted that pesticide consumption accounted for a large percentage of poisoning deaths as 1/3 of poisoning deaths worldwide are attributed to their consumption. He favored restricting the sale of more potent pesticides.

Dr Sharma also shared that the same report attributed approximately 80,000 deaths every year to inadequate regulations and safety precautions on pesticides. 99% of pesticide related deaths occur in the developing world, he said.

Dr Sharma said that research has linked many of the pesticides to several health problems.

"American Association of Pediatrics has strictly advised limiting children's access to pesticides and the 2014 edition of Epidemiological Review established correlation between Autism and exposure to certain categories of pesticides. Impact of pesticides on reproductive hormones and their correlation to cancers, especially lymphoma and leukemia is also well documented." he explained.