Dead rat found in food; students boycott college mess

AHMEDABAD: Students of CN Fine Arts College in Ambawadi boycotted the mess after a dead rat was found in their food last week. Since the past three days, the students have not eaten at the hostel mess. They alleged that despite several complaints regarding the quality of food at the institute, no action has been initiated.

"In the recent past we have registered four complaints about the deteriorating quality of food at the mess. However, there has been no improvement and neither has any action been taken by the authorities. We have also found cockroaches in our food," said a student on the condition of anonymity.

"Eating outside everyday is a costly affair and not all of us can afford it. What is the point of paying Rs18,000 fees for our lodging and meals if we are not served decent quality food," he added.

Students have taken up the matter with rector of the hostel as well as the director of the institute. Commenting on the matter, Rajendrasinh Jadeja, director, CN Fine Arts College, said, "We have received the complaint and this is a serious issue. We have made necessary arrangements and taken measures to ensure that such an incident does not recur in future."

State to fight propaganda against use of coconut oil

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state agriculture department, with the support of health and food safety departments, universities and research institutes, will launch a counter campaign against the ‘widespread propaganda’ that consumption of coconut oil causes heart ailments and other serious health problems.

Simultaneously, the department will wage a war against the adulterated coconut oil being sold in the state, through regular inspections and strict legal actions, agriculture minister V S Sunikumar told reporters here on Friday.

“Such a campaign against coconut oil, without any scientific backing, has adversely affected Kerala’s coconut industry. The government will make use of authentic scientific studies and available media platforms to launch a strong campaign for the promotion of coconut oil as a healthy edible oil,” he said.

Citing inputs from experts from countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, who took part in the technical session on value addition in coconut at VAIGA 2016, the ongoing international workshop and exhibition on agro-products, the minister said virgin coconut oil was being recommended as the most safe and healthy edible oil world across. “Even the United States which had initiated the false campaign against coconut oil to promote Soybean oil, is now recommending virgin coconut oil for children,” the minister added.

Pointing out that 70% of the coconut oil sold under various brands in the state was adulterated, Sunil kumar said the agriculture department, with the help of food safety officials, would launch a massive drive to tackle this menace.

On the promotion of value addition in coconut products, the minister said the agriculture department, Kerafed, the State Coconut Development Corporation and the Coconut Development Board would jointly provide the entrepreneurs with facilities for processing, packaging and marketing, besides making a budget provision to purchase suitable technologies from abroad.

“The state, over the years has witnessed a decreased productivity in the coconut sector due to lack of proper care and several crop diseases. The government will launch a ‘scientific farming scheme’ by providing quality saplings to farmers and forming coconut villages comprising 500-hectre clusters for better care and cultivation,” he said.

Spurious chilli powder seized

Officials of the Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) Department on Friday conducted raids and seized sub-standard chilli powder and raw material being used in chilli powder, worth more than Rs. 1.5 crore in Krishna district, said Regional Vigilance and Enforcement Officer (RVEO) M. Ravindranath Babu.

On a tip-off, the team led by Vigilance Deputy Superintendent of Police R. Vijay Paul and CI Aparna raided Spoorti Cold Storage at Vemulapalli village and seized 5,000 bags of spurious chilli power, worth around Rs. 5 crore.

In another raid, the V&E along Food Safety Department officials raided a private godown at Kondapalli Industrial Area and seized sub-standard chilli powder, said to be worth about Rs. 15 crore, said the RVEO.

In a separate operation, the Vigilance and Enforcement officials seized banned gutkha products, said to be worth about Rs. 5 lakh at two places in the district, said Mr. Vijay Paul.

“The seized material was sent to laboratory for investigations,” Mr. Ravindranath Babu said adding that the raids would continue.

Vigilance Tehsildar Indira Devi, Assistant Registrar Venkateswara Rao, Deputy Commercial Tax Officer Srinivas and Food Safety Inspector Sunder Kumar Das participated in the raids.

Mother Dairy to sell only fortified milk in NCR by year-end

Leading milk supplier Mother Dairy will only sell milk fortified with Vitamin ‘A’ and ‘D’ in the national capital region as part of its effort to address malnutrition, its top official said on Monday.

Mother Dairy sells about 30 lakh litres of milk per day, including token and poly-packed, in the Delhi-NCR and this entire quantity would be now fortified with Vitamin A&D. The company has about 800 milk booths and 400 ‘Safal’ retail stores in the NCR.

“We are already adding Vitamin A in our token milk sold at milk booths. Now, We have decided to add Vitamin A & D in both token milk and poly-packed,” Mother Dairy Managing Director S Nagarajan said.

“By end of this year, we will be selling only fortified milk in Delhi-NCR,” he added.

Mr Nagarajan said the company is taking this initiative as a large part of population is having deficiency of micro-nutrients.

Asked about the cost of fortification of milk with Vitamin A&D, he said it would be around 25 paise per litre and the same would be absorbed by the company.

He said the company would follow the standards fixed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on fortification of food.

FSSAI has developed comprehensive standards for fortification in wheat flour, rice, edible oil, salt and milk.

The regulator has made these standards operational at the draft stage only and would issue final notification after making changes based on suggestions from stakeholders.

As per this standards, fortification of salt can be done with iodine and iron, while vegetable oil and milk can be fortified with Vitamin A & D; wheat flour and rice with iron, folic acid, zinc, vitamin B12, vitamin A and some other micro-nutrients.

Mother Dairy was commissioned in 1974 as a wholly- owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).

The company sells milk and dairy products including ice creams, paneer and ghee under the ‘Mother Dairy’ brand.It is into edible oil business under Dhara brand.

Moreover, it sells frozen vegetables, unpolished pulses and other processed foods under the ‘Safal’ brand. - PTI

Mother Dairy sells about 30 lakh litres of milk per day, including token and poly-packed, in Delhi-NCR

Amul to launch camel milk in next 3 months

New Delhi, Dec 2, 2016, (PTI)

With food safety regulator FSSAI setting new standards for camel milk, dairy major GCMMF, which sells products under the Amul brand, today said it will launch camel milk in the next three months.

Amul will first start selling camel milk in Ahmedabad and will later launch in other cities.

"We operationised standards for camel milk today. We took two years to come out with standards. The standards will help better marketing of camel milk in cities," Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) Chairman Pawan Agarwal said at an exhibition organised by NGOs 'Sahjeevan' and 'Foundation for Ecological Security' here.

This will also help create awareness about the health benefits of camel milk, he added.

Aggarwal assured that it would take possible measures if any fine tuning is required in the standards going forward.

Speaking on the occasion, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation's (GCMMF) Marketing Manager Hardeep Banga said that the cooperatiave will launch camel milk in 500 ml bottle in the next three months.

"Now, the plant is ready in Kutch. We are going to market camel milk in the next three months. Initially, it is will be sold in Ahmedabad through Amul booths in 500 ml bottle," he said, adding that the camel milk would later be marketed in Delhi and Mumbai.

Two years back, Sahjeevan approached GCMMF for marketing of camel milk produced in Kutch area. A Rs 3 crore project was initiated and about Rs 70 lakh funding support was provided together by state and central governments, he added.

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said, "After assessing scientifically, camel milk has been recognised with the line of food grade. This will not only benefits rearers of camels but also facilitate for value-addition productions."

A beginner’s book on pastoralism 'A World Without a Roof' written by Sarita Sundar was also launched at the exhibition on pastoralists being held at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) here from December 2-18.

The 16-day multi-media exhibition will showcase the lifestyles of Indian pastoralists – their remarkable history of mobility, the fantastic eco-systems which nurture their life-world, their culture, science, art, spiritual moorings and the economics of herding.