Kudumbasree to clean up water sources today

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

Members of Kudumbasree will clean 1,072 water sources as part of the launching of the Haritha Keralam project on Thursday.

A Kudumbasree Mission release said here on Wednesday that the members would clean the ponds and streams in various locales that have become stagnant over the years. The drive is being launched jointly by the mission officials, members of the neighbourhood groups of the mission and also local body members.

Steps would be taken for ensuring food safety by starting biofarming in 20,000 local body wards. It has been proposed to identify 50 cents fallow land in each ward and group farming would be extended to 10,000 acres for making the State self-reliant in fruits, vegetables and paddy. The mission would also publish a farm calendar comprising projects to be implemented in each panchayat during the year ahead.

Terrace farming would be popularised. Farming groups would supply seeds and manure to households. A cleaning drive would be launched on December 13 in association with the Suchitwa Mission. 

FSSAI asks states to check use of newspaper for food packaging

Concerned over food contamination from newspaper ink, food regulator FSSAI has asked food safety authorities of all states/UTs to take steps for restricting the use of newspapers for storage and packaging of food items. 

FSSAI also asked state authorities to create awareness among food business operators, especially unorganised ones, as well as consumers about harmful effects of using newspaper as food packaging material.

"Commissioners of Food Safety of all States/Union Territories are requested to initiate a systematic campaign for generating awareness amongst all stakeholders to discourage the use of newspaper for packing, serving and storing of food items," Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said in a letter. 

The regulator said that the use of newspaper for wrapping, packing and serving food is common practice in India. "However, this is a food safety hazards." 

"Food contaminated by newspaper ink raise serious health concerns since the ink contains multiple bioactive materials with known negative health effects. 

"Printing inks may also contain harmful colours, pigments, binders, additives and preservatives. Besides chemical contaminants, presence of pathogenic microorganisms in used newspapers also pose potential risk to human health," it said. 

Stating that newspapers should not be used to wrap, cover and serve food or to absorb excess oil from fried food, FSSAI said that there is an urgent need to discourage the use of newspaper as food packaging material by creating awareness among businesses, especially unorganised food business operators and consumers on its harmful effects. 

"Suitable steps need to be taken to restrict and control the use of newspapers for packing of food material," the regulator said in a letter.

Strengthening Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory Ecosystem for Consumer Delight

Confederation of Indian Industry as a part of its National Initiative Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan had organized the 11th CII Food Safety and Quality Summit. In the current global scenario where Scientific advances are increasing our ability to detect hazards and identify risks, new technologies and traceability combined with social media, are giving consumers unprecedented transparency into not only the food they purchase but also on the origins and ingredients of their food, thus resulting in food safety as one of the ‘Top of the Mind’ issues. With India emerging as the food basket for the globe, there is a need to continue to strengthen our strategies around food safety using Science based Risk Analysis principles to achieve global excellence in food safety.

Mr. Pawan Kumar Agarwal, CEO, Food Safety Standards Authority of India emphasized that one of the key activities that FSSAI is doing is to build an atmosphere of trust among various stakeholders to ensure food safety. The practices prevalent in other countries are being benchmarked by India to create a uniform regulatory environment which is a key to food safety. He mentioned an investment of Rs. 500 crores is being made for upgrading the laboratory infrastructure in the country.

Mrs. Awilo Ochieng Pernet, Chairperson, Codex Alimentarius Commission emphasized that to combat food borne diseases, food safety across the entire food value chain needs to be monitored effectively. She thanked CII’s Food and Agriculture Centre of Excellence for bringing “Food Safety” in the spot light.

Mr. Sanjay Dave, Chairman, Steering Committee of Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan & Former Chairman, Codex Alimentarius Commission mentioned that lack of Food Safety always affects the economies of countries. He explained that as a part of “Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan” CII on one hand was creating awareness to increase demand of safe food and on the other hand building capacity in the country to produce Safe Food.

Ms. Geetu Verma, Chairperson, CII Task Force on Food Regulatory Affairs & Executive Director – Foods, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL) highlighted that in complex Food Supply Chains, Food Safety takes centre stage. She emphasized that food security, safety and nutritional security should be aligned to each other. She mentioned “the three pillars for a safe food value chain are education of consumers, accessibility to safe and nutritious food and practical legislations having risk based approach”.

Mr. Piruz Khambatta, Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on Food Processing & Chairman & Managing Director, Rasna International emphasized that the country is witnessing a positive shift in Food Regulatory Ecosystem and thanked Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for strengthening the Food Regulatory regime in India to facilitate trade, to encourage ease of doing business and most importantly to ensure safe food for our consumers.

Mr. Ravi Mathur, Chairman, CII Expert Group on Food Safety & Quality & CEO, GS1 made mention of the work being done by GS1 for creating a recall portal along with FSSAI.

The industry CEO’s of HUL, Nestle, Cargill, Rasna and Mother Dairy emphasized the need of building a safe food value chain right from the source point to consumption point. The complex supply chain needs to be strengthened at all critical points to ensure that the safest food reaches the consumer. The industry captains also acknowledged the changing consumer patterns and shift towards safe and nutritious food.

The summit was addressed by eminent speakers including Mr. Paul Mayers, Vice-President – Policy and Program Branch, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Dr. Vele Pat Ila’ava – Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Livestock, Papua New Guinea, Ms. Siew Moi, Regional Expert on Chemical Contaminants, Nestle Singapore, Dr. Jeffrey Lejeune, Consultant FAO, Mr. Rogerio Pereira Da Silva – Co-ordinator Codex Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, Dr. Arpad Ambrus, Chief Scientific Advisor and Chair for CCMAS National Food Chain Safety Office, Hungary, Mr. Dean Rugnetta, Deputy Director, USFDA - India Office.

During the 2 day summit there would be deliberations on Strengthening Farm Practices, Emerging Food Safety Risks and their mitigation, International Food Safety Regulatory regimes, Science behind Claims Validation & Substantiation and Best Practices from Farm to Fork and the Summit also provided extensive networking opportunities with industry peers and domain experts. The summit was attended by more than 200 Food Safety & Quality professionals and more than 50 speakers of national and international repute.

FSSAI to make third-party audits of food makers mandatory: Pawan Kumar Agarwal

Some food companies in India voluntarily hire laboratories to inspect safety of their products but it is not mandatory yet

FSSAI is collecting samples of honey and milk produced by major companies from 10 markets across the country, CEO Pawan Kumar Agarwal said. 

New Delhi: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will soon make third-party audits mandatory for food companies to ensure food safety, the authority’s chief executive Pawan Kumar Agarwal said.

“We are working on the regulations and final guidelines will be notified soon,” Agarwal said without disclosing further details. He was speaking at a programme organized by lobby group Confederation of Indian Industry here on Tuesday.

Some food companies in India voluntarily hire laboratories to inspect safety of their products but it is not mandatory yet. Such audits are common in most developed countries where self-regulation is the norm.

“We need to move towards self-regulation to ensure safe food for every Indian household. With the current strength and infrastructure, FSSAI alone would not be able to ensure surveillance at every corner. Surveillance is a big area. We are taking up surveillance in a few commodities. As we speak, the surveillance on honey and milk is going on,” added Agarwal.

The food regulator is collecting samples of honey and milk produced by major companies from 10 markets across the country, Agarwal said. The samples will be tested on 21 new parameters and more products will be added to the list soon, he said.

FSSAI, which came into the limelight after it announced a nationwide ban on popular snack Maggi instant noodles in June 2015 and asked its producer Nestle India Ltd to recall the products from the market, is also working on regulations for product recalls, Agarwal said.

As part of its efforts to ensure food safety across the country, the regulator plans to spend Rs482 crore to modernize its food testing infrastructure, including upgrading laboratories. FSSAI currently operates two food testing laboratories in Kolkata and Ghaziabad and state governments run 82 laboratories.

RESTRICTING THE USE OF NEWSPAPERS AS FOOD PACKAGING MATERIAL