Jan 5, 2017
Dairy experts develop nano dip strip to detect milk adulterations
This portable strip can detect eight types of impurities, including urea and detergent present in the milk.
A team of researchers, led by Kamdhenu University Vice- Chancellor Professor M C Varshneya, Director of Research Dr DB Patil and principal and dean of Government College of Dairy Science, Amreli Dr Vimal M Ramani, have developed a nanotechnology-based “dip strip” as a solution to control adulteration in milk.
Giving an alternate to existing traditional and sophisticated methods to test milk adulteration like infrared based, spectrophotometric, chromatographic and other technically complicated methods which are time-consuming, expensive and require skilled manpower to handle the sophisticated instruments, the team has developed a portable tool which is claimed to be accurate, affordable and a reliable technique.
“This ‘nanotechnology-based dip strip’ resembles a paper strip, but is made of fibrous pad material using nano capillaries. It can detect eight types of impurities, including the most commonly used urea, detergent, sodium carbonate maltodextrin, hydrogen peroxide and others present in the milk. It changes colour with each impurity,” said Dr Vimal M Ramani who is also the Dean of Dairy Science Faculty.
This test is simple, easy and affordable that can identify the commonly used chemicals like detergent and urea in milk. It can be performed at home also by the common people, says one of the research team members, Ankur C Thummar.
The research project undertaken by the team of Dr Vimal M Ramani and three postgraduate research fellows — Rakesh H Kabariya, Jayesh H Kabariya and Ankur C Thummar — with the guidance of V-C Prof M C Varshneya and Director Research Dr DB Patil for the last one year is funded by the Department of Biotechnology under Ministry of Science and Technology.
“The trials so far has been successful and we have also applied for the patent. Against sophisticated expensive testing machines, the mass production cost of each strip will be nearly 25 paise which in itself reflects the accessibility to a common person. At present, separate strips are used to detect eight different impurities. But we are upgrading this to a single strip,” said Dr Vimal M Ramani.
Under the guidance of Prof M C Varshneya and Dr D B Patil, the team has developed a nanotechnology-based test to identify adulteration in milk at College of Dairy Science, Kamdhenu University, Amreli.
“Across the country, milk adulteration is a haunting problem. According to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), about 68.4 per cent of the milk is contaminated or adulterated with malpractice in milk supply chain which include dilution with unsafe water is common,” said V P Mackwan, registrar of Kamdhenu University to which the Government College of Dairy Science Amreli is affiliated to.
The demonstration of this test has been recently carried out to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani by the Vice Chancellor of Kamdhenu University Professor M C Varshneya and the researcher team.
“The response and support from the state government as well as the University authorities has been very encouraging. The authorities have asked us to work further on this research which will address the major issue of milk adulteration,” added Dr Ramani.
Food Safety Team conducts raids in city
Port Blair, Jan 04: On 04.01.2017, a team of Food Safety Officers Shri A. Khalid, Smt. S. Nisha, Smt. Sarina Nadeem attached to Food Safety Unit, South Andaman conducted surprised inspection at Municipal Market, Opposite Marine Dockyard and found Shri. M. Bhagyaraj, S/o late Muniyandi R/o Nayagaon carrying illegal activities by selling of IMFL items at shop No. 3 and 4 which is allotted to Shri. V. Seeralan R/o Kamaraj Nagar for running petty shop. It is learnt that Shri. M. Bhagyaraj starts selling IMFL items from wee hours. The shop 3 and 4 has been sealed.
Meanwhile on 03.01.2017, a team of Food Safety Officers Shri. A. Khalid, Shri. Tahseen Ali, Shri. R.V. Murugaraj, Shri. S.S. Santhosh and Shri. Ravi Kumar, Helper inspected M/s Lulu Shopping Mall, Aberdeen Bazaar owned by Shri. P.P. Saidalvi and found that the FBO was selling imported confectionary and chocolates without obtaining license under FSS Act’2006 or importer license under Law. The FBO has also failed to submit any valid documents regarding regulatory clearance from FSSAI for selling imported goods in India.
Both the above FBOs and persons have been booked under relevant sections of FSS Act’2006. The matter is been taken up for adjudication in the Court of Additional District Magistrate, South Andaman.
Gutka sale in Telangana dipping
The minister said that the government has slapped criminal cases on 43 manufacturers for “Not of Standard drugs”.
Hyderabad: Sporadic cases of sale of gutka and pan masala have been detected in the state, according to health minister C. Laxma Reddy.
The minister told the Assembly on Wednesday that 545 cases were booked for sale of gutka and pan masala in violation of prohibition orders and Rs 50,00,123 collected as fine as per the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
The minister said that the government has slapped criminal cases on 43 manufacturers for “Not of Standard drugs” and three criminal cases against a manufacturer for “spurious drugs.” Trial is pending.
He said that during 2015 and 2016, 8,293 drug samples were collected by drug inspectors in the state, of which 46 were declared “Not of standard quality” which accounts for 0.005 per cent.
545 cases registered for sale of tobacco products
HYDERABAD: Health Minister C. Lakshma Reddy said that 545 cases booked for sale of Gutka/pan masala in violation of the prohibition orders and a total amount of Rs. 50 lakh fine had been imposed on the violators in line with the provisions under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
The Government had issued orders prohibiting sale of Gutka/pan masala in January and it was being implemented in cooperation with the Vigilance & Enforcement, Commercial Taxes, Police, Transport and other departments. Mr. Lakshma Reddy was replying to a query by Leader of the Opposition Mohd. Ali Shabbir who expressed concern over the availability of the products in spite of the prohibition, during the Question Hour in the Legislative Council on Wednesday.
The Minister said though these products were not liberally available in the market, sporadic incidents of people selling these products were being detected. The Government had also taken up large scale campaign against the ill-effects of consumption of tobacco products. Congress member Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy wanted the Government to constitute a special task force to check these sales which crossed ₹100 crore in the twin cities alone.
Sub-standard drugs
To another query on sale of duplicate and sub-standard medicines, the Minister said inspections conducted by the drug inspector had revealed that 46 samples out of the 8,293 lifted were found to be not of standard quality. Of these, 43 drugs were listed under the not of standard quality category and three under spurious category. The department had also filed criminal cases against 43 manufacturers for manufacturing the not so standard quality drugs and the cases were pending trial in the courts concerned.
Congress member M.S. Prabhakar Rao expressed concern that spurious drugs were freely available in the market as the drug control administration was conducting namesake inspections on medicine manufacturers. The Government could consider the Chennai model wherein the Government opened the outlets to sell medicine at 15 per cent lesser than the market price.
Dog meat rumour: result of samples sent for testing awaited
After the rumour about dog meat in biryani died down with the arrest of an MBA student who created the fake news, officials are still in a quandary about the sample of meat sent for testing to Telangana State Food Safety Laboratory (FSL).
“We don’t have facilities to test the meat and find out if it is dog or any other animal’s as it would require analysing the DNA of the sample. So, we have forwarded the meat sample to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology for analysis and we are awaiting the results,” said an official at the FSL, the apex body for food analysis in the State.
The FSL functions from a small building at Nacharam without even a functioning telephone or internet connection.
The absence of genetic testing facility at the State’s premier food safety lab is a cause for concern in the age of genetically modified food and issues about food origin. “This is a free testing lab and we test the food for nutrient value and edibility,” said an official.
Across the world, DNA testing of food samples is the norm for detecting traces of contaminants.
he immediate aftermath of dog meat rumour, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation had picked up multiple samples both cooked as well as raw from different locations of the hotel and sent them for testing. “The results will be known within a week or fortnight,” officials had said. “The sample is in circulation and we are yet to get the results. Once we have the result, we will get in touch with you,” said GHMC Chief Veterinary Officer P. Venkateshwar Rao on Wednesday.
CCMB officials were unavailable for comment on the status of the sample testing.
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