Jan 11, 2017
Adulterated tea seized
The Food Safety and Standards Authority officials have seized 1.5 tonne adulterated tea from a warehouse in Udayampalayam.
According to sources, a team led by Designated Officer, Food Safety, OLS Vijay, raided the warehouse. The tea was allegedly adulterated by Balan, who sold it to shops in rural areas. He had added colouring agents extracted from coal tar to give more colour to tea.
They said that the colour would give the impression it was strong tea. With a little powder, the tea shop owners would be able to sell more glasses of tea.
According to law, colouring agents should not be added to tea.
Action had been initiated under the Food Safety and Standards Act against Balan.
He was booked earlier in 2016 for a similar offence. He was let off after paying fine.
Now the officials would press for his imprisonment, the sources added.
FSSAI to lift tea decoction samples to check adulteration
Officials of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India closed down a tea shop near Gandhipuram bus stand for using adulterated tea dust.
After repeated raids to curb use of adulterated tea dust, officials of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have started lifting decoction samples from tea stalls to check for adulterants.
Earlier, FSSAI officials used to lift tea dust from provision shops, bakeries and tea stalls to examine use of adulterants.
Samples checked in previous years had revealed that tea dust lifted from some places were adulterated, primarily by adding artificial colours.
“While lifting adulterated tea dust from tea shops, the shop owners used to blame the trader. The trader at provision shops would point the finger at wholesale dealers. Based on a direction from headquarters, FSSAI is currently lifting samples of decoction from tea shops. If the samples are found adulterated in the laboratory examination, action will be taken against the tea shop owners,” said O.LS. Vijay, Designated Officer, FSSAI, Coimbatore.
Dr. Vijay said that samples will also be lifted from Aavin milk booths where tea is sold and the samples lifted from some of the shops are currently being examined in a Government laboratory.
On Monday, FSSAI closed down a tea shop in Gandhipuram for repeated use of low quality adulterated tea dust. Officials said that all shops selling tea in Gandhipuram were taught to detect adulterated tea dust through a simple method.
“Tea dust mixed with colourants, when added to a glass of normal water, will release colour instantly. Whereas, pure tea dust will release colour only in warm water. We had demonstrated this experiment in all shops. As adulterated tea dust is cheap, they compromise on its ill-effects,” said K. Chandran, food safety officer for Gandhipuram area.
Coca-cola, Pepsico and Bisleri operate packaged water units without license: FSSAI
New Delhi: Food regulator FSSAI has asked state authorities to crack down on mineral water packaging units that are operating without its licence.
As many as 75 per cent of the packaging units, owned by various firms, including Pepsico and Bisleri, are said to be operating without an FSSAI licence. These units are operating under a BIS certification.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), however, feels there is no safety or quality concern over the bottled water supplied by these units.
Out of total 5,842 registered water packaging units, 1,495 units have both BIS and FSSAI licences, while 4,347 units have only BIS certification.
"FSSAI regulations require mandatory BIS certification on packaged water. However there is a need for such businesses to obtain FSSAI certification. For which we have already written to the state food commissioners," FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal said.
When asked about the quality of the bottled water which are sold without FSSAI licence, he said: "BIS has robust system of ensuring quality of packaged water. There is no issue of safety of packaged water at all, if the packaged water businesses have obtained BIS certification."
Most of the companies have no issues in obtaining FSSAI licence as per the feedback received by the regulator, he added.
Stating that many of the bottlers are not abiding by the law, Agarwal said: "Out of close to 6,000 registered packaged water units in the country, more than 4,300 don't have FSSAI licence, which also include some reputed names, where some of their units may not have food regulator's approval."
According to the regulator data, the units which do not have FSSAI licence include units of Hindustan Coca-cola, Pepsico and Bisleri, among others.
Pepsico sells its packaged water under the brand name Aquafina, Coca-cola sells under the name Kinley, while Bisleri sells under its own name.
When contacted, Pepsico India and Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages said that they manufacture packaged drinking water under valid licences.
PepsiCo India spokesperson said: "We at PepsiCo strictly adhere to all quality and regulatory norms and all our packaged drinking water is manufactured under valid licences issued by relevant authorities. We have not received any communication from authorities in this regard."
Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages said that it has all the approvals and permissions, including BIS and FSSAI, to manufacture packaged drinking water for all its 26 factories.
"Our factories are fully compliant with all local regulations and have all the approvals and permissions required to operate these factories," Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages said.
"This list of permissions include the BIS and FSSAI approvals for manufacturing packaged drinking water," it said. "Quality and safety of our products is paramount to us. Kinley is a brand built on consumer trust and love and we will never do anything that contravenes the faith and trust that consumers repose in our products," it added.
Owners get the lowdown on licences to run bakeries
PUNE: Eleven days after six workers suffocated to death in a bakery fire in Kondhwa, a drive conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) showed that a large number of bakeries were illegally conducting business without obtaining necessary permissions.
The situation has compelled the FDA to issue notices to 80 bakeries in Pune directing them to obtain food and safety and other licences from the authorities within 15 days or face action.
Six workers had suffocated to death in a fire at 'bake N cake' shop on Kondhwa-Saswad Road on December 30 because its shutters were locked from the outside and the workers were trapped inside. Three bakery partners were arrested on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under IPC section 304.
The Kondhwa police identified 35 bakeries involved in manufacturing and selling bakery products. The survey revealed that some bakeries had obtained the Shop Act licences while others were illegally conducting business without seeking permission from authorities.
A meeting was held recently to sensitise bakery owners and take preventive measures to avert more such tragedies. It was attended by central fire brigade, FDA, shop act licence and labour commissionerate officials.
Senior inspector Satish Govekar, in charge of Kondhwa police station, said the initiative was to educate bakery owners to run their businesses legally, prevent workers from sleeping inside locked premises, maintain a record of workers with their names, addresses, photographs, cellphone numbers and adopt safety measures to prevent fires.
Sunil Gilbile, deputy chief fire officer, advised bakery owners to obtain a no-objection certificate every year. The NOC will be issued after inspecting the bakery, electric wiring, ventilation, chimney, mezzanine, entry and exit, and verifying the documents submitted by the owners and providing training to workers on how to use fire apparatus in case of a fire or an emergency, he said.
Food and safety inspector Vijay Unawane said most bakeries running on the basis of the Shop Act licence, but they also need to obtain the food and safety licence if they manufacture and sell bakery products.
He appealed to owners to maintain cleanliness and encouraged them to apply online for licences so that there are no middleman or agents misleading them. "We have issued notices to 12 bakeries for illegally conducting business in Kondhwa. The notice directs them to obtain food and safety licence within 15 days or else they will face action — six months' simple imprisonment or a fine of Rs 5 lakh," he added.
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