Mar 9, 2017
Ensuring safe food at places of worship
Every day, the Golden Temple in Amritsar feeds 60,000- 70,000 people for free
Faith and reason seldom go together. While the latter remains open to debate, the former is too sacred to be touched. And the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is soon going to get a taste of it.
How Food Safety Management System ensures quality Prasad
- Standardises prasad ingredients and manufacturing process to improve its shelf-life and safety
- Vendors to be trained in food safety, hygiene; persuaded to apply for licence
- Encourages self-audit to ensure that ingredients used in prasad are safe
- Food handlers to be trained in good manufacturing practices; to be educated about personal hygiene and using protective clothing, such as aprons, gloves
- Introduces rotational system for food stock to ensure first-expired-first-out; strengthens documentation and record keeping so that the stock
- can be traced
- Mandates management of wastes, such as flowers, fruits and vegetables, in such a way that they do not affect food safety
FSSAI stumbled upon one such bump in the last week of January, when the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), managing trust of Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, refused to allow the state’s food safety officers to inspect the temple kitchen.
In August 2016, FSSAI asked the state’s food safety commissioner to take appropriate action on a complaint about unhygienic and unsafe practices during the preparation of prasad (edible religious offering) in the temple.
Bengaluru-based RTI activist T Narasimha Murthy, who had filed the complaint, told Down To Earth (DTE): “Cooks who prepare laddoos in the Tirupati temple kitchen do not wear gloves, aprons or caps.” Media reports have in the past highlighted nuts, bolts and key chains being found in Tirupati temple laddoo, which has a Geographical Index tag indicating its uniqueness.
But TTD is adamant. In its response to the complaint, TTD says the laddoo is a sacred item and not food. It further says the prasad of Hindu temples is prepared as per customs and any intervention will potentially demean the feelings of Hindu pilgrims all over India. Since prasad is distributed at subsidised prices to pilgrims, it cannot be termed as goods for sale.
TTD’s arguments run contrary to the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006, which says laddoo is a food item and TTD is a food business operator (FBO). In its letter to the state’s food safety commissioner, FSSAI had written that the Act is applicable on all food items, whether purchased or distributed for free.
TTD, therefore, must obtain a licence and fulfil the responsibilities of an FBO as stipulated in the Act, and comply with its rules and regulations. “But executive officer of TTD refused to apply for the licence, saying TTD does not come under FSSAI’s purview,” says Vishwanath Reddy, assistant food controller in Andhra Pradesh. TTD did not respond to DTE’s emails till the story went to press.
A humongous task
The unsuccessful attempt by Andhra Pradesh food safety officers to inspect Tirupati kitchen indicates the huge hurdles FSSAI is likely to face while implementing FSMS.
According to the 2011 Census, India has more than 3 million places of worship, which are visited by millions every day. The Tirupati temple alone is visited by over 50,000 devotees a day. In the absence of any guidelines, food is often prepared and handled with bare hands. Food handlers, at most places, are seldom tested for infectious diseases.
Many devotees have fallen ill in the past due to unsafe and unhygienic food practices at places of worship. In April 2014, around 350 people fell sick after drinking panakam (jaggery-based drink) offered as prasad at Sri Kodandarama Swamy temple at Damarcherla in Telangana’s Nalgonda district. In 2013, two people died and 50 showed symptoms of food poisoning after consuming panakam and buttermilk at Bengaluru’s Sri Muthu Mariamma temple.
Slow but steady acceptance
FSMS ensures that food safety hazards and unsafe conditions at places of worship are minimised, says Prabodh Halde, president of the Association of Food Scientists and Technologists (India), Mumbai chapter, which has designed the system for FSSAI. “Under the system, raw material for prasad are standardised and tested for contami nation. We have put safety norms in place and trained food handlers and those who prepare the prasad in good manufacturing practices,” says Halde.
The association first implemented FSMS in January 2016 at Mumbai’s Siddhivinayak temple, which is also visited by 50,000 people a day. “Prasad hygiene and awareness about food safety among the workers improved within four months,” states FSSAI, which has vetted the pilot project before adopting it for pan-India implementation.
Though implementation of FSMS is not mandatory, several places of worship have volunteered to follow the system. One such is Shirdi Sai Baba temple in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district. Over 25,000 devotees throng the temple for prasad every day.
In September, FSSAI conducted a workshop on the implementation of FSMS. It was attended by 14 institutions, including the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the Tamil Nadu government that manages temples in the state.
It has shown interest in implementing FSMS in 20 of its temples. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), responsible for the management of gurd waras, has also welcomed the move, notwi thstanding caveats. “If they have valid suggestions, we are amenable to them.
Otherwise, it is a matter of faith. Nobody can tell us how to prepare prasad,” says Harcharan Singh, chief secretary of SGPC. Pawan Agarwal, FSSAI’s chief executive officer, says their intention is not to question any faith but to reassure visitors about food safety.
“This is a win-win situation. I am sure neither Tirupati nor gurdwaras want anyone to fall sick,” he says. FSSAI has asked state food safety commissioners to identify five places of worship where FSMS can be implemented. The move can also come to the rescue of thousands of urban poor who do not have access to nutrition and depend on prasad for food.
Mid-day meal: Stellar performance by 40 schools puzzles food department
The special drive was conducted from February 7 to 17 as nine students of a government school were taken ill last month after consuming lunch that had a dead rat in it.
HIGHLIGHTS
1 Over the years, there have been reports of children suffering from food-poisoning.
2 According to sources, rats cannot reach inside the kitchen and this involves foul play.
3 Last week, the NHRC had issued a notice to the Delhi government over the matter.
The city's food department is puzzled by the stellar report card of 40 schools in hygiene and cleanliness tests on their mid-day meal programme as nine students of a government school were taken ill last month after consuming the lunch that had a dead rat in it.
The special drive was conducted from February 7 to 17 while the incident at the Government Boys' Senior Secondary School in southeast Delhi's Deoli was reported on the final day of the inspection.
The free meals are provided in schools across the country to encourage poor parents to send their children to study. However, over the years, there have been reports of lizards, snakes and worms in the meals, and of children suffering from food-poisoning.
"We feel there's something suspicious about the rat incident," said sources in the department. "Even if the food was unhygienic, the inspectors could have identified it easily. Even after the incident, the department has again conducted surprise checks in 71 schools, which again cleared all the hygiene and cleanliness tests."
FOUL PLAY INVOLVED?
Rats cannot reach inside the kitchen where extremely hot vessels are kept and this involves foul play, the sources said.
Delhi has a centralised kitchen system for mid-day meals unlike several other states where the food is cooked in individual schools.
"All the legal samples before and after the grim incident of February 17 have cleared the hygiene and cleanliness standards under Schedule 1V as per provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. As food commissioner, I can certify that mid-day meal in Delhi schools is perfectly fine," city food commissioner Dr Mrinalini Darswal told Mail Today.
The school lunch scheme is the largest such programme in the world and has been widely lauded as one of the most-successful welfare measures in India.
95 % OF 365 MEAL SAMPLES FAILED TO MEET NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
The Delhi government lodged an FIR against the mid-day meal supplier following the February 17 incident. Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia tweeted: "Such irresponsibility in case of children will not be tolerated."
Last week, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued a notice to the Delhi government over the matter, seeking a report within four weeks including details of the action taken against the agencies concerned.
About 43 NGOs are catering to the mid-day meal requirements of 18.46 lakh students in schools run by the Delhi government.
According to an NHRC report, 95 per cent of 365 meal samples failed to meet nutritional requirements in 2011-12 and 98 per cent of 322 samples failed the tests in 2010-11.
Tanker trucks to be penalised for supplying impure water
He also said that penal measures could be initiated as per section 69 in Food Safety and Standards Act, Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Business) Regulations.
Following warnings that the state was heading for a drought, the state disaster management authority had decided to declare drought as natural calamity. And the state government directed district administration to ensure supply of potable water on a war-footing. Due to depleting sources and protests by people residing in Kochi's suburbs the tankers faced difficulty in sourcing water. It was alleged that the trucks drew water from unused quarries and other polluted sources. The district administration ordered an enquiry into these allegations.
"As temperature soars there is scarcity in supply of drinking water. It is found that tanker trucks are exploiting the situation by supplying contaminated water," said the collector. He also said that the practice could lead to outbreak of contagious diseases. "As public health is a major concern the food safety assistant commissioner has been asked to step in," added the collector.
The city residents have been raising concern about the quality of drinking water. As there was no effective system to check the quality of water, they wanted the district administration to initiate measures to get safe drinking water. They had demanded that the source of water should be made known, and the veracity of the claims should be verified.
"Most apartment complexes and independent houses which buy water from tankers do not have a facility to check quality. When the government labs refuse to accept samples it takes at least a week to get reports from private labs," said P Rangadasa Prabhu, president, Ernakulam district residents' association apex council. According to him, as tankers arrive after midnight it is nearly impossible for the residents to check the quantity of water supplied.
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