DINAKARAN NEWS

FOOD ADULTERATION: ALLEGED LIFE THREATENING ‘PLASTIC EGGS’ SEIZED FROM MARKET

Kolkata: The Kolkata Police today arrested an egg-seller in the city for allegedly selling artificial plastic eggs.

Mohammed Shamin Ansari, who was detained yesterday by the Kolkata Police Enforcement Branch for allegedly selling plastic eggs, was arrested this morning after questioning, a senior officer of the police said.

Meanwhile, a team from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, led by Mayor-in-Council (Health) Atin Ghosh, and Kolkata Police Enforcement Branch officials raided various markets in the city today and seized eggs which were later sent to the laboratory for testing.

The KMC team visited the seller in the Muchipara area from whom Ansari had bought eggs.

“One crate of eggs has been seized from the wholesaler who sold the eggs to Ansari. We will also collect samples from other shops in the market and send them to the laboratory for testing,” Ghosh said.

Ansari, the police said, had bought eggs worth Rs 1.15 lakh from the wholesaler.

“As per the Food Safety and Standards Act, food adulteration is a punishable offence. If these eggs are found to be life-threatening, the offenders may face punishment like life imprisonment and a huge fine,” Ghosh said.

Ansari, who was booked on the charges of fraud and criminal conspiracy by the police, was remanded to police custody for four days when produced at a city court.

Complaints of artificial plastic eggs being sold were also received from Canning in South 24-Parganas district following which an enquiry was started, the state police said.

Adulteration in Mustard Oil

Adulteration in Mustard Oil 

Cases of adulteration in food products including edible oil, have come to the notice of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The implementation and enforcement of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, Rules and Regulations thereunder primarily rests with the State/UT Governments. Regular surveillance, monitoring, inspection and random sampling of food products are undertaken by the officials of Food Safety Departments of the respective States/ UTs to check compliance with standards laid down under FSS Act and regulations thereunder. In cases, where food samples are found to be non-conforming, recourse is taken to penal provisions under Chapter IX of the FSS Act.

The FSSAI has developed a Surveillance Plan and shared the same with the State/ UT Governments to ensure safe and wholesome food for consumers. It is an indicative and suggestive Surveillance Plan, with adequate flexibility keeping in view the local conditions and environment. The States conduct surveillance of different food commodities and take legal action wherever there is an infringement of the law. 

The Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), ShFaggan Singh Kulaste stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha here today.

Food safety body to tighten norms for organic products

Any seller of organic food either exclusively or as part of their retail merchandise shall display such food in a manner distinguishable from the display of conventional food so that the consumers are not misled

FSSAI sets labelling and certification norms; violations to attract penalty

NEW DELHI, MARCH 31: 

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has proposed stricter norms for organic food in the country to address the issues of traceability. As part of the the draft regulations, it has proposed that traceability should be established at the producer level for accuracy of organic status claims of the products. The regulator has now sought comments from the stakeholders before it finalises these regulations.Labelling norms

The draft regulations have also specified labelling and certification norms for organic food products so that the full and accurate information on the organic status of the product is conveyed to consumers. “Such product shall carry a certification/quality assurance mark of one of the systems” that certify organic food, it added. The regulator said that any food promoted as organic should comply with the provisions of the National Programme for Organic Production or Participatory Guarantee System for India, besides any other system or standards that it may notify in the future. “Any seller of organic food either exclusively or as part of their retail merchandise shall display such food in a manner distinguishable from the ... conventional food so that the consumers are not misled,” the draft regulations stated.Penal provisions

The regulator has also said that non-compliance of these regulations will attract penal provisions and is liable for action as a false, misleading or deceptive claim.

“The Food Authority may establish appropriate institutional mechanism to implement these regulations and promote authentic organic food in the country,” the draft regulations added.

Seperately, FSSAI has also urged the food business operators to establish a robust and effective system for redressing consumer complaints in the food sector.

In a statement, Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI said that the food safety authority will soon come up with quantifiable metrics to accurately gauge the performance and efficiency of each food business operator vis-a-vis their resolution of consumer complaints.

After UP crackdown on slaughterhouses, Doon may follow suitYeshika Budhwar

Dehradun: Days after crackdown in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh on ‘illegal’ slaughterhouses and curbs on mechanised abattoirs, unlawful units in Dehradun district may also be closed down, informed officials. A survey was conducted by officers from the food safety department (FSD), nagar nigam, local police and the city administration of all illegal slaughterhouses here.

Abattoirs are deemed polluting industries and require a host of clearances from various departments. A no objection certificate (NOC) is given by the nagar nigam while a license is issued by the FSD. Both the bodies however admitted that no document has been issued to any abattoir in Dehradun including the one run by the nagar nigam.

“Till date, we have not given license to any slaughterhouse in Dehradun district. In fact, the one run by the nagar nigam also does not have a license. A case is pending against it and two other such units in the district,” said Anuj Thapliyal, food and safety officer, Dehradun.

Nagar nigam officials, on the other hand, said that lack of consensus between various departments led to a lack of clarity about the abattoir’s legal status. Dr V Sati, veterinary officer, nagar nigam, said, “If we did not run a slaughterhouse then people would have been forced to look for alternatives, leading to rampant slaughtering of animals. We are only facilitators and the nigam does not gain revenue from this unit.”

PETA asks for illegal slaughterhouses’ closure

Says there are more than 30,000 illegal, unlicensed units in India

Panaji: The People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has urged States and Union Territories (UTs) to follow the action taken by Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan governments to shut down illegal slaughterhouses.

The organisation, along with others, has filed a series of petitions in the Supreme Court and other courts between 2004 and 2017 against illegal treatment of animals during transport and slaughter. In a statement issued on Friday, it claimed that in addition to ordering a crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses, the apex court called upon States and Union Territories (UTs) to set up enforcement committees to monitor treatment of animals that are used for meat and leather. However, it said most States and UTs had failed to report to the court about the compliance action taken by them.

Shambhavi Tiwari of PETA India said they have urged States and UTs to close down slaughterhouses that aren’t licensed and which continue to use cruel practices that are prohibited by law, as per the SC order.

The organisation had earlier written to the Central government, State governments, and UTs, urging them to immediately implement provisions of the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, pertaining to establishment and functioning of slaughterhouses. They say there are still many unregistered slaughterhouses in the country.

“It has been estimated that there are more than 30,000 illegal, unlicensed slaughterhouses in India, although, cruelty to animals is also rampant in licensed facilities,” the statement read. “To make matters worse, the leather industry has no system in place to ensure that skins are not obtained from illegal slaughterhouses.”

The organisation had also asked for implementation of provisions of Central Motor Vehicles (Eleventh Amendment) Rules, 2015, which provides for special requirements in motor vehicles that transport livestock. Nikunj Sharma of PETA said, “[Slaughterhouses] continued to use general vehicles for transport of animals or did not bother to take permissions needed from municipal authorities for special vehicles.”

The organisation said that during various surprise inspections carried out by the authorities, in presence of PETA India and People for Animals’s activists, “huge atrocities, showing unlawful cruelty to animals” were noted as being common even at modern facilities. It also claimed that a legally required facility, which renders animals unconscious before being slaughtered, was not being carried out on sheep or buffaloes.

Call for veganism

PETA India has urged people to go dairy-free as well by drawing their attention to the beef industry’s link with the dairy industry.

The organisation’s Chief Executive Officer, Poorva Joshipura, is of the opinion that people who do not want to support animal suffering must decide to live a vegan lifestyle. She said, “At most slaughterhouses, workers hack animals’ throats with dull blades. Skinning and dismembering often begin while they are still alive, and in full view of other animals.”

PETA India aims to remind people that killing animals for food and leather contributes to water pollution, land degradation, and greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, it said that consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy foods contributes to heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer, and obesity.

‘No quality control on meat in Gujarat’

Ahmedabad: At a time when beef ban provkes bitter debates, CAG has blamed the state government for not bothering to control the quality of meat being sold in the state for the last five years.

In its report, CAG has highlighted that though the state has sizeable non-vegetarian population (39.05%), the Food & Drug Control Administration (FDCA) had not taken any measures to bring slaughterhouses and meat shops under the Food Safety Standard (FSS) Act.

The audit report has revealed that there are only nine slaughterhouses situated under the municipal corporation/municipality area but all of them are functioning without license under FSS Act.

The audit report has rebuked the authorities because out of thousands of meat shops in the state, only 55 had been registered when the FSS Act mandates compulsory registration/license to carry on any food business.

Fresh guidelines issued for operating meat shops in Agra

AGRA: The district administration on Friday issued new guidelines for operating meat shops in the city. Meat vendors have been directed to stay away from 50-meter-radius and 100 meter from the main gate of religious places. They cannot slaughter any animal or poultry bird inside the shop, besides they have to use curtains/tinted glass and ensure that meat is not visible to public. All persons working in such shop will have to obtain health certificatefrom government doctors.

For obtaining licences in urban area, applicants will have to first obtain no objection certificate from the respective circle officer and the municipal corporation. Following that they will apply for NOC from food safety and drug administration (FSDA).

In rural areas, meat vendors will have to get NOC from gram panchayat, besides circle officer and FSDA. In case such shop owners are found flouting norms of Food safety and Standards Act, their licences could be suspended any time.

Meat vendors have also been directed not to slaughter any ill, milch or pregnant animal. They have also been asked to get their premises whitewashed every six months. All the knives and blades used in shops should be made of steel. They will also have to ensure proper record of met items procured from slaughter house and. Proper disposal of waste is another mandatory rule. Meat shops will have to keep refrigerator with transparent doors and also required to have geyser facility. Only veterinary doctor certified meat could be sold from such places. They will have to transport meat in insulated freeze vehicles from slaughter houses.

Moreover, they will have to stay away from places where vegetables are sold.

How tangle of laws and regulations puts brakes on UP's meat industry

A slaughterhouse in the Qaiserbagh area of Lucknow wears a deserted look on March 26.

Slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s largest meat exporting state, appear to be caught in a tangle of numerous laws and regulations that have put the brakes on the meat industry.

With the Yogi Adityanath government ruthlessly applying all these rules to weed out illegal abattoirs in line with the BJP’s election manifesto, even most of the licenced slaughterhouses have failed to pass legal scrutiny and hence forced to close down.

A slaughterhouse, according to the law, is a building or place where 10 or more animals are butchered for food every day.

The abattoirs in the state, probably like in any other state, have to comply with the sections of at least two dozen Acts and Rules even after they procure a licence to save animals from cruelty by butchers, protect human health by ensuring sale of meat that is fit for human consumption, protect the air and ground water from getting contaminated by reckless slaughter of animas, among other things.

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, Transport of Animals Rules, 1978, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughterhouse) Rules, 2001,

Central Motor Vehicle , Rules 2015, Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, Agriculture and Processed Food Product Export Development Authority (Amendment) Act, 2009, Environment Protection Act, 1986, Water (Preservation and Control of Pollution) Ac t, 1974, Air (Prevention of and Control) Act, 1981, and Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 are some of the laws that are applicable.

Little wonder then, not only have the legal slaughterhouses and meat shops been closed but a large number of abattoirs, otherwise legal, have also been sealed by the administration since over the past week for violating of one rule or another.

Sample this. As many as 185 duly licenced and authorised slaughterhouses possessed the mandatory no-objection certificate (NoC) issued to them by the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board to run their business. This simply means only 185 abattoirs in the state were legal and the rest illegal since an NoC is a must for anyone to run a slaughterhouse. But 140 of the 185 legal slaughterhouses along with hundreds of illegal ones have been closed down so far since the government’s statewide crackdown began on March 21. The 140 ‘legal’ abattoirs were sealed because they were found violating one rule or the other.

“So, now it can be said that only 45 slaughterhouses in the state are legal as on date and the rest illegal even though 140 others had been issued an NoC,” Suresh Yadav, member-secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board told Hindustan Times.

Thousands of meat shops also shut down either voluntarily in solidarity with other slaughterhouses or due to a shortage of meat supply or because they simply did not comply with the terms and conditions of the licence issued to them.

Impact on Muslims

Bearing the brunt of the crackdown financially are obviously Muslims because it is mostly they who are into the meat business.

“Thousands of Muslim families that sustain on meat trade in the city are facing a very difficult time,” said Zafar Alam, owner of Nizam Meat Shop in Kanpur. He claimed the local police inspector came to him on Tuesday night ordering him to shut down his slaughterhouse without citing any reasons.

Alam blamed corruption in the departments concerned for forcing even authorised slaughterhouses to violate rules. Airing similar views, Alam, of Nizam Meat Shop in Lucknow, said, “Though I have a licence, I have shut down the shop in solidarity with fellow traders whom the police are harassing every day citing government orders.”

Some welcome crackdown

However, not all meat traders are upset. In fact, within the Muslim community there are people who have welcomed the crackdown.

Shamil Shamsi, Lucknow’s well-known chef and hotel owner, says there is no reason the government’s legitimate action should be condemned just because it is affecting the livelihood of owners of illegal abattoirs and meat shops which are playing havoc with the health of people and the environment.

“Should the Punjab government not act against the illicit drug peddling in the state just because it will harm the economic interests of the drug peddlers?” he questioned, adding, “We demanded from the Akhilesh Yadav government in 2014 to act against the illegal slaughterhouses but it did not because of political reasons and now when the new government is taking action according to the law, people are making foolish arguments to discredit it.

According to Shamsi, slaughtering sick animals and eating their meat is against Islam.

SC , NGT on illegal traders

The government’s action, as Shamsi pointed out, is legally tenable. In fact, there are the Supreme Court

(Laxmi Narayan Modi vs Union of India and others) and the National Green Tribunal (Shailesh Kumar Singh vs Government of UP and Others) orders based on which even the previous government had issued a Government Order (GO) on August 8, 2014 asking the bodies concerned to take action.

“But hardly any action was taken till October 2016 when a few slaughterhouses were ordered to close down after the NGT held DMs (district magistrates) accountable for the action,” revealed an official.

Fresh guidelines, orders Now, Uttar Pradesh chief secretary, Rahul Bhatnagar has again issued a fresh GO with fresh guidelines. The new GO, issued on March 24, asks DMs to appoint a 10-member committee to collect details on slaughter houses, number and kinds of animals being slaughtered there in their districts and seal the illegal ones.