DINAKARAN NEWS

Organic? Really? No way to know

Food officials in no position to do tests.

Organic vegetables for sale in city market. 

KOZHIKODE: With just few days left for With just a few days left for Vishu, shops offering organic vegetables charging higher prices are rising as people are increasingly scared of the ‘poisoned' ones from other states. But food safety officials cannot trace their genuineness. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has just one testing centre in the state for pesticides, which is at the Agriculture Research Institute in Thiruvananthapuram. “The samples have to be sent in 24 hours, or else it is of no use,” said O. Sankaran Unni, FSSAI assistant commissioner.

"It's very expensive and time-consuming. At present, the department is running short of funds. How is it possible to check all the samples that we send on a regular basis?" “For this Vishu season, we would be collecting samples from all the outlets. Even though the results of which will not be available before the festival, we will be getting an idea on the safety of the food we consume in the name of organic," he added. The good agriculture practice (GAP) certification from the selected Krishi Bhavans in the State is the only method to ensure the quality of the farm products.

GHMC hygiene raids just to ‘make money’

Despite many violations, not a single prosecution.

A view of the kitchen at one of the hotels which was raided by GHMC officials. It was found violating several food safety standards.

Hyderabad: Eating out is extremely popular in the city, but is the food being served at restaurants and hotels worth your hard-earned money? Turns out that many restaurants and hotels are serving food that’s not up to the mark.

The worst is that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is going slack on offenders and is often sparing them. The Food Standard and Safety Act 2006 has three sections pertaining to adulteration, misbranding and serving stale food. Violations of these sections are punishable with seven years in jail.But despite finding that hotel managements are serving stale food, there has not been a single prosecution.

The only action that’s taken is temporary shutting of establishments and fines. Three hotels were shut after it was found that the managements had been serving food that had been stored for a week.The Government of India enacted the new Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, which came into force in August 2011 with notification of rules.

Secretary of Forum for Good Governance M. Padmanabha Reddy said, “Adulteration and sub-standard food is a serious concern. Even the high court took up the issue, but the GHMC instead of prosecuting the owners or proprietors of restaurants is letting them off with meagre fines. The GHMC officials made inspections and booked cases; but once the dust settled, things are back to normal usual. Sub-standard food claims lives of customers. Despite the fact that the FSS Act allows serious action, the GHMC is acting soft. Are raids an act to increase the corporation’s revenues?”

On Saturday, officials inspected the Your Friend Bawarchi Hotel near Madhapur police station and seized the hotel for unhygienic conditions, for using unstamped meat, storing meat and cooked items in the freezer and using plastic below 40 microns. The officials also inspected Green Bawarchi at Srinagar Colony and imposed a penalty of Rs10,000 for not using stamped meat.

FDA to crack the whip on ‘artificial eggs’ retailers

BHOPAL: After samples of milk were found adulterated with water, the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) is set to crack down on egg retailers. The crackdown is expected to come any time in the wake of a complaint by Betul resident after he found suspicious plastic material in his egg.

According to MP FDA officials, samples from suspected chemical-laced artificial eggs were sent for chemical testing. A full report is expected this month. "It is illegal to sell artificial eggs. The supply was from a Hyderabad-based company. It is suspected that excessive production led to their foray in Madhya Pradesh market," said an FDA official.

FDA officials admit they are unaware of the process and have turned to internet and YouTube channels to verify the process. One official said he found a process in which fake egg white is made by mixing sodium alginate to warm water and then adding gelatin and alum. Later, the video demonstrated to add benzoic acid to the end product. Benzoic acid is a preservative.

For the moment, FDA officials are in the dark about such eggs in the market. Reports of such eggs being marketed have been traced to South India and some parts in Delhi. "These eggs are being sold Rs 20 to Rs 30 cheaper than normal eggs. We are advising people to report any instance of this nature," he said.

FDA is also likely to crackdown on use of excessive chemicals in vegetables. In 2015, the FDA came down hard on vegetable producers near Arera Colony for using sewage water for cultivation. Traces of highly toxic chemicals were found.

On Friday, FDA carried out milk sampling surveillance in Bairagarh sector. Around 20% of the samples were found adulterated with water. It came after Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), an autonomous body established under the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) provided inspector with milk scanning devices. The devices sent to all FDA units across the country trace adulteration and level of fat in milk.

After Haridwar, now crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses in Doon

DEHRADUN: A few days after a crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses and abattoirs in and around Haridwar, teams of the food safety department raided a few slaughterhouses located at Innamullah building near railway station and Muslim colony in Kargi early Saturday morning.

Department sources said buffalo carcasses and meat were seized during raids, following which notices were issued to seven people, while all unlicensed abattoirs had been sealed.

Sources said there are over 50 illegal abattoirs in the district, of which majority are running in the outskirts of cities such as Sahaspur, Vikasnagar and Doiwala, while major part of meat is brought on bikes from Saharanpur.

Raids were carried out by several teams comprised officials of the city administration, food safety department and police, and the accused were booked under two separate cases — illegal slaughtering of bovines and violation of environmental norms.

Notices have been served on four people from Innamullah building — Abdul Salam, Naushad, Mohammad Shahzad and Irfan Kureshi; two from Muslim colony in Kargi — Mohammad Gulfam Ahmad and Mustakim; and one from Chukhu mohalla — Vikas Sonkar.

The notice provide them three days to present documents before the food safety officer, failing which the department will register a case against them on Tuesday under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.

According to officials, who conducted raids, they found bovines being slaughtered, and blood flowing into drains in gross violation to the environmental norms.

Divulging details of raids, officer designate, the Food Safety and Standards Authority, Anoj Thapliyal said, "Owners of these so-called slaughterhouse neither had licence from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) nor were they following correct waste disposal method as has been set by FSSAI. The condition is extremely dangerous, polluting and life-threatening."

After U.P. slaughterhouse raids, it’s Dehradun next

Notices served on seven abattoirs without licences

Following the crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP government in neighbouring Uttarakhand also raided slaughterhouses in Dehradun on Saturday, and served notices on at least seven persons for allegedly running “illegal” operations.

Superintendent of Police (City) Ajay Singh said, “The slaughterhouses were running without licence … We have given the slaughterhouse owners three days to produce the required documents, failing which strict action will be taken where the defaulters might have to serve an imprisonment of six months and pay a fine of Rs. 50,000.”

On Saturday, seven persons were served notices for running slaughterhouses which were allegedly in violation of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, the designated officer of the Food Safety and Standards Authority in Dehradun, Anoj Kumar Thapliyal, said.

The teams that raided three areas in Dehradun had officials from the district administration, the police, and the health and animal husbandry departments.

Early morning searches

“The raids continued in three localities of Dehradun [Inamullah Building, Chukhu Mohalla, and Muslim Basti] between 4 a.m. and 7.30 a.m. ,” Mr. Thapliyal said. He added that “the defaulters had no licence and the bovines were being slaughtered under unhygienic conditions.”

The police said the crackdown would continue.

‘Illegal’ slaughterhouses raided in Uttarakhand, notices sent to seven people

The accused were booked under two separate cases — illegal slaughtering of bovines and violation of environmental norms — and asked to reply in three days

After Uttar Pradesh, it is the Uttarakhand government’s turn to crack down on illegal slaughterhouses operating across the state.

Government teams raided three places with “unlicensed abattoirs” in Dehradun on Saturday morning, issuing notices to seven people. According to sources, bovines were being slaughtered under unhygienic conditions even as the operation was in progress.

The team – comprising officials from the police, municipal, district administration and food safety departments – started by raiding Inamullah Building, located in a Muslim-dominated area in the heart of Dehradun, at 4 am. They reportedly witnessed bovines being slaughtered, and blood flowing into drains in gross violation of environmental norms.

“The accused neither had valid licences nor adequate arrangements for proper disposal of waste. The conditions were extremely dangerous, polluting and life-threatening,” Anoj Kumar Thapliyal, designated officer of the Food Safety and Standards Authority in Dehradun, told Hindustan Times.

The team also raided slaughterhouses at Kargi Chowk and Chukhuwala, and returned with similar reports. In all, four people from Inamullah Building (Abdul Salam, Naushad, Mohammad Shahzad and Irfan Kureshi), two from Muslim Colony in Kargi (Mohammad Gulfam Ahmad and Mustakim), and one from Chukhuwala (Vikas Sonkar) were served notices.

They were booked under two separate cases of illegal slaughtering of bovines and violation of environmental norms. The first offence, to be decided in the chief judicial magistrate’s court, will entail six months’ imprisonment and a penalty of up to Rs 50,000. The second, which will be judged in the additional district magistrate’s court, is punishable with a penalty of up to Rs 2 lakh.

The traders were given three days to submit their responses to food safety officers. All the cases have been booked under the Food Safety and Standards Act-2006.

Superintendent of police (city) Ajay Singh said this was just the start. “Similar raids will happen in the coming days. We won’t allow any illegal slaughterhouse to exist,” he added.

Sources say there are over 50 illegal abattoirs in the district, spread across suburban areas such as Sahaspur, Vikasnagar, Premnagar, Doiwala and Chakrata.

UP slaughterhouses: All about the Rs 15,000-cr industry that employs 25 lakh people

The Aligarh-based Frigerio Conserva Allana Limited is one of the country’s biggest slaughterhouse-cum-meat processing units, contributing to a huge industry that provides livelihood to an estimated 25 lakh people directly or indirectly. 

The BJP’s election manifesto promised to shut down all illegal slaughterhouses and place curbs on all mechanical abattoirs in the state. The manifesto said the concerns were about UP’s livestock that suffered badly during previous dispensations. Though cow slaughter is banned in UP, there is no ban for slaughtering buffaloes. As the Yogi Adityanath government launches a crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses, here’s a look at Uttar Pradesh’s abattoirs and what drives the business

What does it take to start an abattoir

A proposal is submitted to the industries centres by an applicant after procuring land for the unit. It is then sent to the UP Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) which forwards it to the concerned district magistrate (DM) for clearance. A panel formed by the DM visits the project site and examines it on various parameters, law and order being the most important factor. After receiving the administration’s nod, the proposal is sent back to the UPPCB for granting no objection certificate (NOC). A team of UPPCB officials also visits the project site and screens it to ensure it conforms to the norms laid down to check air, water and other forms of environmental pollution. An application is then moved by the plant owner before the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), the Union government’s regulatory body that monitors exports of all products. Before granting approval for export, the APEDA carries out its own inspection of meat and meat products in slaughter houses, processing plants, storage and conveyance facilities.

Number of slaughter houses in UP

Of the 72 government-approved abattoirs across the country, 38 are in Uttar Pradesh, according to UP Pollution Control Board based on NoCs issued. This includes four government-run of which only two – Agra and Saharanpur – are functional. The remaining two are proposed in Lucknow and Bareilly. Hind Agro IMPP in Aligarh is one of the first plants set up in 1996.

Why do illegal slaughterhouses flourish

Most of the 38 slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh cater to exports. The buffaloes slaughtered in India are in demand in Gulf countries because of two reasons -- low cost and the assurance that buyers in Muslim countries are assured it is halal, slaughtered in a manner Muslims consider ritualistically appropriate. Under these circumstances, the local demands are met by illegal or standalone slaughterhouses.

How are buffaloes procured

On an average, 300 to 3000 livestock is slaughtered daily at these abattoirs depending on their capacity and permission. The abattoirs slaughter buffalo, sheep and goat, which have become ‘spent’ for their owners/farmers, mostly Hindus, and are procured by a group of traders from regional weekly ‘mandis’ (village markets). The average cost of a buffalo is around Rs 20,000. A minimum of 10-acre plot of land is needed to set up an IMPP at a cost of Rs 40 to 50 crore. The slaughter houses in the state have permission to kill a bull which is more than 15 years or is of an unhealthy breed.

ead more

How big is the industry

Uttar Pradesh is the market leader in production and export of meat in the country. There is no record of illegal animal slaughter and the quantity of meat produced from animals butchered illegally but rough estimates suggest that 140 slaughterhouses and over 50,000 meat shops don’t have permission. As per an APEDA report, UP is the highest producer of meat with 19.1% share, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 15.2% and West Bengal at 10.9%. From 2008-09 to 2014-15, the state produced 7515.14 lakh kg of buffalo meat, 1171.65 lakh kg of goat meat, 230.99 lakh kg of sheep meat and 1410.32 pork meat in the year 2014-15, data from the state’s animal husbandry department show.

How does Centre support the industry

The Centre has been encouraging the meat industry and the food processing ministry by providing aid of up to 50 per cent of the cost of setting up a unit. Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly 50 per cent of India’s total meat exports and more than 25 lakh people are associated with the industry directly or indirectly, according to the All India Meat and Livestock Exporters’ Association.

How will a ban on slaughterhouses effect the industry

As per estimates, meat exports account for Rs 26,685 crore annually, according to UP’s animal husbandry department. According to the All India Meat and Livestock Exporters’ Association, a ban on meat exports would mean a loss of at least Rs 11,350 crores of revenue for the state. And if it persists the for next five years, then the revenue loss can mount up to Rs 56,000 crore. In the year 2015-16, UP exported 5,65,958.20 metric tonnes of buffalo meat.