300 litres adulterated milk seized, 2 booked

AGRA: Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) officials seized more than 300 litres of adulterated milkand arrested two persons on Tuesday.

The officials swooped down on Nari village of Dauki policejurisdiction led by designated officer Vineet Kumar of FSDA. After taking samples, the officials dumped the seized milk packets.

"The tainted milk packets were made of liquid detergent, soyabean oil, mahua oil, glucose, maltose powder and several other chemicals," said Kumar, one of the officers involved in the raid.

"We have seized four litres of detergent liquid, 15 litres of chemical, 300 litres of adulterated synthetic milk, 15 litres of mahua oil, 30 liters of soyabean oil from the private diary farm," he said. "The raid was conducted on minister's order to rein in food adulteration," he added.

The FSDA lodged a complaint against Darelal and Naresh and handed them over to police.

Remote areas like Dauki, Kheragarh are huge market of synthetic/adulterated milk production. The adulterated milk market becomes active days ahead of any festival. Milk products from here are sold to nearby districts such as Mathura, Firozabad, Faridabad and Delhi.

Government scrutinises FSSAI for underutilisation of funds by parliamentary committee

The Parliamentary Committee on Department of Health and Family Affairs has pulled up the health department for underutilisation of funds by the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). 

“FSSAI was established in 2006. The status of safety, regulation, manufacturing, processing, distribution, sale and import of food items for human consumption shows a dreary picture in the country,” it added. “The slow progress of the developmental activities and initiatives would hamper the quality of work being rendered in the context of safety and standardisation of food items across the country,” the report said.

It said that for three consecutive fiscal years (between 2014-15 and 2016-17), the funds allocated to the FSSAI were underutilised. It added that food safety, being a neglected area in the country, needed more attention.

The committee, in its report on grants to the department for this fiscal, termed the situation dreary, while stating that progress as far as food safety and standardisation was concerned was slow.

The report said, “The Committee is of the view that safety and standardisation of food is a neglected area in India, and the department needs to focus more in this field.” “Since there are numerous domains under FSSAI, the underutilisation of budgeted funds indicates negligence in this area and poor financial planning on the part of the concerned authority,” it added.

In 2014-15, against the budgetary allocation of Rs 60 crore, the expenditure was Rs 41.11 crore. In 2015-16, the allocation was Rs 72 crore and the expenditure was Rs 54.88 crore, while in the last fiscal, FSSAI was allocated Rs 72 crore and spent just Rs 52 crore until February 14, 2017.

The committee urged that appropriate measures be taken to arrest the shortfall in the utilisation of budgetary funds and strengthening of food testing systems/ laboratories in a time-bound manner. It also emphasised on the need for mobile food testing labs in the country, while acknowledging that it would take some time before a full-fledged system starts working and awareness prevails amongst the masses.

The committee recommended that the results of all the food items being tested should be made public through advertisements and news in electronic, print and social media to make the public aware of the same.

It also asked the department to set desirable and achievable targets and seek additional funds depending upon the implementation of the scheme at a later stage. The Department of Health and Family Affairs, meanwhile, has also informed that the Central Sector Scheme for the strengthening of the food testing system in the country, which includes a provision for mobile food testing labs with a cost of Rs 481.95 crore, was approved by the competent authority in September 2016.

FSSAI is the implementing agency of the scheme. A demand for Rs 114.20 crore for FSSAI, including Rs 48 crore under the grant-in-aid (capital) for the said scheme was made in revised estimates (2016-17).

However, Rs 72 crore was allocated as RE (2016-17). The amount of Rs 133.58 crore have been provided as against the projected demand of Rs 324.75 crore in BE (2017-18) and additional funds will be sought depending upon the implementation of the scheme in due course of time.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has been assigned to do a comprehensive performance audit of FSSAI. Issues such as standards’ formulation, regulations making, product approval, compliance and surveillance activities will be put under scanner.

FSSAI came into being in August 2011 after Parliament passed the Food Safety and Standards Act in 2006. It is a statutory body for laying down of science-based standards for articles of food and regulating the manufacturing, processing, distribution, sale and import of food so as to ensure safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

DINAMALAR NEWS

Patanjali defends amla juice, says it’s a medicinal product

Patanjali says its amla juice does not fall under FSSAI standards but those of the AYUSH ministry, after a Kolkata lab raised quality issues over its consumption

New Delhi: Yoga-guru-turned-businessman Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved Ltd on Monday said its amla juice is a medicinal product and not food, like other juices sold in the market.

Consequently, its amla juice does not fall under the purview of the standards set by the country’s food regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). “It comes under the purview of the Ministry of AYUSH. The test conducted by the Central Food Laboratory in Kolkata was done following the standards set by FSSAI. Our amla juice is a medicinal product and is safe for consumption,” said a spokesperson at Patanjali Ayurved.

The Patanjali spokesperson was reacting to a report by The Economic Times saying that the canteen stores department (CSD), the retailing entity for the country’s armed forces, has suspended sales of Patanjali amla juices at all its 3,901 outlets across the country after the laboratory in Kolkata found the product unsafe for consumption.

“We have also written to the CSD explaining this. Patanjali amla juice will be back to CSD shelves soon,” added the spokesperson.

A CSD spokesperson did not respond to e-mailed queries till press time.

FSSAI chief executive officer Pawan Kumar Agarwal did not respond to calls seeking comments.

In an interview to Mint on 13 April 2016, Agarwal had said that a lot of Patanjali products come under the Ministry of AYUSH and not FSSAI. He was responding to a question regarding the company selling products without FSSAI approval.

In the last one week, Patanjali has been in news for the wrong reasons. Last week, Indian Express reported that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Haryana had labelled Patanjali ghee (clarified butter) “substandard and unsafe” based on tests that the department had conducted in October 2016 at the state food laboratory of FDA, Haryana.

“Contents in cow ghee are different from the ghee other companies sell. Even the standards set by FSSAI are based on available products and not cow ghee. We are the first company to bring cow ghee in commercial market. There is no standard for cow ghee. So it does not make sense,” said the Patanjali spokesperson, referring to the controversy regarding its ghee brand.

Ghee and amla juice are among the most popular products sold by Patanjali. In April 2016, Ramdev had, in a press conference, said that ghee contributed to around 20% of Patanjali’s revenue.

In the year to 31 March 2016, Patanjali had claimed a revenue of Rs5,000 crore and said that it would cross Rs10,000 crore by 31 March 2017.

The company is yet to file financial details to the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

Will these controversies impact Patanjali’s business, or the brand? Analysts have different views.

Rajat Wahi, partner and head of consumer markets at consulting firm KPMG in India, said any company that expands business too fast (like Patanjali has been doing), with almost a product every week, is likely to find it difficult to maintain quality. “If it continues like this, and more questions are raised over the next few weeks, consumers, no matter how loyal they are, will start rethinking. And that would eventually impact the brand and the business,” he said.

Abneesh Roy, an analyst with Edelweiss Securities Ltd, however, said that the lab that has issues with amla juice is the same lab that found Maggi (instant noodle by Nestle India Ltd) unsafe. “But all other labs found the product safe. The product (amla juice) has to be tested by independent private laboratories. Plus, it all depends on how the issue pans out and what the regulators (like FSSAI) do,” he added.

On the other hand, said Roy, contribution of amla juice is very small to Patanjali’s coffers and the contribution of CSD will be even smaller. “It’s unlikely that this issue will impact the company’s business or the brand,” added Roy.

Egg scare: Seasonal fruits to dominate midday meals

DHANBAD: The district education department alerted as many as 1,800 schools to ensure that artificial eggs are not be included in the midday meal menu. District superintendent of education Dilip Manjhi said the alert was sounded after the report on the sale of artificial eggs.

The department issued a notice to all the block education officers of the district to advise schools to take utmost care while purchasing eggs that would be served to the student's midday meals.

According to the notice if any negligence is found in any schools, the concerned principal and village committee will be held responsible and action will be taken against them. Schools have been advised to report to the education department and the food safety officer if they doubt the quality of eggs.

However, principals and teachers are in a fix as they lack the knowledge to differentiate between a duplicate egg from the original. "It is difficult to identify plastic eggs. We will try the traditional methods of dipping the eggs in water and see if it sinks. If we are still at doubt then we will replace it with fruits and send the egg sample to food safety officer."

On April 20 a resident of Bhuli ordered an egg-based snack from a roadside vendor but got suspicious owing to its strange taste.

He then reported the case to authorities after which food safety officer Alok Vishwakarm raided the wholesalers' warehouse in the city. Samples were collected and sent to Ranchi.

Food Safety Tribunal

Growing complaints of impure and infectious food served in public restaurants, hotels and eateries became an alarming issue in the country. It had direct impact on the health of the people. PIL were filed with the Supreme Court to take note of contaminated food served or packed for service. The court took a comprehensive note of the entire issue and handled it as the case deserved to be handled. In 2006, The Food Safety and Standards Act was enacted in 2006 in the State but its rules were framed in 2011 after a lapse of five years, which was the testimony of non-serious approach towards the important piece of legislation right from the very beginning. According to the Act, the State was desired to appoint two Food Safety Appellate Tribunals — one each for Jammu and Kashmir.

However, the State Government did not take the responsibility of enforcing the Food Act with as much seriousness as was desired and the matter lingered on for a long time. A PIL was filed with the Supreme Court and as a result the court reprimanded the State Government for showing scant respect to the question of implementation of the Food Act. Even the State High Court also cast aspersions on the State Government for violating the clauses of the Act by not appointing the Tribunals as stipulated in the Act. After being reprimanded by the Supreme Court and High Court of Jammu and Kashmir over tardy implementation of this Act, the Department of Health and Medical Education on February 10, 2016 issued orders for the appointment of two Tribunals as per Rule 3.2.2 of the Food Safety and Standard Rules. However, appointment of two Tribunals did not mean that the Act had become functional in the State. The Tribunals need manpower and paraphernalia that would help them become functional. Such facilities have not been provided and only a lackadaisical attitude was adopted by the State Government. It clearly showed that the Government is not really serious that Food Act should be implemented in true spirit. These Tribunals are required to hear appeals from the decisions of the Adjudicating Officers under Section 68 of the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006. The Additional Deputy Commissioners of every district have been designated as Adjudicating Officer as per the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

The appointment of Presiding Officers of Food Safety Appellate Tribunals was welcomed in the wake of large number of pending cases related to unsafe, substandard and misbranded food products and items with the District Magistrates and in civil courts. However, in the absence of necessary paraphernalia, the Tribunals cannot function and the very purpose of the scheme seems to be in a state of stalemate.

The essential question is of the health of people. Food safety is becoming a serious matter since people are becoming more and more aware of consuming the right type of food. This is a delicate technical matter in which millions of peoples’ health is involved. Therefore, we would implore the State Government to divert its attention to the stipulations of the Food Act and provide the wherewithal to two Tribunals so that these become functional without loss of time. Government authorities claim that the posts for the Tribunals have been advertised but selection has not been made so far. They do not say why the selection is not made and when will the posts be filled. The High Court has called the report of the Medical Health Education Department only eyewash. What more aspersions can be cast by the High Court and how long will the department take it lightly.

Food safety officials to inspect soft drink stalls

Summer drive against waterborne diseases

In an effort to prevent waterborne diseases during summer, the Food Safety Department will launch an intensive drive in the district on Tuesday.

This comes close on the heels of the Health Department’s action against a few ice plants which supplied contaminated products in the city recently.

Officials at the Kerala Food Safety Commisisonerate here said squads would test the quality of water being used for making soft drinks and juice in parlours and shops in the district. The hygiene standards of the shops and the quality of packaged products too would be checked during the drive, they said.

O. Sankaranunni, Assistant Commissioner, said there were complaints that many juice parlours were using cheap industrial ice for making soft drinks. “We will look into the issue seriously. A 10-member squad will conduct surprise checks,” he said.

Samples to be collected

Mr. Sankaranunni said samples would be collected from suspected shops for lab tests. If serious quality violations were found, the shops would be shut down immediately for public safety, he said. The summer inspection conducted by the department last year had unveiled a series of flaws on the part of the soft drink dealers in various parts of the district. Around 150 shop owners had been booked for selling contaminated soft drinks and fruit juice and Rs. 5.55 lakh collected as fine from them.

Since the beginning of this summer season, Health Department squads too have been conducting checks. “We have already closed down an ice plant at Beypore which was found supplying contaminated product,” said a health officer. Eleven ice manufacturing units in the coastal area of the city were served notice for violating the quality norms.

There are complaints that many juice parlours are using cheap industrial ice for making soft drinks. We will look into the issue seriously.

O. Sankaranunni

Assistant Commissioner, Kerala Food Safety Commisisonerate

FSSAI helpline

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has launched a helpline number for the convenience of public and food business operators to submit their grievances through WhatsApp application.

The helpline number 94440-42322 enables consumers to report grievances. Food safety officials said that grievances related to consumables covered under FSSAI Act can be submitted to authorities through the helpline number.

DINAKARAN NEWS

DINAKARAN NEWS