May 3, 2017
Telangana: Water, oil packets fail in quality
Water packets, sourced from bus and railway stations, and shops, were found to be unsafe to drink.
Hyderabad: Random quality tests carried out by the food controller for oil and water packets in the city show that they are of substandard quality. Over 500 samples of oil and water packets, which were randomly picked from Hyderabad and other districts in the state, were fou-nd to be failing in quality. Vegetable oils which were picked up from the market and also supermarkets were tested. However, the quality of the product was found to be substandard.
Officials have sent a report on the tests to Food Safety Standard Authority of India. “These are branded products and hence the reports of its inferior quality have been sent to the head office, which will take up the matter with the manufacturers,” said a senior food inspector on condition of anonymity. He said they have also found counterfeit products under the same brand and the issue was taken up with the concerned people.
“For packaged drinking water, it was found that the product was misbranded and was of substandard quality, which was unsafe to drink. The samples were randomly picked up at bus stations, railway stations, malls and big markets in the state to assess the quality,” the official said.
After amla juice fails test, Ramdev’s Patanjali comes up with ‘chamatkari’ wheat seed, chilli
Patanjali that started in 2006 to sell traditional Ayurvedic potions has expanded into personal care, home products, cosmetic creams, noodles, and more in last few years.
Patanjali Ayurveda, the Haridwar-based Ayurveda firm promoted by yoga guru Ramdev, has developed a new variety of wheat seed and chilly in a bid to shore up its image after a couple of its products, including amla juice, failed to clear a laboratory test.
Patanjali, which made Rs 5,000 crore in revenue in 2015-16, and is eying Rs 1 trillion in the next one decade, has come up with a sprawling 10-acre research centre in Haridwar. The Patanjali Research Institute that was opened with an initial investment of Rs 200 crore will focus on inventing ‘result orientated’ Ayurveda medicines.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the centre during his Uttarakhand visit on Wednesday.
The yoga guru has claimed researchers have developed a new variety of wheat seed that can fetch up to 28 quintals in one acre of land and also a home-grown chilly that can fetch up to 47 quintals in an acre.
“Patanjali agro scientists have developed advanced variety of high yielding wheat grain (named Patanjali Chamatkar) without using chemicals (sic),” Ramdev tweeted.
“Patanjali agro scientists have proved time and again that, high yielding and high quality produce can be obtained without chemicals (sic)” he added.
Patanjali Chamatkar or miracle got a much-needed fillip from Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh who said it was an excellent use of ‘swadeshi’.
Patanjali that started in 2006 to sell traditional Ayurvedic potions has expanded into personal care, home products, cosmetic creams, noodles, and more in last few years. It sells everything from detergent to cornflakes and hair oil under its own name.
A person privy to the developments in the firm said Ramdev intends to focus on two core areas – Ayurveda and agro business. Ramdev is focusing on strengthening the research wing of the company in a bid to revamp its brand image, which has taken a beating in the last one year.
Many of its products have been getting “adverse feedback” from consumers and retailers, prompting the company to form two internal committees earlier this year to address the problem. The company also faced the ire of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for ‘misbranding’.
Last month, Canteen Stores Department (CSD), the retailing entity selling consumer goods to the armed forces, suspended the sale of a batch of Patanjali’s amla juice after it failed” the test carried out at West Bengal Public Health Laboratory in Kolkata. Defence ministry sources said a show cause notice has been served on the company.
The Ayurveda firm, however, blamed a department of the Uttarakhand government for the fiasco.
Nine packaged drinking water units shut down in Mysuru
Four other units that were in the process of getting licences were asked to stop production and sale till they obtained certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards.
As many as nine packaged drinking water units which were functioning without possessing mandatory ISI certification in Mysuru district have been closed down. Four other units, which had applied for ISI certification and were in the process of getting them, were asked to stop production and sale of their products until they obtained certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
S. Chidambar, designated officer for Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and district vector-borne diseases officer, and other officials conducted an enforcement search a few days ago and found that nine units were functioning without the ISI certification.
Licences mandatory
Disclosing this to The Hindu, Dr. Chidambar said that apart from functioning illegally, the units were not following prescribed procedure in preparing good quality packaged drinking water.
The owners of the units were asked to close down their units and were warned of dire consequences if they attempted to re-open the same in the future, he said. He cautioned that action would be initiated against the units under Section 33 of Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986, if they were found indulging in carrying out their businesses illegally.
Licences from BIS and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) are prerequisites to run a packaged drinking water plant, he said.
Laboratory tests
Dr. Chidambar said that apart from having treatment machinery like reverse osmosis units, carbon filters and sand filters, the plants must have also laboratories that are extremely important to check the potability of water after processing. The owners of the plant should conduct tests of each batch of processed water in their laboratories and in other laboratories too at regular intervals, he said.
Health hazard
A spurt in the demand for processed drinking water has resulted in proliferation of packaged drinking water plants. The plants were set up by individuals to make easy money. Substandard quality of water manufactured by such units may pose a grave threat to people’s health, Dr. Chidambar said.
Dr. Chidambar said that borewell water is the only water that should be used for manufacturing packaged drinking water, and river water, open well water or water supplied by civic bodies should not be used for this purpose. He also appealed to the people not to buy packaged drinking water unless they find the ISI certification and FSSAI number.
He instructed hotels, bakeries, bars and restaurants not to sell packaged drinking water without ISI certifications and FSSAI numbers. There are other 32 manufacturing units functioning in Mysuru district with certification from BIS, he said.
Powering up food
Augmenting foods with nutrients can improve overall health, but it must be regulated
Since a diversified diet that meets all nutritional requirements is difficult to provide, fortification of food is relied upon by many countries to prevent malnutrition. The World Health Organisation estimates that deficiency of key micronutrients such as iron, vitamin A and iodine together affects a third of the world’s population; in general, insufficient consumption of vitamins and minerals remains problematic. Viewed against the nutrition challenge India faces, processed foods with standards-based fortification can help advance overall health goals, starting with maternal health. It is imperative, for a start, to make iron-fortified food widely available, since iron deficiency contributes to 20% of maternal deaths and is associated with nearly half of all maternal deaths. The shadow of malnutrition extends to the children that women with anaemia give birth to. They often have low birth weight, are pre-term, and suffer from poor development and lower cognitive abilities. Low intake of vitamins, zinc and folate also causes a variety of health issues, particularly when growing children are deprived. Fortification is a low-cost solution. The benefit is maximised when there is a focus also on adequate intake of oils and fats, which are necessary for the absorption of micronutrients and something poorer households often miss in their diet.
The efficacy of the fortification standards introduced by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will depend on enforcement. It is important to ensure that all sections of producers meet the norms, since the FSSAI plans to get local flour mills to add premixed nutrients. Making affordable, good quality fortified foods widely available is the key. Only such standardised processes can provide micronutrients to women, and in turn to breastfed children in the first six months after birth. A well-functioning public distribution system is the best channel to reach precisely those sections that need fortified food the most. In the case of children, recent studies show that adding zinc to food during the six months to 12 years growth period reduced the risk of death from infectious diseases and all causes put together. Fortified food, therefore, provides near to medium-term gains, and addresses micronutrient malnutrition concerns at the population level. Yet, as the WHO points out, in the long term, public health goals on prevention and elimination of nutritional deficiencies should aim at encouraging people to adopt a diversified and wholesome diet. Children, including those in school, should get a wholesome cooked meal that is naturally rich, and augmented with vegetables, fruits, dairy and other foods of choice. Fortified foods can help fill the gaps, particularly in areas that are in need of speedy remedial nutrition. It is also vital that food regulation views the issue of affordability as a central concern, because unaffordable fortified food would defeat the very purpose of fortification.
Food safety enforcement wing conducted drive
Imphal, May 02 2017: Food safety enforcement wing conducted a surprise drive at various shops in Masjid Road and Thangal Bazar area, today.
Th Sunilkumar, Designated officer of Food Safety and Administration who took part in the drive said that despite the edible items which may cause throat diseases to the children were ban earlier were found to be still available in today's drive.
The ban items have been seized today.
Th Sunilkumar also said actions will be taken up under the food safety and standard act 2006, if shopkeepers are found violating the rules.
In the past the drive could not be held regularly due to the lack of manpower in the department but now the department has the adequate manpower and the drive will be conducted regularly in all valley districts.
Sunilkumar appeals to the public and CSO's to extend all possible support to stop the people running shops without the FSSAI license.
The drive was conducted by a combine team of enforcement wing of Imphal East and West, Thoubal and Bishnupur District under the supervision of food safety Commissioner, P.K Singh.
During the drive edible items being sold without license were seize and some of the shopkeepers pulls their shutter down on hearing the news of the surprise drive.
The shops have been seal by the enforcement wing.
Most of the shopkeepers were found selling of edible items without the norms of food safety and standard authority of India (FSSAI) license.
The combine team also found many imported items from Myanmar without expiry date stickers, stickers with Myanmar language and twice printed stickers with manufacturing date.
NDDB’s CALF gets recognition from BIS
Currently, CALF is the only laboratory in the country to receive this recognition from BIS
Vadodara/ Anand: The Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (CALF) run by Anand-headquartered National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has been recognized by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for undertaking analysis of various milk and milk products.
CALF has received accreditation to undertake analysis of packaged pasteurized milk, flavoured milk, sterilized milk, condensed milk, milk powder, cheese, shrikhand, paneer, skimmed milk powder (grade I and grade II), pasteurized butter, butter oil, ghee, curd, yoghurt and ice-cream.
Currently, CALF is the only laboratory in the country to receive this recognition from BIS. "This recognition would go a long way in supporting the dairy industry's commitment to maintain standards and provide safe and good quality milk and milk products to consumers," a release issued by NDDB said on Tuesday.
"Testing system will further strengthen the dairy industry to ensure that milk and milk products sold in the market conform to the regulatory requirements," it further said.
CALF is a multi-disciplinary analytical laboratory of NDDB. CALF offers a range of analytical services in the field of dairy products, food, fruit and vegetables, water, feed and animal genetics at an affordable cost. Last year, it has tested around 35,000 samples.
CALF is accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) covering chemical, microbiological and genetics scope of testing. It is also a notified referral laboratory for Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for milk and milk products.
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