பிளாஸ்டிக் அரிசி விவகாரம்: 13 இடங்களில் அரிசி மாதிரி எடுத்து சோதனை

ராஜபாளையம்,

விருதுநகர் மாவட்டத்தில் 13 இடங்களில் அரிசி எடுத்து சோதனைக்கு அனுப்பப்பட்டுள்ளது.

விழிப்புணர்வு கூட்டம்

ராஜபாளையம் அருகே தளவாய்புரம், செட்டியார்பட்டி உள்ளிட்ட பகுதிகளில் 50–க்கும் மேற்பட்ட அரிசி அரவை ஆலைகள் இயங்கி வருகின்றன. ஆலைகளுக்கு முறையான அனுமதி பெற வேண்டியதன் அவசியம், சுகாதாரமான முறையில் அரிசியை தயார்படுத்தும் முறைகள் குறித்து விளக்கிட உணவு பாதுகாப்பு மற்றும் மருந்து நிர்வாகத்துறை சார்பில் விழிப்புணர்வு கூட்டம் நடைபெற்றது.

செட்டியார்பட்டியில் உள்ள அரிசி ஆலை திருமண மண்டபத்தில் நடந்த கூட்டத்துக்கு அரிசி ஆலை உற்பத்தியாளர் சங்க தலைவர் ஆனந்தன் தலைமை தாங்கினார். செயலாளர் ராமர், பொருளாளர் மாரிமுத்து ஆகியோர் முன்னிலை வகித்தனர். கூட்டத்தில் உணவு பாதுகாப்பு பிரிவின் மாவட்ட நியமன அலுவலர் அனுராதா விளக்கவுரை ஆற்றினார். அவர், உணவு பாதுகாப்பு மற்றும் தரங்கள் சட்டத்தின் கீழ் உணவு உற்பத்தி செய்பவர்கள் மற்றும் அரிசியை உண்பதற்கான பக்குவத்திற்கு தயார் செய்யும் ஆலைகள் உரிமம் பெற வேண்டியதன் கட்டாயம் குறித்து விளக்கினார்.

அரிசியை தயார்படுத்தும் இடங்களை பராமரிக்கும் முறைகள் பற்றியும், தோல் மற்றும் தொற்று வியாதிகள் உடையவர்களை வேலைக்கு நியமிப்பதை தவிர்க்க வேண்டும் எனவும் கூறினார். எந்திரங்களை பராமரிக்கும் விதம் குறித்தும், அரிசியை சுத்தப்படுத்த நச்சுத் தன்மையுடைய கொள்கலன்களை உபயோகிப்பதை தவிர்கக வேண்டும் எனவும் கூறினார். உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அதிகாரிகள் கருப்பையா, சக்திகணேஷ், மாரிமுத்து ஆகியோரும் கூட்டத்தில் பங்கேற்றனர்.

மாதிரி

இதைதொடர்ந்து உணவு பாதுகாப்பு பிரிவின் மாவட்ட நியமனஅலுவலர் அனுராதா நிருபர்களுக்கு பேட்டியளித்தபோது கூறியதாவது:–

பிளாஸ்டிக் அரிசி தொடர்பாக விருதுநகர் மாவட்டம் முழுவதும் சில்லரை மற்றும் மொத்த வியாபார இடங்களில் 100–க்கும் மேற்பட்ட இடங்களில் ஆய்வு மேற்கொண்டு, 13 இடங்களில் மாதிரிகள் சேகரிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. மாதிரிகள் உணவு பகுப்பாய்வு கூடத்திற்கு அனுப்பப்பட்டுள்ளது. ஆய்வு அறிக்கையின் அடிப்படையில் அடுத்த கட்ட நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்படும். இவ்வாறு அவர் கூறினார்.

பிளாஸ்டிக் அரிசி குறித்து ஆய்வு கருத்தரங்கில் அதிகாரி தகவல்

சேத்துார்;''பிளாஸ்டிக் அரிசி குறித்து மாவட்ட வாரியாக ஆய்வுகள் மேற்கொள்ளப்பட்டு வருவதாக,'' மாவட்ட உணவு பாதுகாப்பு நியமன அதிகாரி அனுராதா கூறினார்.

சேத்துார் அருகே செட்டியார்பட்டியில் தமிழ்நாடு அரசு உணவு பாதுகாப்பு மற்றும் மருந்து நிர்வாகத்துறை சார்பில் உணவு பாதுகாப்பு குறித்த விழிப்புணர்வு கருத்தரங்கம் நடந்தது.

தளவாய்புரம் செட்டியார்பட்டி மற்றும் சுற்றுப்பகுதியில் உள்ள 40க்கு மேற்பட்ட அரிசி ஆலை உரிமையாளர்கள் கலந்து கொண்டனர்.

இதில் பேசிய உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அதிகாரி, '' உணவு பொருட்கள் தயாரிக்கும் இடம், அரிசி ஆலைகள் சுத்தமாக இருக்க வேண்டும். உடல்நலக் கேட்டை ஏற்படுத்தக்கூடிய, உலோக நச்சுத்தன்மை உடைய சாதனங்கள் கொண்டு உணவு தயாரிக்கவோ, சேகரிக்கவோ கூடாது.

பணியாளர்கள் பணியை தொடங்கும் போதும், பணியை முடித்த பின்பும் கைகளை நன்றாக சுத்தம் செய்ய வேண்டும். ஆலை உரிமையாளர்கள் ஆலை உரிமத்தை குறிப்பிட்ட தேதி தவறாமல் புதுப்பிக்க வேண்டும்.

மாவட்டம் வாரியாக அரிசி ஆலைகளில் உணவுதுறை அதிகாரிகள் ஆய்வு செய்து வருகின்றனர்.பிளாஸ்டிக் அரிசி இருக்கும் பட்சத்தில் ஆலை உரிமையாளர்கள் மீது சட்டரீதியான நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்படும் ,''என்றார்.

தளவாய்புரம் நெல் அரிசி வியாபாரிகள் சங்க செயலாளர் ராமர், பொருளாளர் மாரிமுத்து ,உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அதிகாரிகள், சக்திகணேஷ், மாரிமுத்து, கருப்பையா கலந்து கொண்டனர். சங்க தலைவர் ஆனந்தன் நன்றி கூறினார்.

DINAKARAN NEWS

DINAKARAN NEWS

Plastic rice rumours cooked up, says govt

Says no case reported from city

Rumours about rice made of plastic being sold in the Capital were “fake news”, the Delhi Food Safety Department said in its reply to a complaint.

Complaint lodged

Environmentalist Vikrant Tongad had lodged a complaint with the Public Grievance Monitoring System (PGMS) of the Delhi government about 10 days ago, asking it to take steps to address the reports of plastic rice flooding the markets.

Mr. Tongad had cited reports in the media as well as information shared through social media that the said plastic rice was being imported from China.

On Tuesday, the reply from the Food Safety Department to Mr. Tongad’s complaint dismissed the reports.

“This is fake news. The Department of Food Safety keeps a strict vigil on the quality of food items. During the past days, 27 samples of rice have been lifted from different markets of Delhi and in no case plastic was found,” the Department replied.

However, Mr. Tongad said the response did not mean that plastic rice was not being sold anywhere in Delhi.

“The inspections should be carried out on a regular basis and on a larger scale. Just because 27 samples were cleared doesn’t mean that there is no plastic rice,” said Mr. Tongad.

Response awaited

He added that he had filed a similar complaint with the Central government’s PGMS, but was yet to receive a response. In his complaint, he asked the Centre whether rice was being imported from China.

A video of children playing with a ball apparently made of plastic rice in Uttarakhand went viral earlier this month.

With Political Help, Lobbies Put Chemicals In Our Diet

BJP must honour its pledge to keep GM food out

Before the power of commercial lobbies, even the BJP government bows. The party’s manifesto took a strong stand against Genetically Modified (GM) foods; ignoring it, the Government’s Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) green-lighted genetically engineered mustard in India. GM mustard is known to be more dangerous than GM cotton (which has caused havoc already) and GM brinjal (which was stopped in the nick of time).

Because mustard is used in every household every day in India, its health implications are of special importance to us. GM mustard is an HT (herbicide tolerant) crop. This euphemism means it uses a single herbicide, eventually becoming resistant and necessitating heavy use of chemical herbicide. Such excessive use has been linked to birth defects and childhood cancers. Almost all of Europe has discontinued the GM concept altogether because of health issues.

Why then does India welcome these traps? There are three reasons: The vested interests of politicians, over-enthusiasm of civil servants, and the apparent ease with which watchdogs like GEAC can be compromised. Much of this is facilitated by the world’s most powerful lobbying groups which routinely influence US Government policies. (Barak Obama appointed several Monsanto Executives in his Government’s food and agriculture supervisory bodies).

These lobbies are no less powerful in India. Remember those horrid, heart-wrenching videos of endosulfan victims in Kasargod areas? They are still there — pitiably malformed children and men with bloated body parts. Every time such pathetic pictures of human suffering appeared on television screens, people would ask: Why doesn’t the Government ban endosulfan? And every time Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was confronted with the question, he would say: We need to do more tests to know if endosulfan is harmful. How thick can political skins get?

Insensitive politicians are aided and abetted by specialists in the Government’s planning bodies. NITI Ayog has argued in favour of GM mustard on the ground that the GM technology will substantially increase yield. This is a myth as UN statistics prove. Non-GM users have the highest mustard yield — Germany, France, UK, Poland, Czech Republic. Way down in the table are GM users — USA, Canada, Australia. Why did NITI Ayog rely on other self-serving statistics? And why did it ignore social and health issues?

The bigger tragedy is that we cannot be sure of our watchdogs; under pressure, they become promoters rather than preventers of malpractices. India has for long been a victim of this malaise. In 2009, the Food & Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), our only food regulatory body, saw Pepsi and Coca-Cola officials becoming members of panels to judge various technical matters such as sampling methods, additives and flavourings. With a board comprising representatives of the very companies it was supposed to regulate, what safety standards could FSSAI ensure?

Similar manipulations made the GEAC clear GM brinjal in 2009. Monsanto, described by The Guardian of UK as “the world’s most hated company,” infiltrated the GEAC and also gave various research assignments to field researchers and sundry agricultural scientists in the country. The result was that Monsanto-flavoured research reached the GEAC for Mansanto-flavoured decisions. Activist Kavita Kuruganti publicly charged that the Chairman of the Expert Committee appointed to examine the matter was “pressurised by the Agriculture Minister, GEAC and the industry” to clear GM brinjal. We were saved from it only because an alert Minister, Jairam Ramesh, put it safely in Trishanku Swarga.

The lobbyists turned smarter this time. They presented GM mustard as the product of a Delhi University (DU) team’s research. This was followed by another report: The genes that went into the DU mustard were the property of Bayer, a merged part of Monsanto. Three giant corporations including Monsanto-Bayer control both the seeds market and the pesticide market globally. It’s a win-win situation for them and Swadeshi scientists, too, necessarily work as their foot soldiers.

The only thing that can be done about technologies based on chemical pesticides is to eliminate them. Reckless use of pesticides in the cotton region of Punjab ruined a generation of farmers. Their tragedy was dramatised by the “cancer train” that took afflicted farmers daily from Bhatinda Station to Bikaner (where the Acharya Tulsi Cancer Institute was more affordable). Biologist Pushpa Bhargava, appointed by the Supreme Court in 2008 to observe the GEAC’s functioning, was outraged by the manipulations he saw. “Whatever Monsanto said was God’s own word,” he said and warned: “If Bt. Brinjal is released, it will be the single largest disaster in the country.”

Larger still will be the mustard disaster.

Delhi’s food safety department negates rumours of plastic rice

Rumours about plastic rice have been making rounds and spreading like wildfire over the past few days. It all started when customer complained that plastic rice was used to prepare biryani in Hyderabad

Flooded with queries from citizens about ‘plastic rice’ being sold in markets, the Delhi government’s food safety department has negated such rumours after conducting random checks.

“We had collected at least 27 samples – 20 raw samples from the markets and seven cooked rice samples from various hotels and restaurants - from across the city. None proved to be plastic rice. It is fake news,” Mrinalini Darswal commissioner of the state food safety department told HT.

Rumours about plastic rice have been making rounds and spreading like wildfire over the past few days. It all started when customer complained that plastic rice was used to prepare biryani in Hyderabad.

The news not only grabbed media headlines but also became viral on social media as wheat and paddy forms the staple diet of Indians.

“We have been receiving calls from wary customers across Delhi. Such rumours were also spreading across the social media. Earlier this month we received a grievance letter from a person. It was then we decided to go for a random check,” said a food safety officer of the department.

The samples were checked in the food laboratory of the department of food safety. All the samples complied with the specification under regulation no 2.4.6.5 of the Food Products Standards and Food Additives Regulation Act 2011 which defines the standards of rice in India.

“Only four samples were found to be misbranded due to labelling violations and one sample of cooked rice was found to be unsafe as it contained some bacteria,” said Darswal.

Environment right activist Vikrant Tongad who had shot the grievance letter to the food safety department said the panic about plastic rice being imported from China and flooding the markets were making rounds in social media.

“It was unlikely that plastic rice would be imported to India as it costs much more than normal paddy. Secondly India produces enough paddy and doesn’t need to import rice from China. But as news of plastic rice were also surfacing from other countries I decided to inform the food safety department,” said Tongad.

Sources said that the concept of plastic rice first surfaced around seven years back in China. It was popularly known as the Wuchang Rice Scandal. It was said to be made out of sweet potatoes and synthetic resin moulded into the shape of real rice. In 2016 Nigerian authorities claimed to have seized around 2.5 tons of plastic rice.

WHITE REVOLUTION, ADULTERATED

India is the world’s largest milk producer but almost 60 per cent of its milk is contaminated due to supply chain malpractices. While the state is doing its bit to fix the system, a technology for spot analysis is the game-changer 

When it comes to milk, India has both, a good and a bad track record. It ranks first in the world in milk production and contributes about 18 per cent to the world’s total milk production. In 2014-15, India produced 146 million tonnes of milk.

However, it is feared that over 60 per cent of the milk is contaminated due to malpractices in the milk supply chain, which includes dilution with unsafe water and mixing of hazardous chemicals. The milk is adulterated with contaminants such as urea, various kinds of salt, detergent, liquid soap, boric acid, caustic soda, and hydrogen peroxide, which have serious health effects. This has been candidly admitted to by the Government of India.

As per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, milk adulteration is the “act of deliberately reducing the quality of milk offered for sale to the consumers for profit”. Adulteration can take place during the harvest, growth, storage, transport and even at the distribution stage.

The FSSAI recently conducted a survey in 33 States and found that 68.4 per cent of the 1,791 milk samples it tested, were contaminated. In urban India, nearly 70 per cent of samples were found to be contaminated compared with 31 per cent in rural areas. The survey said that only Goa and Puducherry sold unadulterated milk — or at least the samples taken from these two States were not contaminated.

At the other end of the contamination spectrum were West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Mizoram. Not a single sample tested from these States met the FSSAI norms.

er prominent States fared just a shade better. Around 89 per cent of the samples tested from Gujarat, 83 per cent from Jammu & Kashmir, 81 per cent from Punjab, 76 per cent from Rajasthan, 70 per cent from Delhi and Haryana, and 65 per cent from Maharashtra, failed the test.

Forty eight per cent of the samples from Madhya Pradesh also met a similar fate. States with comparatively better results were Kerala, where only 28 per cent of samples did not conform to FSSAI standards, followed by Karnataka (22 per cent), Tamil Nadu (12 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (6.7 per cent).

Keeping these grim facts in mind, one must ask: What is the big deal if India is the world’s largest producer of milk, thanks to the White Revolution? Arguably, for a layman, differentiating between contaminated and pure milk is a tall order. Only specific chemical tests can reveal the truth. As mentioned earlier, water is the most common adulterant in milk. It not only reduces the nutritional value of milk but, if itself is unsafe, then it will make the consumer sick.

This only confirms that food adulteration is common in India. And so milk, which is widely consumed by children, isn’t spared. This is shocking, to say the least. What’s particularly worrying is the kind of substances used to adulterate milk. This shows that the trade-off between the risk of getting caught and the reward of huge profits is skewed heavily in favour of the latter.

The Government must focus on raising the risks for adulterators. One way of doing this is by hiking the penalty, including making the crime of food adulteration analogous to attempt to murder in extreme cases. It’s equally important to regularly check food products for adulteration, and ensure speedy trial of those who are suspected of food adulteration.

As the situation is rather serious, the Government is working overtime to address the issue. Union Minister for Science & Technology Harsh Vardhan has recently highlighted a system for detection of milk adulteration and analysis. This has been developed by the Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute, under the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, in Pilani.

It is expected to tackle a national-level health hazard due to adulteration in milk. The Union Minister has also said that he will be reaching out to his counterpart in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as well as to the Health Ministers of all State Governments to deploy this technology platform so as to address the problem of milk adulteration in the country. The FSSAI will also be asked to bring in the required regulatory intervention so as to ensure the delivery of quality milk.

The CSIR, of which Harsh Vardhan is the vice president, has done yeoman service in developing this technology which which instantaneously detects the adulterants in any milk sample. It is a low-cost portable system with user-friendly features. It enables detection of contaminants in just 40 to 45 seconds, and costs only 50 paise per sample. 

One only hopes that this system will go a long way in breaking the backs of those who are playing with the lives of unsuspecting people.

Food Safety and Standards Enforcement Wing generates Rs 64,68,033 lakh revenue in 7 yrs

IMPHAL, Jun 13 : Food Safety and Standards Enforcement Wing under the supervision of the Directorate of Health Services, Manipur has reportedly generated Rs 64,68,033 lakh revenue in the past 7 years. However, due to lack of manpower and infrastructure, numerous tasks could not be executed efficiently.

Speaking to The Sangai Express, Dr Sarungbam Bimolakumari, Consultant, Food Safety and Standards Enforcement Wing, said that food retailers and cooperators should ensure the food items they supply to the markets for consumption are safe and healthy for people.

“Between 2012 and 2017, Food Safety and Standards Enforcement Wing collected Rs 64,68,033 lakh as license and registration fee, Rs 12,71,000 lakh as penalty and Rs 65,32,500 lakh as food analysis fee. There is one District Designated Officer, 2 to 3 Food Safety Officers and 2 to 3 Office Assistants in 9 districts of the State. There are also some districts with not even a single official,” she informed.

One Tata Sumo vehicle each is provided for Imphal East, Imphal West and Bishnupur districts. The vehicles are utilized to conduct food anti-adulteration drives in stores and hotels and other related works.

She said that as part of the State Government’s 100-day programme, drives were conducted under the supervision of the Food Safety Commissioner in various parts of the State from May 28 and June 12 in which adulterated food items and tobacco products worth Rs 29,76,850 were disposed. There are still 4 rooms filled with seized tobacco and adulterated food items. If anyone is found selling banned food items, the individual can be jailed for 6 months along with upto Rs 5 lakh fine under Food Safety and Standard Act 2006.

“For 2017, budget of just Rs 35 lakh was sanctioned for Food Safety and Enforcement Wing. We have shortage of manpower and infrastructure which has hampered the overall performance. At times, we had to spend money from own pockets to ensure our work gets done,” she said.

One shopkeeper in Kwairamband Keithel said, “Earlier, Zarda Paan per serving used to cost Rs 5 but now it costs Rs 20. Special Paan which was Rs 100 per serving now costs Rs 150-200. Tobacco which comes in round tin now costs Rs 25 and above while Talab costs Rs 15 per sachet. Availability of banned products only allow the suppliers to earn more profit. I also used to sell Paan and tobacco products. Now I sell only Kom Kwa.”