DINAKARAN NEWS

DINAKARAN NEWS

DINAKARAN NEWS

Tobacco trader moves HC against action on product

Chennai, Jun 21 (PTI) A city-based trader of the tobacco product, Hans Chaap, today moved the Madras High Court for restraining government authorities from taking penal action against the item.

The petition by V N Arumugam and company, which came up before Justice M Govindaraj, sought a direction for restraining the Commissioner of Food Safety and Drug Administration from taking penal action against the product, claiming that it was made of tobacco only.

When the matter came up, Special Government Pleader sought time to file a counter in this connection.

The judge then posted the matter for hearing to June 23.

Referring to a notification issued by the Commissioner of Food Safety and Drug Administration, which was extended up to 2018, banning the manufacture, storage, transport, distribution or sale of gutkha and pan masala, the petitioner said their product is made of tobacco only and no eatables have been included.

Thus the notification is not applicable to the product, the petitioner said.

He argued that their product is nothing but a tobacco product falling under item 6 in the schedule to the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of advertisement and regulation of trade and commerce, production, supply and distribution) (CTP) Act, 2003. The petitioner said theirs is a tobacco product, for which CTP Act will apply and not the FSSA (Food Safety and Standards) Act.

He also said the ban imposed by the Commissioner of Food Safety and Drug Administration on manufacture, storage, distribution or sale of gutka, pan masala, chewing tobacco and any other food product containing tobacco or nicotine is not applicable to tobacco products.

Spice in your food could be brick dust

HYDERABAD: At a time, when police are cracking down on food adulteration, nutritionists and doctors are pressing alarm bells on health hazards from toxic concoctions on your plate.

At least seven big rackets were busted in last three months in Hyderabad and citizens are being told to be careful about what they buy from the open market.

Police officials who busted adulteration rings say gang members operate from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where food adulteration is rampant. It's just not milk or cooking oil, prized spices too are heavily adulterated, according to officials of National Institute of Nutrition.

"Many times, papaya seeds are grounded and mixed with synthetic gum to make it seem like black-pepper.This happens as pepper is costly and mixing them with papaya seeds makes it cheaper for miscreants," Dr V Sudarshan Rao, a scientist from the Food Safety Division of NIN, told TOI.

Following black pepper, the next most adulterated food item is fennel, which is mixed with sodium hydrosulphite. "This is then blended with sawdust and brick dust and sold in the market as masala powder," said an official from Nutrition Society of India.

Not just food meant for daily consumption, even cold drinks and ice-creams are mixed with high quantities of glycerol monostearate, an emulsifying agent, which is meant to be used in moderate amounts as prescribed by Food Standards and Safety Authority of India (FSSAI).

"People are not aware that in current times, everything we eat could be adulterated. Earlier, the practice was limited to mixing rice with stones to fudge weight. Now, it has become modern with miscreants using chemicals. Even mustard oil is sold by mixing it with a low-grade oil. There's no mechanism in place to curb this menace," said Dr B Sesikiran, director of NSI.

"While the food regulator has to monitor, check and penalize people who adulterate food, nothing moves on the ground. Till punishment is harsh, you cannot expect to have safe food," he said.

TIMES VIEW:

While its a welcome move that cops have finally launched a sustained crackdown against adulteration of spices and other food items in the city, efforts must be made to ensure that these traders do not get back to their old practice. Authorities should also ensure that these offenders get strict punishment and are not allowed to get away with minor penalties for playing with lives of people on a daily basis.

Yet again, Cockroach found in lunch served at hotel Annapoorna

A customer at Annapoorna Hotel in R.S. Puram was shocked to find a cockroach in the lunch that was served to him this afternoon.

Subash Sundaram, an IT professional, ordered chapatis and curd semiya for lunch. When the curd semiya was served to him, he was shocked to notice a cockroach in the food. When he confronted the person who served the lunch, the server immediately removed the plate from the table.

However, Subash managed to click pictures of the curd semiya with the cockroach and posted it on social media.

“When I asked the manager, he admitted that it was a mistake and that he would take steps to prevent such incidents. But this is not the first time. Earlier on one occasion, I noticed a dead fly in the sambar that was served to me,” Subash said and added that he would formally lodge a complaint with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.

The customer has filed a complaint with the FSSAI on the unhygienic kitchen at the hotel that is supposedly considered the pride of Coimbatore.

The Covai Post had earlier reported about a similar incident in the same branch of the hotel. The hotel denied all the charges and the hotel management had unleashed a malicious campaign to tarnish the image of the news portal that had reported about the unclean kitchen and the callous attitude of the management in rectifying it.

FDA checking presence of performance boosters in nutraceuticals

Nagpur: With the aim of finding out whether nutraceuticals act as a booster to sportspersons, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is trying to collect samples of various nutraceuticals available in the market and sending them for testing of their ingredients.

It raided certain godowns of Herbal Life in city and seized material costing Rs17 lakh. Samples from this material have been sent for testing in the laboratory.

MS Deshpande, joint commissioner FDA (Food), told TOI that the sampling is being done to check the presence of any 'boosters' or performance enhancers in the nutraceuticals. The Food Safety Authority of India (FSAI) along with FDA is conducting a nationwide survey to check whether there are any performance enhancing elements in the health supplements.

"The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has found that certain athletes and players are testing positive despite not consuming any drugs. There is thus an assumption that the nutraceuticals might contain certain elements which act as boosters," said Deshpande. This particular lot was seized from Herbal Life's godown at 105, Royal House, Gajanan Nagar.

Deshpande said that as per labels on the containers of nutraceuticals like health supplements (personalized protein powder), proprietary food products (nutritional shake mix and nutraceutical (Herbal Control) have certain caffeine contents.

"We don't know whether the caffeine content is beyond the permissible limit of 300 ppm but we have sent samples for testing. And only certain beverages are allowed to put caffeine in their energy drinks and not all health supplement foods," added Deshpande.

Besides players a lot of younger generation is also consuming the nutraceuticals in the gymnasiums. Hence the issue gains more importance because of very high consumption of these health supplements in large quantities by young people.

The raid was conducted at the godown by a team of FDA officials headed by Deshpande and comprised FSO or Food safety Officer (vigilance) Abhay Deshpande, FSOs Pravin Umap, Seema Surkar and Kiran Gedam.

VMC orders 37 food vendors to shut shop

Vadodara: Food safety officers of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) cracked down upon food business operators who had not taken permission under the Food Safety and Standards Act. Officials said that as many as 37 shops were asked to shut down immediately. They have been warned not to start operations again till they have registered themselves. Officials issued directives to shop owners to register themselves immediately.