Jul 6, 2017
DC impact: Food safety officials raid canteens in bus depot
Chennai: After DC exposed the ugly state of canteens for drivers and conductors inside the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus depots, officials from Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) conducted raids following which startling details were revealed, a major one of them being non-procurement of license.
The officials inspected all the bus depots out of which Ayanavaram, Adyar, Vadapalani, Tondiarpet and Kodungaiyur in Chennai district and Thiruvottriyur bus depot in Tiruvallur district were found to be flouting norms blatantly.
“Neither of the canteens at bus depots is registered nor do they have a license. A certificate from FSSAI, which is mandatory to run a canteen, is also missing. We have given a grace period of 15 days, after which all the canteens will be checked again,” said R. Kathiravan, Designated Officer, FSSAI.
The food safety department sent a notice to all the bus depots and the Managing Director of MTC, mandating on some factors – Repainting of walls, provision of an outlet for smoke, cleanliness of the kitchen, fitness certificate, gloves and a cap to the chef and server, drinking water facility with government certificate, disposal of food waste within a day, tiles laid on all the floors and proper maintenance of hygiene.
In the notice sent to the Tiruvallur bus depot on July 4, provision of Reverse Osmosis (RO) at the canteen was specially mentioned and asked the MD to provide it within 15 days.
The issue started in June this year when the secretary of Nethaji Transport Union, K Anbazhagan’s complaint about poor hygiene at canteens in bus depots, was refused by the superintendent of the Chrompet bus depot. Later, he sent a mail to the FSSAI and three collectors of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram.
“I knew there was something fishy from the beginning. How could the government permit the contractors to take over without a licence? Shortly, I will file a case in the High Court regarding this,” he said. The Managing Director of MTC who was hesitant to comment on the issue said he will try to better the plight of canteens at the earliest.
Fisheries department moots action plan to check quality
KANNUR: Faced with the threat of indiscriminate use of chemical preservatives, the fisheries department is planning to strengthen its vigil and use modern technologies to test fish consignments. Also, testing would be strengthened at checkposts to prevent the use of hazardous chemicals like sodium benzoate to preserve fish when it is brought from other states.
"As of now we don't have a lab to single out chemicals used to preserve fish, a perishable item. We cannot withhold sales till the chemical analysis report is ready. This often becomes a hurdle and our task is left incomplete," said an official with the department.
However, the scientists at the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) in Kochi are in the process of developing a handheld device to test chemical levels in fish. Once this device is made available, checking squads can take it to markets or checkposts to test consignment quality, he said.
Though there is an inspection team (comprising officials from the food safety and fisheries department) in every district, the plan is to strengthen its operations, said department officials.
If a consignment is found to be adulterated with toxic substances, sales can be stopped and if it is imported from other states, it would be sent back after taking samples for further testing. "We had conducted workshops at a few places, including Kozhikode, to gather inputs from officials, boat owners, fishermen and trade union leaders to formulate an action plan," said Satheeshkumar, joint director, fisheries department.
According to officials, the problem before fishermen is that fish is brought directly to the harbour from other states. If there is a stringent measure to curb the sale of fish laced with toxic preservatives, this flooding can be regulated, thus giving better marketing opportunity to local fishermen.
Officials also said there was a plan to introduce permit system for auctioning fish so that middlemen influence can be restricted. The plan is to conduct auction through fishermen cooperative societies so that they would get better earnings.
The permits would be given to those people recommended by the cooperative societies, said officials, adding that proposal was being discussed.
Tobacco products destroyed
The Food Safety Department destroyed gutka and other products containing tobacco and nicotine seized from several shops in the city earlier this week.
During the raids supervised by the Designated Officer for Food Safety and Drug Administration Kalaivani, the banned products worth Rs. 3.5 lakh that were seized from shops were burnt.
The shop owners were warned that they would face action under the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006, if they were caught selling the banned products henceforth.
District Collector S. Prabakar said in a press release that the public could pass on information about surreptitious sale of the banned products to the office of Food Safety Department over phone: 0424-2223545.
The banned products include gutka, pan masala, zarda and tobacco-based flavoured mouth fresheners. The Central Government issued the ban order last December following a Supreme Court order dated September 23, 2016, banning chewing tobacco products.
According to the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on sales) Regulations, 2011, issued by the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), tobacco and nicotine shall not be used as ingredients in any food products.
The order prohibiting manufacture, storage, distribution or sale of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine, or any other product marketed separately containing tobacco or nicotine, was issued by the Central Government taking cognisance of the Global Audit Tobacco Survey — India (GATS) 2010, that mortality and morbidity due to consumption of smokeless tobacco was very high in India.
The survey stated that India shares the maximum burden of oral cancer in the world.
Ban on gutkha, panmasala sale
Office of the chief medical officer (CMO) Dimapur has notified all the tobacco and panmasala dealers (wholesale or retail) in Dimapur district to immediately stop distribution and sale of gutkha or panmasala.
In a press release, chief medical officer Dimapur, Dr. K Vikato Kinimi, reminded that in compliance of the Supreme Court order dated September 23, 2016, the food safety commissioner, government of Nagaland had issued a notification dated May 16, 2017 prohibiting distribution and sale of gutkha or panmasala (containing tobacco or nicotine) and any other products marketed separately having nicotine or tobacco in the final products by whatever name called whether packaged or unpackaged or sold as one product or through packaged as separate products sold or distributed in such a manner so as to easily facilitate mixing by the consumers.
In view of this, the CMO Dimapur has informed all the tobacco and panmasala dealers (wholesale or retail) in Dimapur district to immediately adhere to this order.
CMO Dimapur cautioned that non-compliance of the notification would be an offence punishable under section 59 of Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
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