Oct 6, 2017
Private lens on Diwali mithai- Tupudana lab wins food police badge
Here's some great news to sweeten your Diwali.
A private laboratory in suburban Ranchi has been granted accreditation by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which will allow it to put all those festive mithaiunder the adulteration scanner, besides testing routine agricultural produce.
Sun-Tech Laboratory in Tupudana, around 15km from the heart of the capital, will offer the authorities, individuals and organisations an alternative platform to screen the quality of edible items. It is arguably the only private lab in the state to earn the FSSAI tag and is expected to unburden the lone state-owned facility in Namkum.
On Mahashtami last month, civil contractor Rahul Kumar had found worms in a packet of figpedas bought from a prominent confectionery shop, Rajasthan Kalewalaya, in Kutchery. The sweets were priced at Rs 1,000 a kilo.
The district administration acted after Kumar complained to deputy commissioner Manoj Kumar. Food inspector K.P. Singh on Thursday collected samples for testing.
The report is expected in a few days.
Now, with Diwali round the corner, adulterated sweets and other food items in the market cannot be ruled out. Unfortunately, the decade-old state lab is mired in problems, including inadequate infrastructure and acute manpower crunch. This is where Sun-Tech hopes to step in.
Preeti Varma, quality manager and in-charge of the Tupudana-based lab, said they were recognised by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) since 2008 and also the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), but an FSSAI tag was a matter of pride.
"The gazette of our accreditation was published by FSSAI on September 14. However, we received an intimation on email only in last week of last month. The accreditation has to be renewed every two years," she said, adding that Sun-Tech would be the first private lab in the state to conduct food testing.
So long, the Tupudana facility had been screening building and road construction materials, and minerals in water and soil, among other things.
"Earlier, even if we tested food, the report wouldn't have had legal sanctity. Now, that problem is over. If someone is launching a new edible product, our report can be used for quality labelling. We shall further be able to test samples of food for suspected adulteration," Varma said.
The quality manager informed that they currently had six food analysts on board and testing charges would depend on the nature of profiling one required.
"An adulteration test can start at Rs 500 and go up to over Rs 10,000 if the range of verification includes bio-profiling, component test, nutrition test, label claim, shelf life, inorganic contaminants, animal tissue content and so on," Varma said, stressing that they were empanelled to conduct quality check on all products being sold through the military canteen stores department.
Namkum food lab analyst Chaturbhuj Meena confirmed that Sun-Tech had indeed won FSSAI accreditation, but couldn't say if it was a first in the state.
"We are yet to understand all the parameters under which the private agency is empowered to conduct tests," Meena said when asked if the accreditation would lessen the burden on the state lab.
Things to keep in mind while buying fresh meat
Meat is a rich source of proteins. Apart from proteins, it also contains an abundant amount of Vitamin B-complex (Vitamin B1 to B12), Vitamin C, iron, calcium, phosphorous and Omega 3 fatty acids that are required to maintain the nutrition balance in our body.
Here are tips to help you buy the right stuff:
Check the colour:
- The colour of the meat says a lot about its freshness.
- Poultry meat must be white or light pink.
- Check that the meat does not have a green tinge, especially under the wings.
- There should not be any bruises or blood clots on the surface.
- In the case of red meat, it must be bright red in appearance.
- If the meat is vacuum packed, it may appear slightly brown.
- This is also good quality meat and will last longer in the refrigerator.
Check the odour:
- Poultry meat is generally odour-free but may have a slightly meaty odour on rare occasions.
- The smell of red meat is very specific to the type of meat and there should not be any variance from the typical smell of a goat or lamb.
- One should make sure there is no foul or pungent odour to any kind of fresh meat being purchased.
Check the texture:
- For poultry, the texture should be firm and the muscle fibres must be clearly visible.
- Furthermore, the meat must not be slimy and if you touch it, the fingers should be dry rather than sticky.
- The meat should not appear translucent and watery when it is cut.
- In addition,in the case of red meat, it should not fall off easily when it is being cut.
- The fat should not be yellow in colour, as it indicates that the meat is not fresh.
Prefer skinless:
- The skin of the meat has saturated fatty acids, which are high on calories and can potentially increase the risk of cardiac ailments.
- Hence, it is always recommended that meat is consumed after removing the skin.
Ensure food safety standards:
- It is absolutely essential that every packaged meat product has a Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) certified label on it to ensure that all food safety standards are met.
- This is also the primary reason why you should avoid buying meat from a butcher shop, since there is no guarantee of food safety.
Adulteration of food: Three dists named as sensitive
Jaipur: Alwar, Bharatpur and Dholpur have been identified as sensitive areas in terms of sale of adulterated food. The health authorities will conduct strict surveillance in the three districts for preventing sale of adulteration food ahead of Diwali.
In an order issued by the health department, health director Dr VK Mathur mentioned that the three districts need more intense monitoring for preventing sale of adulterated food such as mawa and other milk products.
Besides, this Diwali, the health authorities will take help of the police to intercept vehicles coming towards Jaipur suspected to be carrying adulterated mawa, milk and other food items.
Health department issued directions to food safety authorities and officers to ensure strict surveillance on roads and highways.
During festive season, the city witnesses increased demand of mawa and other milk products. Since, the city has limited supply of such milk items, the traders bring it from nearby areas of the city. But, it is suspected that adulterated mawa and other food products also been supplied to the city to meet the increased demand. Aiming to check influx of adulterated milk products to the city, the health department has directed its officials in the city to conduct strict surveillance of such vehicles coming to city.
In an order issued by health department, Dr Mathur mentioned that the officials take help of the police to intercept such vehicles.
The health department has launched a campaign against adulterated food which will continue till October 18.
Besides, focus will also be on cleanliness of sweet shops, restaurants and also on the employees working in such shops and hotels. Health department's officials will inspect sweet shops and restaurants for cleanliness. The officials ask owners for maintaining basic hygiene practices in sweet shops and restaurants.
Every year, health department launch a campaign against adulterated food. Under the campaign, the health authorities collected samples of food items and send it for test in government-run laboratories. If samples fail quality test, they present the case before local court against the accused trader.
Your cream biscuit is a sugar & fat bowl
The sugar content in the cream biscuits that you and your child often relish may have more than the recommended quantity. Similar could be the case of the fat content as well, revealed an in-house study by city-based consumer body, Çonsumer Education and Research Centre (CERC).
The content details on biscuit packets were also found inaccurate.
Experts say despite a rule that the content in food products should be standardised, national food regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), has not come up with any such norms so far.
CERC tested samples of 10 brands of cream biscuits that were filled and/or coated. In filled biscuits, cream, jam or chocolate is sandwiched. Coated ones may be covered with chocolate or caramel.
In six of the 10 brands tested, the fat content was above 20g per 100g of biscuit. The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Indian Council of Medical Research, has recommended desirable visible fat intake per day of 20g for both men and women. Similarly, all the 10 brands contained more than 25g sugar per 100g biscuit.
It was also found that the actual fat content in at least three brands of biscuits was significantly higher than what their labels claimed. Another fact that came to the fore was that higher price did not ensure better quality — the two least expensive brands fared the best on the health parameters of the rating, according to the study.
HOW MUCH IS PERFECT
NIN prescribes 20g per day fat intake for both men and women
WHO prescribes 25g, or 6 teaspoons, per day sugar for men and women
ADULTERATION : HC directs govt to appoint Food Safety Commissioner in 6 weeks
The High Court on Friday directed the government that Food Safety Commissioner should be in place within six weeks.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation against food-adulteration, a division bench of Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and Justice Alok Aradhe held that the whole affairs of the commissioner’s post shall be completed within six weeks.
The direction came after Amicus curie, Bashir Ahmed Bashir submitted that in keeping with earlier court order, the government couldn’t create a post in 37 days.“ What kind of mockery is this? How are they working?,” he said.
Additional Advocate General MI Dar stated that the proposal for the creation of post has been cleared by Finance Department but the department has not cleared the proposal of additional staff.
The court directed Finance Department to clear the proposal of additional staff within a week. Expressing its dismay as to why the Food Safety Commissioner was not appointed yet, the court said: “How the government is working without its staff. “The proposal be placed before cabinet for final approval and be processed immediately,” it said.
The state counsel informed the court that before an application could be made for accreditation under National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for state’s two food testing labs, imparting of training to food analysts was a must.
He said application for accreditation was sent to the board and two food analysts were deputed for training, one for Kashmir and another for Jammu. He also said that for checking the labeling of the products, special drives have been undertaken in accordance with Food Safety and Standard Act.
The state counsel further told the court that there are seven mobile labs-- three for Kashmir, three for Jammu and one for Leh. The court however sought a fresh status report on functioning of these labs.
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