Oct 30, 2017
ஓட்டல்களில் அதிகாரிகள் ஆய்வு செய்ய வேண்டும்
மல்லூர்: மல்லூர், பனமரத்துப்பட்டி பகுதிகளில், 30க்கும் மேற்பட்ட சிறு ஓட்டல்கள் உள்ளன. அதில், பல இடங்களில், கழிவுநீர் குட்டை, சாக்கடை அருகே, உணவு தயாரிக்கும் இடம் உள்ளது. அங்கு, குடிநீர் நிரப்பிய பாத்திரம், பிளாஸ்டிக் பேரலை மூடி வைப்பதில்லை. டிராக்டர் தண்ணீரை விலைக்கு வாங்கி, தரைமட்ட தொட்டி, கட்டடம் மீதுள்ள தொட்டிகளில் சேமித்து வைக்கின்றனர். ஆனால், அவற்றை முறையாக பராமரிக்காததால், கொசுப்புழு உற்பத்தியாகிறது. சுகாதாரமற்ற தண்ணீரில் உணவுகளை தயாரிக்கின்றனர். இதனால், குழந்தைகள் பாதிக்கும் அபாயம் உள்ளது. அதிகாரிகள், ஓட்டல்களில் ஆய்வு செய்ய வேண்டும்.
Samples to be tested after ‘plastic rice’ scare erupts in Dehradun
The purported video shows a diner at a restaurant near the Dehradun Railway Station showing rice balls that appear to bounce like plastic balls, and complaining about “plastic rice” being allegedly served at the eatery.
A food safety official collecting samples from a restaurant in Dehradun after a video claimed that ‘plastic rice’ was being allegedly served at the eatery.
Samples of rice will be sent for testing at the state-run laboratory, food safety officials said on Sunday after an unverified video claiming “plastic rice” being served at a restaurant in Dehradun went viral on the social media.
The purported video shows a diner at a restaurant near the Dehradun Railway Station showing rice balls that appear to bounce like plastic balls, and complaining about “plastic rice” being allegedly served at the eatery. HT could not independently verify the claims made in the video.
GC Kandwal, designated officer of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for Dehradun district, said samples have been collected from the restaurant and that the same will be sent for analysis at the state-run food testing laboratory at Rudrapur in Udham Singh Nagar district.
“However, we’ll be able to comment on whether it’s plastic rice or not only once the (lab) report comes out. Till then, we’re also planning to inspect other places (like eateries, markets) as a precautionary measure,” Kandwal told HT.
He, however, asserted that “no such thing as plastic rice” had ever been confirmed in the state so far and that it was a “natural tendency” of rice to become hard like a ball due to presence of starch in it, but that doesn’t confirm that the rice is made of plastic.
“Food adulteration is a serious issue and the department will certainly take action if any irregularity is found anywhere. But such unconfirmed claims (of plastic rice) only lead to confusion and panic among the public,” Kandwal said.
In June, a similar scare of “plastic rice” being allegedly sold in the markets of Haldwani in Kumaon region had surfaced, following which the Nainital district administration raided several shops. Lab reports of collected samples, however, later dismissed the claims of “plastic rice”.
Notably, many experts including senior agriculture scientists have called out the “plastic rice” scare as “myth” citing how no conclusive proof for the same has been discovered so far. According to snopes, a fact verification site, the claims of plastic rice have yet to be proven.
Meanwhile, Kandwal said an improvement notice had been slapped on the said restaurant under Section 32 of the Food Safety and Standards Act for preparing food under unhygienic conditions.
Food Safety Regulations for Proprietary Milk Products
Food Safety Regulations for Proprietary Milk Products
As per section 2.12.1 of Food Safety and Standards Regulations (Food Products Standards & Food Additives) , 2011, ‘Proprietary Food’ means a food that has not been standardized under these regulations. Only 377 food products have the standards specified in the regulations. All other non-standardized food products comes under the category of proprietary food products.
Standards of some Dairy products and analogues have been specified in section 2.1 of FSSRS (Food Products Standards & Food Additives) Regulations. These are: milk, cream, malai, dahi or curd, chhena or paneer, cheese, dairy based deserts/confections, evaporated / condensed milk & milk products, foods for infant nutrition, butter, ghee & milk fats, chakka and shrikhand, fermented milk products, whey products and edible casein products.
Milk products other than these are considered as proprietary milk products since these are not been standardized under the regulations. As per section 22 of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, no person shall manufacture,distribute, sell or import these proprietary milk products which the Central Government may notify in this behalf. Until and unless standards of these products are notified by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, the proprietary milk products can not be manufactured, distributed, sold or imported. No license will be issued either by the Central or State governments.
Procedure of standards setting in FSSAI
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has as many as sixteen scientific panels as of today. Standards of proprietary milk products are first considered and recommended by the concern scientific panel. Once recommended by the scientific panel, these standards are placed before the scientific committee of FSSAI. If recommended by the scientific committee, these standards are to be approved by the food authority. Standards of proprietary milk products approved by the food authority are forwarded to the ministry of health and family welfare, government of India. If satisfied, they send it to the law ministry for legal vetting. Once these formalities are complete, the draft notifications of standards are posted in FSSAI website for obtaining stake holders comment for 60 days. Final gazette notifications are done after obtaining comment from WTO.
Product approval advisory
In order to avoid the long drawn procedure of standards setting, FSSAI had introduced Product Approval Procedure and had issued advisories. As per the advisory, manufacturers / importers had to submit applications for No objection certificate or Product approval for proprietary food products and after obtaining No Objection Certificate or Product approval, manufacturers/ importers could start business of proprietary milk products. One of the most widely used proprietary dairy product is Dairy Whitener. In the absence of standards of Dairy Whitener in FSSRS, manufacturers of dairy whitener were advised to submit applications to FSSAI to obtain NOC/ Product Approval. Since ingredients of dairy whitener are mainly maltodextrin, sugar and skim milk powder, FSSAI had issued NOC / Product Approval to the applicants who had submitted applications for NOC / Product approval of Dairy whitener. Manufacturing of Dairy whitener as proprietary milk products started.
Other proprietary milk products like Cheese Card containing milk fat, salt, solid non fat, milk protein, residual lactose also granted product approval by FSSAI. Even low fat milk powder, butter milk powder which had no standards prescribed in FSSR, 2011 were granted product approval as proprietary milk products. However, the product approval procedure was rejected by the Supreme Court of India and stopped by FSSAI.
Standard setting for some proprietary milk products
FSSAI had also initiated standard setting of proprietary food products. Bureau of Indian Standards made standards for Dairy Whitener in 1998. In the 12th Food Authority meeting held on August 29, 2013, FSSAI decided to adopt the BIS standards of Dairy Whitener. FSSAI also constituted a subcommittee of four members with Director, NDRI to finalize the standards.
Draft standards for Dairy Whitener was finalized and posted in FSSAI website on 23rd October,2015. FSSAI also started granting license for Dairy Whitener which conform to the prescribed standards of Dairy Whitener in the amended Food Safety & Standards Regulations ( Food Products Standards and Food Additives) , 2011, section 2.1.11.
Standard for dairy whitener
1) Description
The product prepared by spray drying of cow milk, buffalo milk or a mixture thereof containing carbohydrates such as sucrose, dextrose and maltodextrin. The fat or protein content, or both, of the milk may be adjusted by addition or withdrawal of milk constituents in such a way as not to alter the Whey Protein to Casein ratio of milk.
2) Essential Composition and Quality Factors
The product shall be white or light cream in colour, uniform in composition and free from lumps except those that break up readily under slight pressure and shall be free from extraneous matters and added colours.
The flavour of the product before or after reconstitution shall be pleasant and sweet. It shall be free from off flavours. It is recommended that the flavour and taste may be judged on the basis of their sensory characteristics.
Requirements
| |||||
Skimmed milk dairy whitener
|
Low fat dairy whitener
|
Medium fat dairy whitener
|
High fat dairy whitener
| ||
1
|
Moisture, % w/w, Max.
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
2
|
Milk Fat, % w/w.
|
Not more than 1.5
|
More than
1.5 upto 10
|
More than
10 upto 20
|
More than 20 upto 26
|
3
|
Milk protein % w/w, Min.
|
23
|
21
|
17
|
15
|
4
|
Insolubility Index, ml, Max.
|
1.5
|
1.5
|
1.5
|
1.5
|
5
|
Total ash (on dry weight basis) , % w/w, Max
|
6.1
|
6.1
|
5.3
|
4.5
|
6
|
Acid Insoluble ash, % w/w, Max
|
0.1
|
0.1
|
0.1
|
0.1
|
7
|
Added sugar (as sucrose, % w/w, Max)
|
24
|
24
|
24
|
24
|
8
|
Titrable acidity maximum, % (as lactic acid)
|
1.5
|
1.5
|
1.5
|
1.5
|
If sugar is replaced with Milk Solid Non Fat i.e. Skimmed Milk Powder, ash content will proportionately increase and may be calculated as follows:
a) Calculated Ash Content: prescribed ash content + 8.2/100 (24 sugar % in the product)
b) Calculation for protein: Milk Protein % w/w is calculated from the proposed added sugar (as sucrose) i.e. 24 % w/w. Standard of 24% added sugar shall be reduced to 18% after two years from the date of notification. Dairy Whitener shall be free from vegetable oil, animal fat, mineral oil, thickening agents.
3) Food Additives
Only those additives permitted for Milk Powder as per Food Safety and Standards (Food products standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 shall be used.
4) Hygiene
The products covered by this standards be prepared and handled in accordance with the appropriate provisions of the Schedule IV, Part II and III of the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011. The products covered under this standards shall conform the Microbiological requirements for milk and milk products of the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011.
5) Contaminants
The products covered by this standards shall comply with the Maximum levels for contaminants specified in the Regulations Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations,2011.
6) Labelling
The products covered by this standard shall comply with the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011.
7) Methods of Sampling and Analysis
As provided in the Food Safety Standards Authority of India Manual of Method of Analysis of Food (2015) - Milk and Milk Products.
Other proprietary milk products
Standards for Fermented Milk , Flavoured fermented milks, Drinks based on Fermented milk, Concentrated Fermented milk are also notified by FSSAI on 23rd October,2015 . As a result, these proprietary milk products are now considered as standardized milk products.
Similarly, standards for Ice - Cream, Kulfi, Chocolate Ice Cream, Softy Ice Cream, Milk ice, Milk Lolly and dried Ice Cream mix also notified in Regulations 2.1.14. Standards for Frozen Deserts or Confections with added Vegetable oil or Fat or Vegetable Protein or both notified in regulations 2.1.15.
Since Food Safety & Standards Regulations, 2011 have specified standards for 377 food products, attempts are being made to make vertical standards as well as horizontal standards for proprietary food products. Harmonization with Codex Standards have been done in FSSAI so that proprietary food products are converted into standardized food products which is convenient for both the Food Business Operators as well as regulators.
UNDER SCANNER - Eateries spice up dishes with colour, feel the heat
In Crackdown, Food Safety Dept Fines Popular Restaurants, Biryani Chains
Yellow and orange tinted biryani, bright red tandoori chicken, green mint chutney the hues may tantalise taste buds, but they have started attracting penalty from the food safety department, which is cracking down on restaurants using synthetic colours in food.
Popular biryani chains in the city, in particular, have come under scrutiny . Last Wednesday , officials collected samples of chicken-65 and biryani from a restaurant at Shastri Nagar, Vadapalani, following complaints of synthetic colours being used. Three other leading hotels -on Mahatma Gandhi Road, Nungambakkam; Third Avenue, Anna Nagar; and T-block in the same locality also came under fire recently and have been directed to cough up fines of up to `25,000.
Experts say the crackdown is significant as more people are eating out. And, when it comes to biryani and its accompaniments, they are spoilt for choice with such joints sprouting in every corner. According to the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011, artificial food colours are permitted only for select items. The quantity of colour should be a milligram or less for a kilogram. “[But] our labs find up to 50mg of colour in prepared food,“ said R Kathiravan, designated officer, food safety department, Chennai. He said colours are allowed in certain preparations as these items are not consumed daily. “But we are seeing an increase in synthetic colours being used in all kinds of food,“ said Kathiravan.
Since 2015, the department has collected more than `7 lakh as fine and more than 41 owners of eateries were convicted for adding artificial colours. Most of the items that contained toxic colours were chicken-65, tandoori chicken, chilli chicken, biryani, gobi-65, green chutneys and a few gravies. The colours don't just make the food more appealing. “Some of the samples we collected were clearly stale. The colours mask the smell too,“ said Kathiravan.
TOI spoke to a restaurant owner in Nungambakkam who was pulled up in March by officials after they found chemicals in a sample of chicken-65. The restaurant has reverted to using colour. “It is the most popular item. When we stopped using colour, people returned the dish saying it was just plain chicken,“ he said.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India permits only eight synthetic colours to be added to specific foods. However, studies have shown that if consumed on a prolonged basis, these could cause cancer, nervous disorders, toxicity or heart diseases as they stay in the body for more than a month.
Dietitian Mini Joseph said hotels should use natural colours like turmeric for yellow, saffron for orange and Kashmiri chilli and beetroot extracts for red. “But restaurants rarely use them as they are expensive. One drop of a chemical gives more colour than natural ingredients,“ she said.
Members of Tamil Nadu Ho tels Association (TNHA) say they have appealed to FSSAI to add more food items from the south in the list of items that can have syntheti colours.
“We have been asking to add items that have for years been identified by certain colours like chicken-65,“ said M Venkada Subbu, president of TNHA.
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