DINAKARAN NEWS

DINAKARAN NEWS

DINAKARAN NEWS

FSSAI licence must for food sale, supply

There have been complaints about the quality of food being sold at mass gatherings such as youth festivals. 

‘Any thing being cooked and sold outside your kitchen needs licence’

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has asked heads of the departments of Police, Education, Collegiate Education, and Health as wells secretaries of local bodies in Kozhikode district to ensure that firms that supply food at mass gatherings have licence issued by the authority.

This follows complaints about the quality of food served and sold at religious festivals, school youth festivals, sports meets and office canteens.

P.K. Eliyamma, Assistant Commissioner, FSSAI, Kozhikode, told The Hindu that the State Food Safety Commissioner on April 20, 2016 had issued an order saying that those who sell food in such places should compulsorily have the licence issued by the authority.

“Any thing being cooked and sold outside your kitchen and open markets should have the FSSAI licence,” she said.

Food poisoning was recently reported from Cheruvannur and Koodaranhi grama panchayats. At Narikkuni, eight people were down with food poisoning after they reportedly had a curry made of chicken parts. The beverages, such as sugar cane juice, being distributed outside religious gatherings lack hygiene and the sellers often don’t have any licence. It is reported that they use adulterated ice blocks. Water is sourced often from water tankers.

Organisers of such events are supposed to seek permission from the Health Department to distribute food and approval from the Police Department to use mike system.

Along with these, Ms. Eliyamma said, the authorities should also ensure that they have the FSSAI licence too. The order has been forwarded to the Superintendent of Police, District Medical Officer, Kozhikode City Corporation Secretary, Deputy Director of Panchayat, municipal secretaries in Vadakara, Koyilandy, Ramanattukara, Koduvally, Feroke, Mukkom, and Payyoli, deputy directors of education, higher secondary education and collegiate education.

Section 119 of the Public Health Act, 1939, says that the authority in charge of any fair or festival should intimate the executive authority or health officer the date of beginning of any festival and other details two months in advance. This provision is reportedly not followed often, sources in the Health Department said. Although local bodies such as panchayats, municipalities and corporations have relevant laws to deal with any eventuality, a uniform law applicable to all institutions is yet to be formulated.

Raid nets 1000 litres synthetic milk, food inspector suspended

Morena (MP), Dec 13 (PTI) Authorities raided a factory in Chinnoni village here yesterday and seized 1000 litres of synthetic milk, a senior official said.

A food inspector had been suspended for failing to check the malpractice, the official added.

Additonal collector KP Mishra said that a joint team from the food and revenue departments had raided the factory at Chinnoni village and seized 1000 litres of synthetic milk yesterday.

The team recovered glucose, detergent and other ingredients that went into making the synthetic milk, he added.

He said that the raid was carried out following complaints to the district collector.

Mishra informed that the collector had yesterday suspended food inspector Savita Saxena.

"She did not pay heed to senior officials who had been asking the food inspector to crack the whip on people involved in milk adulteration," Mishra said.

Mishra said that the adulterated milk from the factory used to be supplied to Nova Dairy in Malanpur, Gwalior.

The owner of the raided factory has been under Food Safety and Standards Act.

4 held for selling adulterated ghee

The city police have arrested four people, including a wholesale dealer of KMF products, for allegedly selling adulterated ghee for the last two months in Adugodi and Kumara Park.

According to the police, Ayyappa Swamy, who has been identified as the prime accused, allegedly plotted this scam in order to make up for the money he lost in a betting during an IPL cricket match.

The police took up the investigation last month based on a complaint from KMF officials who found adulterated ghee being supplied from the milk parlour at Bengaluru Diary in Adugodi. Following complaints from consumers, a team of KMF quality control officials had identified 84 packets of adulterated ghee after tests in the lab.

Apart from Swamy, 30, from Tamil Nadu, who lived in J.J. Nagar in the city, the others arrested are Maruthi, 28, a resident of Malleswaram, Shivakumar, 29, who lives in Kumara Park West, and Sukumar, 67, a resident of Dharmapuri.

They adulterated the ghee by adding palm oil and vegetable oil.

Swamy reached out to Maruthi, an employee for a company that has a dealership for KMF products. The duo later took the help of the other two accused — Shivakumar and Sukumar — both of whom ran Nandini milk outlets to sell the adulterated product. Maruthi’s role was to provide plastic covers to pack the ghee.

Cases have been registered under IPC sections 272 (Adulteration of food or drink intended for sale), 273 (Sale of noxious food or drink), and 420 (cheating).

GOA: FOOD BIZ OPERATOR SENTENCED FOR VIOLATING FOOD SAFETY ACT

Panaji (Goa): The Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) has sentenced a food business operator to undergo simple imprisonment up to the rising of the court and slapped a fine of Rs 3000 for selling dry snack despite being declared as unsafe food product. 

The order was passed based on a report of the Directorate of Food & Drugs Administration at Bambolim Chandas Vaishnav, Proprietor of M/s Balaji Farsan in Valpoi for manufacturing and selling food article ‘Mix Shev.’ The accused indulged in the violation although the food product was declared as ‘Unsafe’ due to the presence of non- permitted colour and had also exceeded the maximum prescribed limit. Senior Food Safety Officer Rajiv Korde had collected the food sample to test in the department’s laboratory, and the report had ascertained the violation. 

The JMFC accordingly pronounced the sentence wherein if the accused fails to pay the fine, in default he will to undergo simple imprisonment for one month for this offence punishable under Section 59(i) of The Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006.

Tech lift for Telangana’s food laboratory

Centre sanctions Rs 8.05 crore to provide state-of-the-art equipment

Once the upgradation is done, samples relating to oil, pulses, food, including from restaurants, can be analysed in a foolproof manner.

Hyderabad: The State Food Laboratory (SFL), which has been waiting for an overall revamp of facilities for carrying out sophisticated tests on a variety of food items, is all set to get a major facelift with the Centre sanctioning Rs 8.05 crore to provide state-of-the-art equipment.

As the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) rolled out Central Sector Scheme (2017-18) for strengthening the food-testing system across the country, the Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) entered into a memorandum of understanding with it.

Though FSSAI has already sanctioned the amount a few months ago, the SFL is yet to receive it. Lab officials are hopeful of getting the amount after FSSAI examines the details of high-end equipment that would be required for the lab.

The lab is getting the amount under the Central sector scheme launched by the Centre which allocated Rs 500 crore for 46 food labs across the country.

Food Safety Commissioner Rajeshwar Tiwari confirmed that the FSSAI was providing funds for the upgradation of the lab at Nacharam on all fronts.

A senior official said if the lab was equipped with the new testing machines, the staff would be able to carry out analysis of samples more effectively. Samples relating to oil, pulses etc., could be analysed in a foolproof manner, he explained.

A request was also made to FSSAI to sanction Rs 50 lakh as a grant in aid towards sub-component for renovating the lab before installing the new equipment. The lab personnel are facing problems in conducting an analysis of over 4,400 food samples received from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in the last few months.

During summer, the lab will be flooded with samples of fruits especially mangoes to examine the chemicals used for ripening process. “Apart from the upgrading the lab, there is an urgent need to fill up the vacant posts,” the official added.