New regulations for ‘used cooking oil’ come into effect

State Food Safety Commissioners have been advised to focus on awareness and education programmes, surveillance and enforcement activities for the new set of regulations 

FSSAI in talks with industry to convert used-cooking oil into bio-diesel

NEW DELHI, JULY 2

With the new regulations for monitoring “used cooking oils” coming into force from July 1, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Monday said the implementation of these regulations will require focus on consumer education, enforcement as well as creation of an eco-system for collection of “used cooking oil” to produce biodiesel.

FSSAI said it is in discussion with the Indian Biodiesel Association to establish a nation-wide eco-system for collection of used cooking oil and its conversion to bio-diesel.

The new regulations have set the maximum permissible limit of Total Polar Compound (TPC) in edible oil at 25 per cent. Repeated frying and usage of edible oil changes its physiochemical and nutrition properties and leads to the formation of TPC, which makes it unfit for human consumption.

“From July 1, onwards, all Food Business Operators (FBOs) would be required to monitor the quality of oil during frying by complying with the said regulations,” FSSAI said in a statement. The Food Authority has also established testing protocols for Total Polar Compounds.

Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI, said effective implementation of used cooking oil standards require “Triple E strategy” and a co-ordinated effort.

“First ‘E’ in the ‘Triple E Strategy’ is ‘Education’ that is educating both the consumers and food businesses about public health consequences of spoiled ‘used cooking oil’. Second ‘E’ is ‘Enforcement’, particularly amongst large food processing plants, restaurants and fast-food joints that are frying food in large quantities; and the third ‘E’ is developing an ‘Ecosystem’ for collection of used cooking oil and producing biodiesel from it ”, he added.

FSSAI has also advised State Food Safety Commissioners to focus on awareness and education programmes, surveillance and enforcement activities for these new set of regulations. “Annually, about 23-million tonne cooking oil is consumed in India. There is potential to recover and use about 3 million tonnes of this for production of bio-diesel,” FSSAI added.

As of now, used cooking oil is either not discarded or disposed in an environmentally hazardous manner and sometimes even finds it way to smaller restaurants, dhaabas and street-vendors.

After farmer protests, FSSAI agrees to revisit Organic Food regulations

Country’s top food regulator— Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) -- is considering watering down its regulations on organic food that kicked in from July 1 this year, after farmers’ protests.

Several organic farmer groups protested against the new regulations— especially asking for organic certification, and met Pawan Agarwal, FSSAI chief executive officer (CEO) in Delhi.

The regulator, which had held extensive consultations with various stakeholders for drafting regulations, didn’t seem to have factored in details such as lack of adequate certification agents, technical glitches while handling websites etc., necessary for successful implementation.

India is among top five countries in the world in terms of agricultural production.

According to the World of Organic Agriculture- 2014 report, 0.28% of India’s agricultural land is for organic agriculture. India’s organic production in 2013-2014 was 1.24 million tons.

“We are having a dialogue with organic farmers’ community and FSSAI is willing to relook at the points of contention and how implementation can become smoother,” said Agarwal.

“Even though we had created an implementation committee and given them six months to comply, there still seem to be certain issues that have cropped up and need attention, especially the certification process.”

The organic certification is issued by testing centres accredited by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) under National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), which was primarily meant for big organic farmers.

Also, the Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India), is a decentralised system where a cluster of farmers is trained in organic farming in villages to monitor and certify farms.

By August 2014, India had a mere 24 accredited agencies for inspection and certification of 0.5 million hectare organic farms.

“It is not feasible for farmers as it is not affordable, and even accessible. It takes a lot of money to get an NPOP certificate issued in the first year and then one needs to keep renewing each year. For exporters it makes sense to shell out huge sums of money but for us, who cater to domestic market, it’s not cost-effective,” said Vishalakshi Padmanabham, an organic farmer from Bengaluru, Karnataka.

“PGS-India certification system is a cumbersome process. Also, it takes a minimum of three of years to get the certificate for lack of enough certification agents; what do we do during the transition phase,” he added.

Agarwal said: “What challenges crop up at the implementation level is something one can’t know at the level of drafting regulations. We try to modify regulations to remove impediments as we go along. Our aim is not to unnecessary harass anyone but to ensure consumers get safe and authentic food.”

Licence to swill: 250 Chennai bars have no permit

CHENNAI: Here’s proof that the appetizers served in Chennai’s liquor outlets could be just as unhygienic as the ‘bars’ they’re attached to are squalid.

Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corpn Ltd allows shady attachments to 250 of its 262 shops in the city — mostly small, grubby rooms or shacks equipped with makeshift tables and stools that pass off as bars — to operate without a mandatory Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licence.

Food safety department officials confirmed that only 12 bars in Chennai have valid FSSAI licences. Employee union chiefs charge the state-run retail liquor monopoly with diluting conditions in its tenders to favour individuals looking to open these money-spinning bars.

“We usually refuse to issue licences to Tasmac bars because they don’t adhere to food safety norms,” a food safety official told TOI. “This includes a ban on cooking on the premises.”

Establishments that sell food and post an annual turnover of Rs 12 lakh annually must obtain licences from FSSAI. The food and standards regulator issues bars licences under the ‘food vending establishment’ category.

“The turnover of these bars is not less than Rs 12 lakh a year,” the official said. In the past year, complaints led to action against only four bars.

Tasmac made the FSSAI licence one of the 12 conditions to take part in bidding for bars.

Other conditions include GST ID number, structural stability of the building and no objection certificate from the landlord.

But Tamil Nadu Tasmac Employees Union president N Periyasamy alleged that 1,500 Tasmac outlets across the state have illegal bars.

“No bar follows the rule that it can only sell eatables prepared outside,” he said. “In fact, they commit all sorts of violations. The government should shut down all of them.” Tasmac’s income from bars dropped 50% after the Supreme Court order banning liquor vends within 500m of highways. It generated Rs 200 crore from bars in 2017-18, down from Rs 440 crore in the previous fiscal.

A Tasmac official said bar operators have applied for FSSAI licences. “The food safety department has asked them for a list of eatables they sell,” he said. “That caused considerable delay in obtaining licences.”

Stale chicken, expired soft drinks seized in Pudukkottai

Close to 100kg of rotten chicken was seized by the food safety department officials from 20 restaurants including some of the popular restaurant chains in Pudukkottai on Tuesday. Besides the rotten meat, over 50 litres of soft drinks well beyond the expiry date was seized from a bar.

The team also took samples of colouring agent from a restaurant after suspecting it to contain carcinogens.

All the shops were served notice directing them to improve the quality of food served. Officials said that further action would be taken based on a follow-up inspection in a few days. The decayed meat and expired soft drinks were destroyed by the food safety officials.

“So far we have been focusing on licensing and registration of shops and eateries. The focus has now shifted to quality of food items being served to the public,” said R Ramesh Babu, designated officer from food safety department for Pudukkottai.

“We found mostly frozen chicken that was decayed. There was no bills available on the purchase of the meat. We could identify the decayed meat by observing the change in colour of its upper layer,” he said.

Asked on the rotten meat being kept in the restaurant, Ramesh said that such restaurants do not have dedicated workers to check the quality of the meat and raw materials.

“There are 30 restaurant in Pudukottai apart from 100 small hotels. Inspection would be carried out in a phased manner in other restaurants in the coming days,” said officials.

City traders sell expired food products despite warnings

Visakhapatnam: Practice of selling food products and other consumable goods without mentioning the manufacturing date and expiry period remains unchecked in the city.

According to the Section 27 III (B) of Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, a trader is not supposed to sell any consumable product after its expiry date ends. But, many traders in the city seems to have been violating the Act.

As per the rules of Packaged Commodities (Regulation) Order, sale of packaged commodities without details such as date of manufacturing, maximum retail price, producer's name and address shall have to be banned from sale.

Despite a series of warnings and cases as per the Act filed by the enforcement agencies like Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA), Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), the illegal practice by some traders is continuing at areas like Madhurawada, Peda Waltair, Kancharapalem, Gajuwaka, Poorna Market and MVP Colony among others.

Many innocent people, particularly those living in the slums and the customers of super markets get cheated from the traders in the guise of attractive discounts and offers.

A consumer P Radhika from Peda Waltair said “She was also once cheated by a super market two weeks ago. I sent my kids to fruit drinks. The super market people sold expired drinks to my kids by giving nearly 40% discount on the MRP.”

“Of course, I had returned the goods, but what about the plight of people who do not aware of all these rules?” Radhika questions.

Recently on June 30 at 1 pm at Kancharapalem, NA Reddy, a citizen and representative of We Care U Welfare Society, found a group of youth selling caskets of soft drinks without proper manufacturing information and expiry date by offering a huge discount.

Reddy, who had even posted the illegal practice at the social media platforms like Facebook to bring awareness among the people, said “I found the sale of soft drink bottles on the road and many people purchased due to its discount. When checked, many drink bottles do not have proper product information. I lodged a complaint with nearby Kancharapalem police station too.” Speaking to TOI, food inspector of food safety department of GVMC, M Koteswara Rao, said that they have filed cases against soft-drink traders.

Rao said that they registered nearly six such cases against the traders who cheat people by selling the foods without expiry dates recently. According to Rao, drinks like mango juice, soft-drinks, biscuits and wheat flour among other food packets were sold by the traders at areas like Madhurada, Peda Waltair, Kancharapalem and Poorna Market according to their records and previous cases.