Jul 17, 2018
Food safety cannot be left to chance: Time to incentivise states for action
To reduce the economic burden due to foodborne disease, India needs to invest in ensuring food safety for the masses.
Food-borne Disease Burden
The foodborne disease burden is a global concern both in terms of human sufferings and economic costs. The global burden of foodborne illnesses in 2010 was 600 million cases worldwide, with 4,20,000 deaths. The burden in South-East Asia alone, including India, is about 150 million cases and 1,75,000 deaths, with India having the highest mortality (60,000 to 70,000 deaths in 2016) for children under five years of age, and an estimated economic burden of foodborne illnesses. A recent World Bank report (2018) estimated that the annual economic costs of foodborne illness were to the tune of about $28 billion (Rs 1,78,100 crore) or around 0.5 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) every year.
FSSAI as regulator
Food Safety and Standard Authority (FSSAI) being the apex regulatory body, is having important responsibilities and functions to perform to ensure food safety in the country. As per our evaluation, in the last six months of the year 2018, FSSAI has come out with more than 50 well appreciated proposals or initiatives to revise the existing regulations, standards, food safety practices, guidelines, norms testing methods, etc. and some of them are as follows:
FSSAI issued an alert on chocolates with plastic fragments; set norms for safe and healthy food to children in schools; warned food operators for artificial ripening of fruits; showed safe driving message on alcoholic beverages; indicated calorie count on restaurants’ menu; launched the Food Safety & Standard (organic foods) Regulation, 2017; notified E-commerce; banned advertisement of HFSS products for children; declared life imprisonment for milk adulteration; planning to limit trans fats in oils and vanaspati by 2 per cent by 2022; and most recently, it amended law to stop reuse of edible oils. FSSAI also set standards for millets, pulses, alcohols, fruits and vegetables, seasoning food products and oil and fat categories, and has organised so many awareness and orientation programmes for different stakeholders in the country.
However, the hope that FSSAI completes the due work of revising the standards and regulations, puts in place a basic structure of implementation and builds an ecosystem in the country for food safety by the end of 2018 as mentioned.
Besides, hope that there would not be much criticism of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) about its overall performance this year, and if at all there, they are addressed effectively and urgently.
States need to be incentivised & outperform
In the beginning of this year, Health Ministers from different states adopted a joint resolution with seven-point charter and agreed to enhance state of food safety in India.
Until last financial year (2016-17), despite having online registration system only 7,92,780 licenses and 3039762 registrations of FBOs have been done by the states. Among the states, Maharashtra provided licenses and registrations to 2,05,688 and 6,91,285 registrations to FBOs (Food Business Operators), followed by Uttar Pradesh with (4,02,072) registrations.
In India, total 4,398 officials are looking after the food safety sector across the states. Among the states, Uttar Pradesh has maximum i.e. 842 officials followed by Tamil Nadu with 644 officials.
In 2016-17, total 60,671 samples were analysed, 14,130 were found adulterated, 10,640 cases were registered against the offenders, but only 1,596 cases were convicted. Out of the total convicted 80 per cent (1,273 cases) were from Uttar Pradesh alone and in north-eastern states — Rajasthan, Punjab and Odisha not even a single conviction was reported.
During the year, in 3,978 cases penalty was imposed and total penalty amount was `14.8 crore. In India, there are total 125 NABL Accredited Food laboratories, 72 Public Food laboratories and only 16 Referral Food laboratories, which are not sufficient at all.
If states intend to enhance the food safety, they need to develop key infrastructure, such as putting in place the implementation and monitoring mechanism, develop capacity at all level, develop cold chains, storage facilities, better testing capacity, crop protection and animal health which they are currently lacking.
To reduce the economic burden due to foodborne disease, India needs to invest in ensuring food safety for the masses. If we see the current funds at the disposal to FSSAI for food safety from grant in aid and other sources, this is not more than `75 crore per year (around 20 percent of this money remains unspent every year). Therefore, earmarking merely 1 per cent of the cost of the foodborne disease, which comes around `18 billion per year, and providing more to the states, to begin with, can solve the problem.
Self-compliance and cross learning can give answers
Since the food safety compliance by the states, has been a weak area, the approach of FSSAI of self-compliance by the businesses and building their capacities to do so seem to be rewarding. It would also be good to introduce third-party auditing, so that instead of food inspector or FSO, the third-party can do the compliance verifications. The usage of more and more state of the art technology, online platforms, etc. would be very useful and will rebuild the much eroded consumer confidence about food safety.
India is actively learning the modernised techniques from various developed nations and all our neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan are striving hard to learn the same from India. The International Cooperation Cell of FSSAI, in last three years, has signed official MoUs for experience sharing and others, with more than 10 to 15 countries, including the USA, the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, which hold top world ranking in food safety performance. But the question is that why not our states learn from each other when so many best practices are around. If states remain laxed and are not incentivised, it is unlikely for India to ensure food safety in its nearfuture.
No clean food in India?
The formalin scare has gripped the nation, after huge quantities of fish laced with the substance—a known carcinogenic chemical primarily used for stopping decomposition of corpses—have been seized across the country. This has not only taken fish off the household menu but, more importantly, brought into focus the problem of food adulteration.
The crackdown on formalin, however, has been restricted to banning fish from the breeding states rather than trying to uproot the menace. The half-baked reaction of governments to the wilful contamination of fish is symptomatic of a deep-seated malaise. Food adulteration in India has reached dangerous levels with nothing edible spared from the unscrupulous practice. Rampant adulteration using toxic chemicals and synthetic colours is ruining people’s health.
The figures presented by the health ministry in Parliament earlier this year are a glaring pointer. Almost one in four food samples tested in 2016-17 has been found to be adulterated. And it is rising—from 19.5 per cent in 2014-15 to 23.4 per cent in 2016-17.The Supreme Court has said that access to food free from harmful substances such as pesticides is a fundamental right. Consumption of adulterated food might be playing a role in the alarming rise of heart, kidney and liver diseases, diabetes and cancer in the country. Sadly, this aspect is the most overlooked and of the lowest priority, for the Central as well as state governments.
A lack of awareness among the public notwithstanding, the regulatory, monitoring and enforcement mechanisms are just not up to the mark. Prevention is the key, and it can only be achieved with the help of a robust quality control system and action against violators. The new Consumer Protection Bill with stringent punishment for adulteration should be passed in Parliament, and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s proposal for life imprisonment sentences for adulterers be implemented. For the fear of punishment can be an effective deterrence.
FSSAI nudges food firms to disclose accurate nutrition value
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has recently launched the Eat Right Movement in a bid to encourage food companies to make accurate disclosures of the nutritional values or calorific value of foods. Additionally, the movement also aims to make consumers aware of the salt, sugar and sodium levels or fat content in the products they purchase or foods they consume.
The positioning statement adopted to forward the movement is Aaj Se, Thoda Kam (which encompasses the ‘Eat Healthy and Eat Safe’ idea). FSSAI has roped in Bollywood actor RajKummar Rao as its ambassador for the campaign. Apart from creating awareness among consumers, the movement is looking to push food businesses to reformulate their products/foods to a newer, healthier variety. In addition to players from FMCG corporations, QSRs and restaurants pledging their support and involvement to the movement, the edible oil industry, bakeries and ‘halwais’ have committed to phase out trans-fat from their products by 2022.
Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI, shares that companies are also being advised to take it upon themselves to self-assess and monitor. FSSAI is also looking at plugging loopholes in advertising that companies can leverage with regards to the claims they make. He points out, “Voluntary commitment does not mean the regulations will not come in. Regulation will come in nevertheless. But when this does happen, the transition will be quicker and less painful for food businesses.”
But not all stakeholders are onboard with the blanket approach of recalibrating ingredient quantities of their products. This is truer for companies that already have comparatively low levels of salt, sugar and fats in their products. Anil Talreja, partner, Deloitte points out that one of the main reasons why some of the brands are hesitant to implement the movement is because they believe that it simply adds another layer of regulations to the existing heavily regulatory framework governing food products. He says, “The proposed measures will not only cause an increase in the costs of additional compliances but will also lead to more complexity in so far as regulations like labelling are concerned.” Companies will have no option but to comply with any changes in the regulations proposed.
In case of restaurants, unless checks and balances are strictly maintained and recipes don’t largely change over time in terms of the quantities of salt, sugars and fat levels or calorie counts in them, standardisation can be an issue. Beyond a point, people want to have fun and they will eat what they really feel like, points out Anjan Chatterjee, founder and managing director, Speciality Restaurants.
Speaking on belonging to the segment of restaurateurs that are proactively achieving recipe standardisation, Chatterjee says that companies just need to go the extra step and say that they will also seriously start looking at the calorie value of their foods.
“Whenever governance comes in, obviously, there are going to be some people that won’t care for it. But it is going to be the next step in the industry,” he says.However, it may be prudent to say that the chain of events could go from taking the stakeholders, institutions and bodies along, educating them and then putting governance in play.
32 food samples collected
Safety mobile van making it easy to check adulteration
Members of the team pose for a photograph in front of the food safety van in Jalandhar.
Jalandhar, July 16
A food safety mobile van, which especially came to the city to conduct quality checks on the food items being consumed by the people of the city visited the Model Town, Guru Amardas Chowk and Bhargo Camp areas on Monday. On the instructions of Civil Surgeon Dr Jaspreet Kaur Sekhon, food safety officer Divya Bhagat and her team conducted sampling.
As many as 32 food samples were checked, in which marginal adulteration was found.
Informing about the action, Food Safety Officer, Divya Bhagat said the Punjab government has been regularly trying to implement the Food Safety Act strictly to ensure that people get non-adulterated food to eat.
She said while so far, the department teams were only getting samples from shops, which were then being sent to Chandigarh, and the adulteration in the samples was detected only after the report was received.
But with the food safety vans, the samples are being checked on the spot. She said any resident could get samples checked by paying a meagre government fee of Rs 50, per sample.
On Monday, health teams checked 32 food samples. These included samples of besan, cheese, milk, curd, ghee, garam masala, red chilly among others.
During this many people got food stuff from their homes their homes checked. During the action, only a ‘besan’ sample was found to be of substandard quality. It was adulterated with rice four.
Any resident can get food sample checked
Health teams checked 32 food samples on Monday. These included samples of besan, cheese, milk, curd, ghee, garam masala, red chilly among others. With the food safety vans, the samples are being checked on the spot. Any resident can get samples checked by paying a meagre government fee of Rs 50, per sample.
Why are we forced to eat toxic food?
If you are a foodie, you may not want to read this.
Food adulteration has become so rampant in India that there are high chances that what you eat today is dipped in or laced with noxious chemicals. Be it vegetables, fruits, milk, honey, fish, meat or processed food, you can’t trust the perishable stuff you buy from the market, retail stores or shopping malls. Some of them are undeniably carcinogenic and deadly.
A few months ago, the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries issued a direction to all states to conduct random sampling of milk at village level for detecting adulteration particularly of edible oil, sucrose and even detergents. States were also advised to install milk adulteration testing equipment immediately across villages. Nothing seems to have worked, the adulteration of milk continues unabated.
As a routine, fruits and veggies are washed in chemicals and wax for better shelf life while fruits are artificially ripened using chemicals.
Recently, Kerala cops swooped on seafood that arrived from neighbouring states and seized tonnes of them preserved in formalin and ammonia. Traders from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, along with wholesalers in Kerala, are being probed under Operation Sagar Rani, and seafood consignments to the southern state have slowed to a trickle now.
The campaign in Kerala gained momentum after a study by university students and scientists on random samples brought from city markets found to have contained formalin and ammonia. Formalin, derived from formaldehyde which is carcinogenic, is used to preserve dead bodies in mortuaries. These chemicals were used lavishly to enhance the shelf life of the catch.
Insatiable greed for profits and erosion in business ethics has made our businessmen and traders deceitful and fraudulent, like never before. Lax laws in the country (where culprits escape with a six-month imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000) and the corruption at various levels of authority have made them thrive at the cost of the entire generation’s health. This treachery surely amounts to nothing less than treason.
Food departments in India, on the flip side, continue to be drowsy dodos. Or are they paid to behave that way?
While the blame is on individual traders and small enterprises, even big players do similar tricks to stay 'alive' in India’s highly competitive food industry, estimated to be around $65 billion. The government is making all efforts to encourage investments. But the food adulteration is proving to be a big menace.
After the World Health Organization's 'REPLACE' initiative aimed to eliminate industrially-produced trans fats from the global food supply by 2023, India is planning to tighten its rules. The regulatory authority the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) recently announced that it aims to reduce the maximum level of trans fat allowed in vegetable oils, vegetable fat and hydrogenated vegetable oil from its current level of 5% to 2% by 2022, on a phased basis.
Since food adulteration is a concurrent subject, some states such as Odisha, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh have already enhanced the punishment to life. Simultaneously, the Law Commission of India recently proposed a similar life imprisonment and a higher fine of Rs 10 lakh and prepared a detailed report on amending the Indian Penal Code (IPC). We need to act quickly; the absence of such rules has already taken a toll on our collective health.
We surely deserve to eat something better.
Out of 550 milk samples, 210 fail the tests
LUDHIANA: To check the adulteration of milk and milk products in the district, the dairy development board is organising several camps, under the Mission Tandrust Punjab, in Ludhiana. The dairy development board organised 18 different camps in different parts of Ludhiana district between June 5 and June 14, 2018, where 550 milk samples were checked out of which 210 failed.
While providing information, deputy director at dairy development board Dilbagh Singh Hans said, “The department organised eight village-level and two block-level awareness camps for public and during these camps, a total of 550 samples were collected, out of which 340 samples passed while 210 samples failed. 10 to 30% water was also found in milk.
Hans also said a block-level camp was organised at Purain village in which more than 120 people were educated about dairy farming. Similarly, several free milk testing camps were organised in different wards and villages of Ludhiana.
Deputy director appealed to the public that if they have any information about adulteration of milk or its products, they should immediately bring it to the notice of the department. He added that the department also visits various schools, where students are educated about the ways to check adulteration of milk. The experts from Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, as well as from the dairy development department educate the participants about milk and milk products in detail. These experts educate the public about Food Safety Act, dairy farming as well as about various schemes of Punjab government.
FDA receives 18 test kits from Kochi
Margao: Over the last three days, the directorate of food and drugs administration (FDA) has tested a total of 20 fish samples with none being positive.
FDA director Jyoti Sardesai told TOI that “the FDA has begun checking fish samples at three fish markets – Panaji, Mapusa and Bicholim. We tested four samples from the Panaji fish market, seven from the Mapusa fish market and nine from the Bicholim fish market. All the samples have passed.” No checks were, however, conducted at Margao wholesale market.
“The FDA has received 18 testing kits from Kochi, Kerala, but we have asked for more kits. These kits will be made available commercially in one week,” said the FDA director.
Sardesai further clarified about the early morning raid conducted by a FDA team at the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) wholesale fish market on July 12 wherein the spot test detected traces of formalin in the fish. But after tests were conducted in the FDA laboratory, the FDA declared it as negative and to be ‘within permissible limits.’
To a query, the director said that nobody is supposed to declare results of the spot test which are just indicative tests and further tests are required to be conducted in the FDA laboratory. So one cannot jump to conclusions as it was found to be in the safe range below 0.5 parts per million (ppm). The government will take action against the official (who prematurely declared the results).”
Sardesai said, “Everything has been clarified and made public in the press release issued. Everyone is making a mistake as formalin cannot be added to any food item as per the Food and Safety Standards rules. But, formaldehyde is a natural organic compound present in fish. The amount of formaldehyde varies upto 4 ppm which is considered as safe (permissible limit).”
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