Aug 1, 2018
Health Secretary Preeti Sudan gets interim charge of FSSAI chief
Health Secretary Preeti Sudan was today given interim charge of chairperson, Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), an official order said.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved entrustment of the interim charge of the FSSAI chairperson to Preeti Sudan, the Secretary, Department of Heath and Family Welfare, with effect from July 28, 2018, the order said.
‘Tolerance limits’ to be fixed by food regulator for presence of antibiotics in animal, foods
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will soon fix "tolerance limits" for presence of antibiotics in such food items. FSSAI has made changes to the existing Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011. The amendments are likely to be notified by end of this week, official sources said.
The proposed regulations will also require vets and animal owners to ensure that any animal products they produce are drug-free before they can be used as food. The new regulations would also mean enforcement of drug withdrawal period before treated animals, eggs or milk are used for consumption as food. This allows time for the drugs to completely leave the animal’s system, an official said.
Once the new regulation is in place, FSSAI will do surprise inspections and random sampling to check all such products available in the market do not contain antibiotic residues beyond the permissible limit.
The move comes in the wake of concerns related to presence of antibiotics in such animal foods. While India has been under severe international pressure, overuse of antibiotics in food-producing animals is often blamed for the increase in super bugs.
“Antibiotic resistance is a serious problem and animal products are a major source of it. We want to ensure that no contaminated food products are able to enter the food supply,” FSSAI chief executive Pawan Kumar Agarwal told TOI.
Antibiotics are given to farm animals like cows, pigs and poultry for primarily two reasons – either to treat infections and prevent an illness from spreading or to promote their extra growth. Low doses of antibiotics are mixed with fodder for greater production of meat or milk in a shorter period of time. These low doses may also reduce death rates and improve reproduction.
While resistant bacteria can be passed from food-producing animals to humans, anti-microbial resistance threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infectious diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, urinary tract infection (UTI) and even HIV.
The government has already initiated several measures to contain misuse of antibiotics in humans. For instance, the campaign — ‘Medicines with the Red Line’— which involves packs of certain medicines carrying a ‘red line’ to differentiate them from other drugs and discouraging unnecessary prescription.
Still many antibiotics including some unapproved ones are regularly sold over the counter in India. India is one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) that accounted for three quarters of the 36% rise in worldwide antibiotic consumption between 2000 and 2010, according to a 2016 study. That study also found that in the BRICS countries 23% of the increase in retail sales volume of antibiotics was attributable to India.
Gold jewellery worth Rs 9.4 lakh looted from Madurai food safety official’s home
CHENNAI: Unidentified people broke into a house of an official in the food safety department and decamped with gold jewellery worth Rs 9.4 lakh.
The incident took place when the official -- G Baskaran from Vilangudi -- went to Courtrallam with his family members. The house is located in Demcy Colony at Vilangudi.
Baskaran and family members left the city on Sunday and returned on Monday evening. They found the doors of the house open and alerted the police.
Police said the burglars had gained entry into the house by breaking open the front gate and main door.
The Koodalpudur police registered a case.
Banned tobacco products worth Rs 70L seized, 4 held
Madurai: A special police team seized banned tobacco products worth Rs 70 lakh and arrested four people in this connection from Madurai on Tuesday. The total estimated weight of the contrabands is more than four tonnes.
The arrested are Ravindran, of K Pudur, his worker Muthupandi, Vairavasamy, from HMS colony and Ashok Kumar Jain from Mela Masi Street. Police said the banned products were found piled up in 306 bags in a godown in Sundararajanpatti, in the Appan Thirupathi police limit.
On receiving tip-off, police carried out a raid on a godown and nabbed Ravindran and Muthupandi. Further investigation into the incident led to the arrests of Vairavasamy and Ashok Kumar. Police, who speculate that there could be a network in operation, have registered a case and begun an investigation.
Three four-wheelers used for products distribution and an amount of Rs 2.40 lakh were confiscated. Police said they have raided two more spots and seized banned tobacco products from there following an intelligence input.
The products were shifted to Appan Thirupathi police station on three trucks. A police officer said that the contrabands were found to have been procured from Bangalore and were distributed across southern Tamil Nadu.
With both police and food safety officials toughening action against sale of banned tobacco, the prices of the tobacco products have doubled and even tripled in retail sector. It was only recently that the city police have seized banned tobacco products from a godown in Sellur. Around 1450 kgs of contrabands were seized by the police team led by Sellur station inspector then.
Illegal unit closed, 1 tonne adulterated ghee seized
Madurai: Close on the heels of acting against adulterated oil unit, food safety officials seized adulterated ghee weighing around 1 tonne and closed the illegal unit in the city. The worth of the seized ghee is estimated to be at least Rs 2 lakh. Officials said that the unit which has been functioning for several months would have sold adulterated ghee weighing hundreds of tonnes.
In the oil unit, which was unearthed last month at Chinthamani, over 10 tonnes of oil was seized. It was found that flavour mixed palm oil was sold as ground nut and gingelly oil at a higher price.
A team of officials led by designated officer for food safety Dr M Somasundram conducted a check in the illegal ghee manufacturing unit, functioning at a complex in Iravathanallur on Ramanathapuram road. “Samples have been lifted and sent for lab testing. Severe action would be taken against the proprietor. If proven, the offence can attract fine amount and even jail sentence up to six months,” Somasundaram said.
Three large containers of adulterated ghee and boxes of ghee cans which were ready for market have been seized. “We found the product in the market. Inquiries led us to the unit. We suspect that many such units may function in the city as well as rural areas. The crackdown against such units would be conducted,” Somasundaram said.
Officials said that rejected packets of vanaspathi procured from the production units were mixed with oil to bring it to the consistency of ghee. The mixture was added with flavour and colours to make it smell and look like ghee. The officials could not find much of ghee in the unit.
“We found a large number of containers of oil and vanaspathi. The unit has been functioning stealthy without even a board,” said the designated officer.
Officials said that the maximum retail price of the ghee was printed as Rs 600 per kgs, even as Aavin ghee is sold at only Rs 460. They had printed sticker rolls with addresses mentioned in Tirupur and Erode. They had packing rolls with different brand names as well. The units had two machines, both worth Rs 3 lakh. They were used for packing. The unit was also manufacturing adulterated coconut oil and other edible oils, said the officials.
Vigilance and Enforcement, food safety departments seize 500 kg spurious tea powder
VIJAYAWADA: Sleuths of Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) carried out joint raids on grocery shops at Gollapudi Wholesale market at Gollapudi village near Vijayawada on Tuesday and found some traders resorting to adulteration.
After receiving complaints about the poor quality tea powder being sold at shop number 283 of the wholesale market, a team of officials inspected the shop’s stock and found that the trader was adulterating tea powder and selling it at a higher price than normal.
Regional Vigilance and Enforcement officer (RVEO), V Harshavardan, also inspected the shop along with the officials and said the accused trader was mixing harmful dyes and artificial colours to give the tea powder ‘a rich look’ before selling it to customers. Officials seized 500 kg of tea powder from his shop and sent a sample of it to a laboratory.
“The accused trader was adulterating the tea powder by adding artificial colour to it to make it look fresh.We also found something wrong with the packing,” he said.
The officials said that the licence of the trader was cancelled. “It is learnt that the accused trader is also supplying adulterated tea powder to tea stalls and to other mandals. If proved guilty, he will be awarded ten years in jail and a fine of `10 lakh will be imposed on him.”
Vigilance, food safety officials raid tea powder units
Close watch:Officials during the raid on a tea powder shop in Vijayawada on Tuesday.
Samples sent for lab test on suspected adulteration
Officials of the Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) conducted raids on tea powder manufacturing units in the Gollapudi Market Complex on the BRTS Road and other locations here on Tuesday.
They seized the samples and sent them for laboratory following allegations of adulteration.
“Ch. Suman Kumar, who is running Suvarchala Traders, is sourcing the raw material from Guwahati, Ooty, and other places. His shop has no valid licence,” said Vigilance DSP R. Vijay Paul.
The team, comprising Regional Vigilance and Enforcement Officer V. Harshavardhan Raju, Assistant Food Controller N. Purnachander Rao, and Mr. Vijay Paul, seized about 500 kg tea powder worth about Rs. 1 lakh.
“We are verifying the licence, packing permission, and the ingredients used. It is suspected that some colour is being used in the tea powder against norms,” the authorities said.
Further action would be taken on receipt of the lab reports, said Mr. Raju.
Stale food seized from busy outlets in Kasaragod
Seized items include frozen mango juice and chapathis
The inspection carried out by the municipal officials here on Tuesday recovered stale and rotten food items from 13 of the 17 outlets in various parts of the town.
The operation, thus, exposed the lack of teeth in the regular exercise to check food security. The raid carried out by a four-member team of the municipality’s Health officials, assisted by the curious local people, found that the usually busy outlets dotted at Thalangara, Bank Road, Pallam, KSRTC deport, and old bus station premises in the town were supplying stale food articles to the customers visiting the town, Health Inspector K.V. Rajeevan, who led the search operations, said.
The seized stale items like frozen mango juices, chapathis, porotta, and chicken and beef delicacies kept in refrigerators for days to minimise losses. The outlet operators are usually let off after imposing fine amount in the range of Rs. 3,000 and above.
The official also found that the outlets were found to be by and large relying on over-used edible oils to prepare fried food items and snacks.
“We are not empowered to send such stale food items for laboratory examinations, as such works could be done only by the food safety officials,” the Health official said, adding enhanced public awareness alone could arrest such illegal business practices.
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