Aug 29, 2018
MTR gets notice after ‘bug in pickle’ complaint
The New Indian Express on July 28 had reported that a Bengaluru consumer had found a bug in an MTR pickle product.
BENGALURU: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has sent an improvement notice to MTR Foods following inspection of their factory premises. An improvement notice is sent when the food safety regulator finds non-compliance of the Food Safety Act’s provisions.
The New Indian Express on July 28 had reported that a Bengaluru consumer had found a bug in an MTR pickle product.
A letter sent to complainant Raj Sakhumalla on Monday by the Regulatory Compliance Division of FSSAI, New Delhi, read, “Officials from Regional Office, Chennai, have inspected both the units Indira Foods Pvt Ltd and MTR Foods Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru, for verification compliance as per Schedule 4 of FSS (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations. After inspecting of the said premises both the firms were served with improvement notice to comply with the provisions of FSS Act, 2006.”
Sakhumalla said, “According to FSSAI, serving an improvement notice to a Food Business Operator is big. However, I still do not understand how any of this is going to help a consumer like me or prevent MTR from repeating the same mistake. As you already are aware, MTR has done the same mistakes several times in the past and got away with it.”
Food samples snatched from health officials
High drama was witnessed at Jandiala Guru on Tuesday when a person snatched four food samples from officials of the Health Department. These samples were collected from a local bakery shop.
The accused, who is yet to be identified, said to be a relative of the bakery owner, Pawan Kumar.
Health officials have filed a complaint with the police in this regard. Later in the evening, they also sealed the bakery.
District Health Officer Dr Lakhbir Singh Baghowalia said, “When officials collected the sample, bakery employees created ruckus and held two of our employees hostage. We got them rescued with the help of the police. The way the samples were snatched, I feel these were of substandard quality. The owner and his relative were trying to create hurdles when officials were collecting the sample.”
The Police Commissioner has also asked the officials to take fresh samples from the bakery and take action against the culprits.
The health officials also found non-permitted colouring agents, which were used in sweets at the bakery.
They said the manufacturing unit of the bakery was running from a residential building. “The bakery owner could not produce the licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act,” said the health officer.
Meanwhile, the samples of milk, curd and cheese collected from two dairies — Gill Dairy at Gaunsabad and Pannu Dairy at Mahal — earlier last week have failed the lab test.
The health officials said milk, curd and cheese seized from the two shops would be destroyed.
“We have now received the reports of perishable items. The reports of desi ghee and milk powder samples are yet to be received,” he added.
The Health Department had seized milk powder from the shops, which suggested that it was used for making sweets.
Khyber’s ‘dahi’ packs seized for false dating
FSD orders recall of its milk products
Srinagar: The Food Safety Department on Tuesday directed its officials to recall from the market the milk products manufactured by ‘Khyber Milk’ after they found the company falsely labelling the date of manufacture on its ‘Pro-Active Dahi’.
The department has seized nearly 100 packs of ‘Pro-Active Dahi’ from the company’s manufacturing unit in Lethpora Pulwama.
Assistant Commissioner Food Safety in Pulwama, Suranjit Singh, told Kashmir Reader that the ‘Pro-Active Dahi’ manufactured by Khyber Milk at its factory in Lethpora Pulwama was found to be in “complete violation” of the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA). The manufacturing date printed on the pack was four days ahead of its actual date of manufacturing, he said.
“The actual date of manufacture of the Dahi is August 27 but the company has printed September 1 as the date of manufacturing, which is a complete violation of the Act. There is provision of heavy fine up to Rs 3 lakh,” Singh said.
Singh said that food inspectors also collected samples of milk for detailed analysis.
“The company authorities can face arrest if any of the milk products are tested as unsafe in the food laboratory,” the assistant commissioner said.
In 2006, the company was indicted after traces of detergent were found in its packed milk, which was declared unsafe by the food analyst.
The samples tested by Referral Food Laboratory, Kolkata, had confirmed the presence of detergent in the milk and also showed the milk fat as being lower than the prescribed levels. According to the report, the sample also contravened the Food Safety and Standards (packaging and labelling) Regulations.
A court had held the company guilty and convicted its In-Charge Operations, Mohammad Shafi Ganie. The company was convicted under Sections 51, 52 and 59 of the Food Safety Standards (FSS) Act 2006.
A local court later imposed a heavy penalty on the company which was later set aside by Supreme Court in 2017 following an appeal by the the company.
FDA’s checks for formalin an eyewash, claim PILs
Panaji: Stating that inspections being carried out by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to check for formalin in fish are a mere eyewash, a petitioner, in his affidavit submitted to the high court of Bombay at Goa on Tuesday, attached a video taken by the media showing truck drivers handing over fish samples to the authorities (FDA) instead of random checks of samples which are supposed to be obtained by the authorities.
Petitioner Vithal Naik highlighted the issue of the authorities not adhering to the Food and Safety Standards Act, 2006, and to the government circular issued on August 2 while collecting samples for inspections.
Advocate Nikhil Pai, representing Naik, said the circular enabled import of fish through only two border check posts to inspect the presence of formalin and referred to press reports indicating that checks were not being carried out properly.
A third PIL, filed by Valmiki Naik on Tuesday, was tagged along with the other two PILs filed by Vithal and Shivraj Kamat Tarcar earlier.
Valmiki, in his petition, has prayed for an inquiry into the events of July 12 where the FDA said in the morning there was presence of formalin in fish beyond permissible limits, but issued a statement in the evening stating that it was within permissible levels.
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