Oct 26, 2018
Adulterated fish back in market
Inviting buyers: A matsyafed outlet at Arayidathupalam in Kozhikode. Many people are unaware of such stalls in the city .
‘Customers finding it difficult to detect presence of chemicals in fish’
Every time her husband brings fish, Ruksana checks with him as to where he purchased them from, as she loathes chemical-laced fish.
On Thursday, she noticed that the king fish that her husband had bought had a pungent smell. Moreover, flesh was coming off the chopped spine. “I was not aware that the fish was rotten. It was only when my wife told me that I realised that I had been duped,” said Abdul Gafoor, who purchased the high-priced fish from Karaparamba in the city.
After an interval, adulterated or chemical-laced fish are now extensively sold in markets in the city. Three months ago, the Food Safety Department had been after the stalls. Formalin-laced fish transported from other States were sold in the local market when vendors faced shortage of fish. The crackdown then had even led to the seizure of 5,000 kg of formalin-laced fish from Vadakara.
“Many are aware that traders buy fresh fish from local fishermen and also procure them from huge freezers where fishes are stored for more than six months to a year. Usually, traders resort to such tactics when they experience a fall in income or during festival seasons. Unfortunately, it is difficult for customers to detect the presence of chemicals,” Mr. Gafoor said.
Rajalekshmi, a retired university employee, said that adulteration would be done in a clever manner, and one could not detect it even at the raw stage. “The aromatic fish curry explains the freshness of the fish. But the dishes served at hotels and restaurants can be tricky as most of them use flavours to cover staleness. Besides, hotels have refrigerators for stocking fish for several months,” she added.
The district-level food advisory committee is vested with no powers, and the corporation health department responds only after receiving complaints. “Almost all fish markets function under the civic body. Only a ward-level monitoring committee with health officials and councillors can prevent adulteration of fish,” said P.A. Jaiprakash, a former member of the Food Advisory Committee.
Many people buy fish from the two stalls of Matsyafed, one underneath the E.K. Nayanar Flyover at Aryidathupalam Junction and the other at Thiruvangoor.
“But people are not aware of these government stalls. The fish sold at our outlets are directly purchased from local fishermen on a daily basis,” said K.P. Jeeja, who manages the stall at Aryidathupalam Junction.
Matsyafed has plans to open more stalls at Nadakkavu and Malaparamba.
Substandard sweets seized
As part of the pre-Diwali crackdown on small units preparing sub-standard sweets including 'Mawa' and 'Barfi', officers of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in the two-day-long crackdown across Mumbai, raided several places and seized mithai and edible oil worth Rs 3 lakh.
The places raided include locations at Borivali, Kurla and Dharavi, where the FDA officers came across unauthorised units preparing sweetmeats using adulterated milk and oil. In all, 12 samples were drawn and sent for forensic analysis, FDA Joint Commissioner (Food) Shailesh Adhav said, adding that action would be taken after the reports were received. “We will take action for violation of the food safety rules under FDA,” he said.
Since there is heavy demand for sweets during Diwali, shopkeepers use adulterated products to make sweets, which is injurious to health. Besides, these sweets are prepared in unhygienic conditions with total disregard to cleanliness norms. “We raided these shops based on information and seized all the sub-standard contents,” FDA Commissioner Pallavi Darade said. The FDA has also asked Mumbaikars to report on any cases of food adulteration on their helpline number 1800222365.
It may be recalled that two years back, the FDA had seized a heavy duty consignment of mustard oil adulterated with engine oil in Nashik during Diwali. 'Khoya' was found with traces of paper, starch and other items. Universally favourite 'Besan Laddoos' are commonly adulterated with 'Kesari Daal', an animal feed unfit for human consumption.
The sweets prepared using harmful starch, milk mixed with urea, caustic soda, artificial sweetening chemicals, non-approved food colours, etc. can cause serious gastritis and diarrhoea, among other problems. These offences are tried under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, as well as the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
India begins testing for glyphosate
Pulse exporters see residue standards as a positive development because now they know what the Indian government will tolerate.
Exporters see residue standards as a positive development because now they know what the country will tolerate
Exporters are facing yet another risk factor when shipping pulses to India.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has ordered its officers to direct laboratories to test imported pulses for glyphosate residue.
“There is a possibility of higher levels of residues of (the) herbicide glyphosate in pulses, thereby adversely affecting the health of consumers,” the agency said in its order dated Oct. 12.
India does not have its own maximum residue limits (MRL) for the herbicide, so it is using Codex levels of two milligrams per kilogram for beans and five milligrams per kg for peas and lentils.
Gord Bacon, chief executive officer of Pulse Canada, sees it as a positive development because before India had no MRL in place and when that is the case, the default is zero tolerance. It created uncertainty for exporters.
“Now we know,” he said.
Bacon can only speculate why India is suddenly going to test pulse imports for glyphosate residue.
“There is a glyphosate activist who was successful in getting some newsprint articles on glyphosate in the Indian media,” he said.
The activist noted in the articles that glyphosate has been identified as a probable carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
What he failed to mention is that there are more than 900 other compounds on that list including caffeine and alcohol and that IARC failed to identify at what level of exposure glyphosate becomes a health risk.
Bacon doesn’t think Canadian exporters will have any problem meeting the Codex MRLs, so it will be business as usual to India. Unfortunately, that business is nearly non-existent these days.
Greg Kostal, president of Kostal Ag Consulting, said the glyphosate testing is just another potential trade barrier that came out of the blue.
“Certainly that can be perceived as just another layer of bureaucracy designed to slow, discourage, impair imports,” he said. “Not that they were going to happen anyway.”
Pulses are already facing punitive tariffs, quotas and fumigation penalties in the Indian market.
“It’s just another layer of headaches that exporters have to abide by,” said Kostal.
If Indian farmers meet the government’s target for pulse production there may be no exports to speak of. The government has set a target for 24 million tonnes of pulse production in 2018-19, which would be the second biggest crop on record next to last year’s 25 million tonne harvest.
China has increased its purchase of Canadian peas in the absence of India. The country bought one million tonnes in the last five months of 2017-18.
“I’m not optimistic we’re going to replicate that,” said Kostal.
China bought peas because soybean prices were high but with a bin-busting U.S. crop and big acres being planted in South America, peas are going to have a tougher time competing against soybeans this year.
Kostal said there has been no saviour for lentils.
“I don’t see any brand new demand,” he said.
The only way pulse markets will become balanced again is through a contraction in supply and that often requires two years. Peas and red lentils have been through one year of contraction but green lentils and chickpeas have not.
Kostal thinks Canadian pea carryout could be “snug” at the end of 2018-19 but he believes lentil carryout will be “healthy.”
Court fines one for selling eatables without licence
CHANDIGARH: A district court here made one person stand till rising of the court and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on him for selling eatable without a food license. The person was held guilty and convicted under Sections 26 (2) (iii), 31(1), punishable under Section 63 of the Food Safety and Standards Act.
On October 18, 2017, a food safety officer during an inspection at the business premises of M/S Sharma Sweets, Hallomajra, Chandigarh, found the accused selling food articles like rasgulla, gulab jamun and burfi etc. for human consumption by way of public sale without a food license. The food inspector challaned the accused for selling the aforesaid food articles for human consumption without having a food license under Sections 26 (2) (iii) and 31(1) of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
The defence counsel contended that no sample of food article was taken by the food safety officer nor raw material for preparation were seized and entire case has been falsely foisted upon the accused.
Prosecution contended that since the accused was challaned for selling selling food articles like rasgulla, gulab jamun and burfi etc. without having food license for human consumption by way of public sale, there was no requirement for taking sample of the food articles.
Are Imported Dals or Pulses Toxic? Here's What FSSAI Has To Say
In the past few days, there have been concerns about imported dals containing higher levels of the herbicide glyphosate. Here's what FSSAI has to say.
HIGHLIGHTS
There is a scare about unacceptable levels of toxicity in dals or pulses
Imported dals may have high residue levels of glyphosate
FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal insists there is no concern of any kind
India is a country that loves its dals and a significant portion of what we consume is imported. In February this year, government figures said that India imported 50.8 lakh tonnes of pulses for Rs. 17,280 crore during the April to December period of the fiscal year. However, in the past few days, there are have been several reports in the media, which warned people against eating 'toxic' imported dals, especially moong and masoor dals. The reports were prompted by an order issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, which instructed its import division to test imported dals for presence of the herbicide glyphosate. The order came after the FSSAI noted that India currently doesn't have any food safety regulations related to levels of glyphosate in pulses imported from some countries. Glyphosate is an active ingredient found in a particular brand of herbicide or weed killer, which is used in some countries from where India imports pulses.
There have been claims in the recent times that glyphosate might be carcinogenic, which means that it may be connected to certain kinds of cancer. In order to address these concerns of alleged toxicity of dals, FSSAI released a circular dated October 12, 2018 which says, "There is a possibility of higher levels of residues of herbicide "glyphosate" in pulses, thereby adversely affecting the health of the consumers." However, FSSAI insists that there is no concern of any kind. NDTV Food reached out to the CEO of FSSAI, Mr. Pawan Agarwal, who said, "We have residue levels for pesticides, which we keep on notifying. Glyphosate is a pesticide that is permitted for use in India. The residue levels are decided according to crops. Even in India we have it for other commodities, but for pulses it was not there."
He said that in the absence of defined thresholds for residue levels, the body has accepted levels for pulses as they are internationally accepted, for the purposes of testing the dal samples. The FSSAI has said that samples of imported pulses should be sent to authorised labs for testing for presence of residues of the herbicide and a fortnightly report be sent to the organisation's headquarters in Delhi. Mr. Agarwal said that earlier imports of pulses were not being tested for residues of this particular herbicide and that until the body sets their own standards for the same, the ones defined by Codex will be used.
COMMENT
FSSAI's order from October 12, 2018 has stated the Minimum Residue Limit (MRL) for glyphosate in various different kinds of pulses like beans, lentils, peas and soya bean, which are at par the internationally accepted MRLs. The samples of all these imported pulses will be tested as per the MRL's specified in this particular order. These limits are in line with those specified by Codex and the order says that FSSAI may revise the MRL at a later date. Herbicides and pesticides are used for a number of crops and sometimes indiscriminately, raising concerns about the negative health impacts of the chemicals on the consumers.
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