Oct 27, 2018
Traders should discourage use of stickers directly on fruits; presence of stickers does not guarantee premium quality: FSSAI
New Delhi, Oct 28 (KNN) Traders should discourage the use of stickers directly on fruits which do not provide any traceability or other regulatory information, the Food Safety & Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) said in a guidance note on Stickers on Fruits & Vegetables.
The note even noted that presence of stickers on them does not guarantee their premium quality.
Use of stickers on food products to provide information on traceability, grades, price etc. is a common practice across the globe. A lot of times, these stickers are applied directly on food surfaces such as on fruits and vegetables.
Apples, kiwis, mangoes, oranges, bananas, pears, bell peppers are some common fruits and vegetables which have stickers applied directly on the surfaces.
However, it is observed that in India, traders use stickers to make their product look premium and sometimes to hide any decay or defect on the product. "Brand Name of Trader" or "Tested OK" or "Best Quality" or "Names of Product" are some common terms mentioned on stickers which do not have any significance, the guidance note pointed.
A wide variety of adhesives are used on these stickers to paste them effectively. Safety of these adhesives is not known. It may contain harmful chemicals which may affect human health.
“We generally remove the stickers from fruits or vegetables and consume them without thinking about residues of adhesive present on them. The risk of consuming these adhesives is high in case of fruits or vegetables consumed with skin. Therefore, it is important to understand the safety of stickers used on food products,” said the guidance note.
On Health effects, the note suggested that the adhesives may contain harmful chemicals which may impact the health of consumers. Studies show that substances such as surfactants used in adhesives are toxic for the reproductive system.
Harmful chemicals present in adhesives may come in direct contact with the food along with stickers and migrate into it. Heat from sunlight on the fresh fruits and vegetables sold in open market may also increase the migration of harmful chemicals from adhesives.
The note suggested that the consumers should check the quality of fruits and vegetables before buying them. Presence of stickers on them does not guarantee their premium quality.
Consumers should remove the stickers properly and peel the skin or cut the area where the sticker was applied, before consuming the fruits and vegetables, it suggested.
FSSAI has asked the traders should use a functional barrier to avoid direct application of stickers on fruits & vegetables. A few fruits can be packed in transparent thin films on which these sticker may be applied.
Traders should discourage the use of stickers directly on fruits which do not provide any traceability or other regulatory information.
As per the provisions in Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006, no food business operator shall store, sell or distribute any article of food which is unsafe, the note pointed.
'Banned ingredients in diet pills putting Indians at risk'
NEW DELHI: Be careful while popping a pill for weight loss, muscle building or sexual enhancement. Several dietary supplements, most of which are widely available in India, have been found adulterated with unapproved and even banned pharmaceutical ingredients in the US with potential to cause serious health risks, a latest study published in 'JAMA Open' revealed.
At least 776 dietary supplements sold over the counter in the US over a period of 10 years from 2007 to 2016 were found containing unapproved pharmaceutical ingredients such as sildenafil, sibutramine and synthetic steroids — which have potential to cause side-effects ranging from stroke to kidney failure and even death, say researchers, who extracted and analysed data from the US Food and Drug Administration's (US FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
These products were commonly marketed for sexual enhancement, weight loss, or muscle building.
Doctors in India say the problem may be bigger here as most of the dietary supplements are easily available and widely used in India without any regulation and guidelines. Even the US regulator said it has been able to test only a portion of products available on the market.
"The issue is much more relevant in India because while this segment is largely regulated in the US, in our country it is completely unregulated. Dietary supplements in India are not tested or sampled by any authority and are easily available. The consumption is growing rapidly," says Dr Anoop Misra, chairman, Fortis C-Doc.
The dietary supplement segment which include nutraceuticals, foods for special dietary use and foods for special medical purpose poised to become a $10 billion industry by 2025. While rising income levels coupled with changing lifestyle have kindled demand for such products, lack of regulation and usage guidelines have made these products easily available over the counter and through online sales.
Of late, the growing demand and increasing availability of such products have also come to the notice of Indian regulatory authorities with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) working to strengthen the packaging norms for such products.
However, in the absence of wherewithal to do product sampling and testing, quality, efficacy and safety of such dietary supplements continue to be under question, says Dr Misra.
Another major grey area in this issue is the overlapping between food and drugs. While drugs or medicines are regulated by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), food supplements come under the purview of FSSAI. Often to circumvent drug price regulation or stringent pharmaceutical norms, companies tweak their pharma formulations and launch their products as food supplements, bypassing regulatory approvals from the DCGI. The US FDA data shows, more than 20% of adulterated dietary supplements contained more than one unapproved pharmaceutical ingredients.
Implement Food Safety Act, submit report: HC to govt
Srinagar: The J&K High Court on Friday granted three weeks to state authorities to file status report on implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
The court granted this time after Advocate General DC Raina assured the court that the implementation of the Act will be done and accordingly a report will be placed before the court.
Meanwhile, a compliance report on behalf of the Commissioner Food safety was submitted to the court. The report stated that 32 posts have been sanctioned for Food Safety Laboratories. To overcome shortage of technical staff, food safety officers of Food and Drug Control Organization and Junior Technicians deputed from Directorates of Health Services in Jammu and Srinagar have been placed at the disposal of the Food Testing Laboratories at Srinagar and Jammu. Also, one post of Senior Lab Technician has been referred to the Services Selection Board.
It was also submitted through the report that with regard to implementation of Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, a meeting under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary to Government, Health & Medical Education, was convened on 24 October, 2018, in which it was decided that there is need for revisiting of the proposal to amend recruitment rules in view of the reorganization proposal moved by the department.
It was also pointed out in the report that 2,054 samples have been tested during the current year of which 582 have been declared unsafe. Moreover, 465 surveillance samples have been tested in mobile food testing vans and 51 awareness programmes have been conducted.
It was also submitted that 568 prosecutions have been initiated against defaulters during the current year and 428 cases have been decided after imposing penalty to the amount of Rs 37,74,200 and 1,480 cases are pending before different courts.
In the report it was mentioned that the Assistant Food Safety Commissioner has seized stock of 1,500 litres of mustard oil in loose form and 200 cans of mustard oil in package form which have been declared substandard and misbranded, respectively.
After going through the report, the division bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal remarked that proper implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 is required.
“We also direct that trial of these cases be taken to proper conclusion and report be filed before this court,” the Chief Justice ordered.
Sale of adulterated sweets remains unchecked in Jamshedpur
Sale of adulterated sweets remains unchecked in Jamshedpur
Jamshedpur, Oct. 26: Beware of the coloured sweets sold in open market in the city. They may contain harmful chemicals that will affect one’s health. The sale of adulterated sweets from shops across city remain uncheck and might affect the buyers.
With only a few days left for the festival of lights which sees huge sale of sweets from more than 150 shops in city there have been hardly any raids so far by the district health department.
Sources in the health department revealed that sweet-makers, in order to make mint profits, often use non-permitted colours, starch instead of sugar and aluminium-mixed varakh which can lead to severe digestive disorders.
Under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 (revised in 2012), sale of adulterated products that are detrimental to health can invite a hefty fine of anything between Rs 25,000 and Rs 2 lakh.
The administration is yet to begin sampling from shops. And even if the sampling is done in the next few days, the reports at the best will arrive days after Diwali.The lone state food testing lab at Namkum (Ranchi) takes 14 day time for the reports.
“We had formed a team and carried out collection of samples on October 11 and 12 from sweets shops prior to Durga puja. But are yet to get the report from the health department. I will soon direct the same team to carry out inspection of sweet shops,” said Dhalbhum SDO Chandan Kumar.
Incidentally, the teams had collected samples of butter, laddu, kajupista roll, barfi, paneer, khoa and dahi from shops located in Sakchi and Mango between October 11 and 12.
Use of harmful synthetic colours, including dyes is not permitted. But small manufacturers use the banned items just to give more colour to the sweets so as to make it attractive, officials said.
Most of the sweets manufactured in the district were from the unorganised sector — houses or group of people joining together to make a fast buck. Actions against the sweet manufacturer, after lab report would be initiated as per Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 (revised in 2012).
Legal action against food business operators selling best before date products
DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 26 (MExN): The Food Safety team along with Kohima Municipal Council (KMC) officials during a joint inspection carried out on October 11, 2018 found one bakery M/S Best Bakery located at PR Hill selling food products which had exceeded the Best Before date. The food products were seized and Form II under Food Safety & Standards Rule 2.3.1 was served to the proprietor, a press release from the Chief Medical Officer, Kohima, Dr Ritu Thurr informed while adding that written consent under Section 36 (e) of the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006 was given to the Food Safety Officer to initiate legal prosecution against the proprietor.
While highlighting the case, the CMO has informed all food business operators in Kohima to be aware and to check their products to avoid legal complications when caught. It also advised the food business operators to arrange the food products in such a way and practice First In First Out (FIFO) method. The consumers have also been requested to check the dates before purchase.
Several milk samples collected to check adulteration: KMC Team
Kolkata: The food safety wing of Kolkata Municipal Corporation has collected around a dozen milk samples to check whether there is any adulteration. The samples were collected from a number of leading sweet meat shops a few days ago.
"The samples will be sent to our food safety laboratory for examination. The analyst's report on the quality is expected within a fortnight," a senior official from KMC's food safety wing said. A source informed that the informal samples were collected from Borough VI .
It may be mentioned that a few days before Durga Puja while food safety officers were undertaking a drive at the restaurants in Park Street area, Member Mayor-in-Council (Health) Atin Ghosh had instructed his officers to collect samples of milk after he had received complaints regarding packaged milk of a few brands. "If we find any irregularity in the samples collected, we will go for formal sample collection," a food safety officer said.
Pankaj Banerjee breathes his last at 71 It may be mentioned that in the recent past there have been reports of adulteration of milk from some parts of the country, particularly from north India. Detergents and other contaminants like urea, starch, glucose and formalin are also being used as adulterants because they provide thickness and preserve the milk for longer periods.
"More than six billion people consume milk and milk products across the world. It is our duty to ensure that the quality of milk is not compromised," a food safety officer said. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had recently issued an advisory to the Government of India stating that if adulteration of milk and milk products is not checked immediately, 87 percent of citizens would be suffering from serious diseases like cancer by the year 2025.
A senior official of the food safety wing informed that during the food drive in the festive season the officers found restaurants and shops are using ingredients as per norms of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for preparation of food.
"From October 9 to 15, from Mahalaya to Sasthi, we have collected food samples from 2 seven-star category restaurants and 31 noted restaurants in the city. From October 16 to 25, the days within which Durga Puja was celebrated, we collected food samples from 137 renowned restaurants and milk samples from 13 sweetmeat shops. Only in two of these restaurants, we found the bread crumbs of inferior quality," the official said.
"Our food drive in the festive season is a clear indication that those in food business have become conscious regarding food safety rules. This is a result of our sustained drive for the last few years," Ghosh said.
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