‘City eateries pay no heed to quality, sanitation norms’

Quality goes for a toss: A file picture of enforcement officials raiding a restaurant at NAD Junction in Visakhapatnam. 

Notices served on many, but cases are pending in courts, say officials

The recent raids conducted by the officials of vigilance and enforcement, food safety and legal metrology departments on two noted restaurants in the city have found leftover food being stored in refrigerators only to be served to customers again. Samples were collected and notices were served on the proprietors over the poor sanitation on their premises.

This has brought to the fore the question over the quality of food being served at the city hotels. The officials of food safety and vigilance departments observe that many restaurants and food courts are flouting safety norms, putting the public health at stake.

According to them, food courts and restaurants are classified into three categories – star, medium and low class. “Most of the eateries including street food joints and small restaurants that fall in the low class category pay no heed to hygiene on their premises,” they say.

A large number of restaurants fall under the medium category including coffee shops, soup stalls, ice cream parlours, bakeries and a few others.

“Medium category restaurants are mushrooming in the city. Though the external ambience look flashy, the problem lies in their kitchens,” says a food safety official on condition of anonymity. “We have come across a number of cases of food being prepared in unhygienic conditions. Cockroaches were also found in kitchens. The arrangements in place to clean utensils, use of oil, maintenance of RO plants are poor,” he explains.

According to officials, several noted biryani points have been caught flouting norms by using stale meat for cooking. Though many hotels have been served notices, cases are pending in court, they say.

Lack of staff

“Even, several star hotels have cases of food adulteration, using low quality oil pending against them,” the official says.

Asked about the measures in place to put these gangs under check, the officials say that staff crunch force them to limit the number of raids. Though there is a steep rise in the number fast food joints, the food safety department seldom conducts raids to check the quality.

“The food safety wing of the GVMC needs at least eight to 10 Food Safety Officers (FSOs), but we have just five,” points out an official. Admitting that lack of adequate staff has been a problem, Food Safety Officer of Visakhapatnam G. Apparao says the posts have been sanctioned long ago, but recruitments are yet to be done.

Adulterations gangs on the prowl

Vigilance officials also say that many food adulteration gangs are on the prowl. In the past, the officials of Vigilance & Enforcement have nabbed number of gangs at several places. “In the past, we caught gangs red-handed selling expired food products in new packs. They sold expired atta (wheat flour) in new covers with fake expiry date under fake brand names at Sivajipalem, Kancharapalem and Gajuwaka,” Vigilance & Enforcement Inspector Mallikarjuna Rao says.

The officials also seized more than 2,000 litres of adulterated cooking oil and a tanker at HB Colony. The gang would collect used edible oils and mix them with fresh stock and sell it Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, he said.

Doctors say that consumption of the adulterated oil and food prepared in unhygienic conditions can lead to long term diseases including liver cancer, jaundice and many more.

New norms for supplementary food products for 2-3 year olds

So far, the Food Standards and Safety Regulatory Authority Of India had standards in place only for packaged baby food items meant for infants in the age-group of 6 months to 2 years.

NEW DELHI: India's food safety watchdog, for the first time, has notified nutritional guidelines for supplementary food products meant for children between 2-3 years.

So far, the Food Standards and Safety Regulatory Authority Of India had standards in place only for packaged baby food items meant for infants in the age-group of 6 months to 2 years.

Officials in the FSSAI said that while many multi-national giants are already selling food products for children up to 3 years, lack of guidelines meant that there was no minimum or maximum value fixed for nutritional and other components in the products.

"The new guidelines will mean that those who do not follow the guidelines can be treated as defaulters and penalised. This is something that was simply not there before," a senior FSSAI official told this newspaper.

The new guidelines stipulate maximum and minimum values of 29 components, including antioxidants, calcium, zinc, Vitamins, minerals, acidity regulators and added flavours, and also says that there will not be "Energy food" or "Health Food" written on these product packets.

Nutritional and baby food experts however raised concerns at the FSSAI move could help multi-national food giants in a big way and it was akin to giving them license to capture a big market.

"Children above two years can eat just like adults and actually do not need supplementary food products at all," said Arun Gupta of Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India and World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative.

"I suspect that the new guidelines will allow baby food manufacturer to circumvent the Infant Milk Substitute Act that prevents any promotion or advertising of supplementary food products in India and safeguards breastfeeding and feeding of homemade food to young children," he said.

A 2015 study by researchers at Indian Institute Of Public Administration had noted that while baby food sale is expanding very fast in India, in many commercial baby food products, the manufacturers add extra ingredients which affect the quality of the product.

"At best, these extra ingredients are nutritionally empty, and at worst, they are nutritionally dangerous, particularly when consumed by infants. For instance, many commercial baby foods, including organic brands, are high in sodium, sugar, or both," the study said.

Every calorie taken up through these ingredients is a lost opportunity for baby to eat a nutrient-rich food that will facilitate proper growth and development."

Menace of food adulteration a serious challenge: Dulloo

Commissioner Food Safety, Abdul Kabir Dar, Mayor JMC, Chander Mohan Gupta and Controller Drug and Food Control Organization Lotika Khajuria were also present.

Principal Secretary Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo on Wednesday said that the need of the hour is to create awareness about healthy food habits among people, particularly youth to avoid non-communicable diseases.

According to an official spokesperson Dulloo was speaking at a cultural event organised here at Government Women’s College Gandhi Nagar on the theme of ‘Eat Right India’ in connection with the Swasth Bharat Yatra.

The Swasth Bharat Yatra which started from Leh has been organized by Commissionerate Food Safety in collaboration with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and food safety wing of Municipal Corporation Jammu.

Commissioner Food Safety, Abdul Kabir Dar, Mayor JMC, Chander Mohan Gupta and Controller Drug and Food Control Organization Lotika Khajuria were also present.

In his address, Atul Dulloo said that the need of the hour is to create awareness about healthy food habits among people, particularly youth to avoid non-communicable diseases. He said that the purpose of the Yatra is to create awareness among the people regarding Food Safety Act. Message of Yatra ‘eat right, eat healthy, eat fortified’ should be conveyed across every nook and corner of the state as well as country, he added.

Kohima boots five bakeries for lack of hygiene

These photographs stating to show a bakery establishment in the capital town Kohima were issued by Kohima’s health authority, on Wednesday. Five bakeries in the town have been issued with an ‘improvement notice’ for what the administration said were unhygienic conditions and questionable production practices.

Dimapur, Nov. 28 (EMN): The ingestion continues for food establishments in Nagaland. The Kohima administration has issued what it called an “improvement notice” to five bakeries in the capital town. The establishment of the Chief Medical Office of Kohima district issued a press release on Wednesday informing about the enforcement.

The health authority cited unhygienic conditions, use of ingredients that had exceeded the best-before date; storage of finished products in bedrooms; ‘use of newspapers’ etc.

The establishments that have been served with the notice are M/S United Bakery, New Minister Hill, Kohima; M/S JA Bakery, Lerie Chazou, Kohima; M/S Modern Bakery, Middle AG Colony, Kohima; M/S Baby Bakery, AG Colony, Kohima; M/S M Bakery, AG Colony, Kohima.

The health authorities stated: ‘In view of the Hornbill Festival and the coming of the festive season, Food Safety Officer and staff carried out inspection of bakeries.

During the inspection, the stated bakeries were found in unhygienic conditions, using of ingredients which has exceeded best before date, storing of finished products in the bedroom, using of newspaper etc.’

‘Therefore, an Improvement notice under Section 32 of the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006 was served to the proprietors for compliance,’ the press release stated.