DINAKARAN NEWS

DINAKARAN NEWS

Sensor to check Food Safety

Milk supplied in pockets of Bengaluru may be unsafe

 

 BENGALURU: There is no guarantee that milk available in several parts of Bengaluru city and the entire Mysuru district is fit for consumption. For, jurisdictional food safety officials have failed to collect a single sample for testing from east and south zones of Bengaluru city, Bengaluru Urban district and Mysuru district (barring Mysuru city) between April 2016 and September 2018, documents accessed by TOI reveal.

Officials from the food safety commissionerate test samples of all kinds of milk, including loose, toned and packaged, as is done with all food items.

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Non-collection of milk samples from Bengaluru and Mysuru areas is a huge cause of concern, especially when inspections in other regions have thrown up unpalatable revelations. The presence of dead insects in this essential commodity not only makes one cringe in disgust but indicates the gravity of the situation. The government needs to ramp up staff strength in the food safety commissionerate so that regular checks can be conducted. Though fines have been slapped in some cases, stricter punishment is needed to make errant milk producers/suppliers fall in line. The authorities should deal with the issue on priority to ensure everyone — from schoolchildren to senior citizens — can have a glassful of nutrition without worries.

The neglect, however, seems surprising given that milk of suspected quality and with adulterated content is believed to be extensively used by roadside tea shops. The uncovered areas in Bengaluru include Koramangala, Girinagar, JP Nagar, Chamarajpet, Jayanagar, Bommanahalli, Shivajinagar, Fraser Town and Shantinagar. 

“We are too shortstaffed to conduct regular raids and inspections. We are not able to concentrate on adulteration-related issues as well as routine work,” admitted an official part of regular inspection exercises.

Milk samples were collected from 457 places across the state between April 2016 to September 2018, and 12 of them were found to be unsafe for consumption. Cases were filed in respective magistrate courts. “Another 59 cases related to misbranding or substandard quality of milk were filed and in 40 of them, a fine of Rs 42,500 was slapped. The remaining cases are pending,” said the official.

“During the inspections, we found dead insects in loose milk, apart from detergents and low fat content in some cases. Private milk producers were found mixing sugar and sodium chloride salt, which is alarming,” said another official.

The maximum milk samples were collected from Bidar district, where 19 of the 52 samples were reported as substandard and a penalty of Rs 10,000 was collected. In Belagavi district, five of 47 samples were found to be of low quality. From Vijayapura district, 31 samples were collected and 6 were found substandard.

Food safety regulation has been poor in Bengaluru Rural, Chamarajanagar, Davanagere, Dharwad and Mandya districts, with each of them reporting collection of only four samples. Only one sample was collected each from Dakshina Kannada and Hassan. Fourteen samples were collected from BBMP north zone and 13 from west, 29 from Mysuru city 29 and 43 from Ramanagara.

‘Annadhanams’ to come under food safety department radar

Trichy: Annadhanam served at religious functions and other events would come under the radar of the Trichy district food safety department after more than 40 people fell ill, allegedly due to food poisoning after eating in a temple function near Musiri a few days ago.

Officials said that at least three to four incidents of mass food poisoning continue to occur in the district every year during annadhanams and stated that they would intensify monitoring, surveillance and testing especially over the course of the next couple of months. The department officials also mentioned that they would conduct awareness programmes in rural areas of the district, since a few unregistered annadhanams continued to take place there only.

The designated officer (DO) for the district food safety department, Dr R Chitra said that since several religious functions – especially Vaikunda Ekadasi – are scheduled very soon, the department would come up with strict measures so that annadhanams are done hygienically and as per the guidance. On Sunday, 46 people, including children suffered from food poisoning after they consumed food during a Mariamman temple function at Umaiyalpuram village. While a few received treatment at the Musiri government hospital, four children were referred to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH).

“Buttermilk, sundal (chickpeas), pearl millet porridge and curd rice were served for the devotees. We’ve sent the food sample for testing and based on the result, we would take further action,” food safety officer, Musiri block, M Vadivel said. He added that no one had registered with the department for conducting annadhanam at the temple.

In the last three years, Trichy has seen two major mass food poisonings - one during a festival at Samayapuram temple in which more than 100 people fell ill, while about 100 fell sick at a private family function due to contaminated water served there. “After these incidents, the number of people who register with us to organise annadhanams increased,” an official told TOI.

About 750 people have registered to perform annadhanam throughout Trichy district at present. Whenever there’s a registered annadhanam event, the organisers are directed to keep food sample separately which would be tested by the department. While using a different oil was cited as reason for food poisoning this time, generally such cases are due to serving decayed food, spoilt milk, contaminated water or expired ingredients. A source from the department said that most of the cases were unintentional and due to ignorance. “In some cases, items like mutton biryani and other non-vegetarian dishes are served to very young children too,” the official added.

Eatery caught using non-veg premix in vegetarian dish

Ludhiana: The food-safety team of the health department claimed on Tuesday that it caught a restaurant in Satta Bazaar using chicken powder, which had been labelled as non-vegetarian, in a vegetarian dish.

Though chicken powder is mostly vegetarian, the powder that the department caught had been labelled as non-vegetarian, said district health officer Dr Andesh Kang at a press conference here.

The team also found the restaurant using expired sauce and vinegar during the raid it carried out on Monday afternoon, said Dr Kang.

That was not all. The official said they also found that the restaurant did not have a clearance from the health department and its premises lacked pest control. Following the findings, the team collected samples of all items from the restaurant. “The items have been sent for an examination and the result is expected in 15 days,” said Dr Kang.

If the food is found unfit, the restaurant will be fined, he added.

Dr Kang said the team also collected two samples each of paneer and curd. Following the raid, the team also checked a restaurant at Omaxe Mall on Tuesday. The team collected samples of paneer to check for adulteration and water served by the eatery.

Dr Kang said cooking staff at the restaurant in Satta Bazaar had admitted to using chicken powder in preparation of vegetarian dishes. “This is a violation of food-safety norms,” he said. “Samples have been taken of different food items and sent to our laboratory for testing, so that maximum penalty could be imposed on the violator.”

The official added that raids carried out on Tuesday did not reveal many violations.

‘No sticker on fruits, veggies’

The food-safety commissioner of Punjab has sent a letter to all food-safety teams working at the district level, asking them to spread awareness among traders that fruits and vegetables should not be sold with stickers pasted on them. Commissioner K S Pannu said in the letter that stickers are used on food products to provide information on traceability, grades and price as a common practice across the globe, but it was found that such stickers were used on fruits and vegetables just to make them look premium. “Traders use stickers to make their product look premium or sometimes to hide any defect on the product. ‘Tested Ok’, ‘Good Quality’ and so on are some common terms mentioned on the stickers. These do not have any significance at all,” he said. People generally remove stickers from fruits or vegetables and consume without thinking about residues of adhesives present on them, he said. “This is a violation of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006,” said Pannu.

Goa health minister orders crackdown on non-licenced businesses run by foreigners

Vishwajit Rane alleges that many such establishments were being used as narcotic havens

Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane on Tuesday ordered a crackdown on non-licenced businesses run by foreign nationals in Goa, alleging that many such establishments were being used as narcotic havens along the coastline.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, the minister said that clubs along the tourism-centric coastal belt in Goa would be raided by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) for inspection of food safety and hygiene standards.

Mr. Rane said that the Health Act was also in the process of being modified to give it more teeth.

He disclosed that the FDA had drawn up a list of businesses operated by foreign nationals, which would be raided and examined for food and safety standards as well as for inspection of their respective licences.

"We have already formed a list of foreigners doing business in different parts of Goa in North and South. We will ensure that these foreigners who are doing business in Goa without licences will not continue. Most of these outlets, according to the reports that we are getting, are nothing but drug paradises. We do not want people of this type in Goa and we will take steps in that direction," Mr. Rane said.

The Goa coastline has several small outlets run by foreigners, many of them in partnership with local businesses selling hand-tooled goods, cafes, restaurants, alternative health facilities, trinkets, etc.

Mr. Rane had written to the Goa Police for the use of dedicated teams of police personnel to accompany the FDA while raiding parties, fearing the possibility of harm to FDA officials.