Dec 25, 2018
‘Consumers should not take things lying down’
Food adulteration a cause for concern: Joint Collector
Consumers needed to be more proactive and raise questions whenever a service or a product quality was compromised or subpar, said Joint Collector S. Dilli Rao.
Speaking to students from the district at the Government Arts College here on the National Consumer Day on Monday, Mr. Rao said food adulteration had become a cause for concern.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had framed rules back in 2011, but awareness among consumers was low, he said, adding that he District Consumer Information Centre should take up the responsibility to reach out to more number of people and make them aware.
Since packaged food was now common, people needed to know their rights and activists should release a booklet that detailed consumer rights and ways of seeking redressal. Winner of an elocution competition, Irshad Ahmed, a student of the college, raised concerns of pendency of cases and delayed judgments. He said consumer courts should be presided over by younger judges instead of retired judicial officers. A number of district consumer courts were short staffed, which was leading to a pile up of cases affecting villagers the most, he said, suggesting mobile consumer courts on certain days.
‘Interactive sessions’
District Consumer Information Centre president Ravindranath Reddy sought cooperation of district officials in organising interactive sessions with people every second Saturday. He suggested that one government official be appointed to deal with consumer affairs, becoming the point of contact for aggrieved consumers.
Later, prizes were given away to winners of essay and elocution competitions.
It’s Not Easy Cooking Food and Selling it in India: Hoteliers
New Delhi:
Leading food service operators say doing business in India is still not easy, and that consumption for the industry, which has an annual revenue of over ₹4 lakh crore, remains a challenge.
“While ease of doing business is making some progress, it’s moving at a slow pace and we continue to be heavily controlled as an industry,” said Unnat Varma, Yum Restaurants-owned Pizza Hut’s newly appointed managing director for Asia Pacific. “Business models are very challenged here and rentals and labour costs are steep. When investors put the money, a great investment yields returns in 3.5-4 years, and in some cases, it doesn’t.”
For doing business in any state, on average a minimum of 15 licences and a maximum of 20 are required. Officials said the issues aren’t with central regulating authorities, such as Food Safety and Standards Association of India (FSSAI) and the national antiprofiteering authority under the GST, but multiple licences and different policies for different states at various levels.
“An industry size of ₹4 lakh crore which contributes over 2% to the nation’s annual GDP and employs over 90 lakh citizens deserves better ease-of-doing business treatment,” said National Restaurant Association president Rahul Singh. “After unsuccessful pleas to multiple authorities, it’s evident that we need the ascendancy of the prime minister to see light at the end of this rather dark tunnel.”
Singh, who is also promoter of The Beer Cafe, added, “Apart from ‘make in India’ and ‘invest in India’, we also have the distinction of ‘serve in India’.”
Some other operators said ease of doing business, lesser regulatory hurdles, and faster returns on investment are making overseas markets more attractive to investors.
“It’s definitely easier to do business outside the country, both in terms of lesser number of licences and easier processes,” said Amit Burman, chairman of Lite Bite Foods, which operates close to 180 restaurant brands including Punjab Grill, Street Foods and Baker Street, and about a dozen outlets overseas across the US, Dubai and a few other countries. “For us, it’s worse because rentals at airports are 28-30% of top line, which on average is about twice at highstreet locations or malls,” Burman said. Lite Bite runs about half its stores at airports.
Sanjeev Kapoor Restaurants, promoted by chef Sanjeev Kapoor, now operates close to 35 restaurants overseas under the brands Khazana and Signature. Jiggs and Zorawar Kalra-promoted Massive Restaurants is another brand that is increasing its global footprint.
The roll back of input tax credit, ban on liquor on highways, food inflation, and intermittent localised regulations such as clampdown on rooftop restaurants have also impacted growth, industry executives said.
Before Christmas & New Year FSSAI Banned 74 Brands of Coconut Oil in Kerala
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) as a prelude to the Christmas – New Year celebrations, conducted an inspection coconut oils of 74 brands were found to be adulterated. The storage, distribution and sale of products under any of these brands have been banned in an order issued by food safety commissioner Anand Singh. This year about 170 brands have been banned by the food safety department after they were found to have been adulterated. Earlier in May, 45 coconut oil brands and in June 51 brands were banned. Minister for health KK Shailaja said that this move was part of providing the public with safe food in connection with Christmas – New Year sales.
The food safety department has deployed 38 special squads to check if adulterated oils are on sale as part of the festival season.
The crackdown by the Food Safety department follows after tests showed adulteration in banned products, violating the provision of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. Earlier in May 2018, the department had also banned the sale of 45 brands of coconut oil due to adulteration, and another 51 brands in June. With the latest move, a total of 166 brands of coconut oil have been banned in Kerala this year alone.
Food safety is everybody’s concern and authentic methods for detection of adulterants in food is required for value assessment as well as to assure consumer protection against risks.
Adulteration of food not only decreases the quality of food products but can also lead to a number of ill effects on the health. The Commissioner of Food Safety in Kerala banned the sale, storage, distribution and manufacture of some 74 brands of coconut oil in the state as they were found to be adulterated in an inspection done by the FSSAI as a precautionary step to contain adulteration in food items ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
According to the FSSAI, some common adulterants and contaminants can be tested by citizen themselves, although there are tests that need sophisticated equipment and highly trained personnel for the procedure. Meanwhile, the FSSAI has released a manual to help you determine if the food you bought from the store is adulterated and create awareness in consumers about food safety. Here’s a 4-step testing method for detection of adulterants in coconut oil.
In a transparent glass, take coconut oil.
Place the glass in your refrigerator for 30 minutes (do not keep it in the freezer).
After refrigeration, the coconut oil will solidify.
If the coconut oil is adulterated, other oils remain as a separate layer.
If you’ve bought coconut oil and are wondering whether the product has been contaminated, you would want to take this quick test to stay safe and healthy.
The Cochin Oil Merchants Association pointed out that the authorities take interest in only publishing the names of the banned coconut oil brands and the companies but fail to take further action against them. The coconut oil produced by the same company is brought to the market in different licenses. Many of them are included in the list of banned brands. Similarity in brand names also make it difficult to distinguish between two brands.
Most of the companies give their coconut oils names beginning with ‘Kera’ and ‘Coconut’. Oil Merchants Association pointed out that the ban cannot be imposed unless the products in shops are seized. Agmark certified coconut oil brands were also seized and banned after finding adulterants in them. Adulterating Agmark certified products is a serious offense which may invite punishments including imprisonment.
Palm oil and palm kernel oil are usually added in coconut oil as adulterants. There are no proper laboratory facilities in Kerala to detect adulteration. The samples are sent to the government labs in Mysuru and Pune which is a rather expensive and time consuming procedure. Due to this, the cases are settled charging only a fine, it is alleged. Earlier, the association had approached the high court demanding action against the offenders. The court had ordered to destroy the adulterated coconut oil and to cancel the license of the companies. Association President Thalath Muhammed said that the Government should initiate action to set up a proper system to detect adulterated coconut oil.
Meet the busy bee processing unadulterated honey
He may be a busy bee in an idiomatic expression but in plain terms, he is busy with bees. Donning protective gear, Nazim Nazir could be usually seen engaged in looking after the dozens of square wooden boxes packed with bees.
Since his childhood, Nazim had an outlandish but rather interesting penchant for these teeny-weeny humming creatures and when he turned 20 he took to apiculture and became an entrepreneur within a short span of time.
Nazim, a resident of Samboora, Pampore started with merely two hives and today he owns as many as 150 of them, yielding him at least 1200 kgs of honey.
"First, I had just two hives and I would use the home-grown harvest mainly for domestic purposes," says Nazim.
However, in March 2018, Nazim received a short training course in beekeeping organised by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) at Pampore. Following the training, KVIC provided Nazim 10 bee-boxes for free. After some time Nazim says that he was able to extract around 100 kg of honey from the boxes.
"When I sold the harvest in local market It fetched me around sixty thousand rupees," says Nazim.
As the interest of Nazim in the apiculture grew more and more, he began to study about the beekeeping exhaustively.
"I took to the internet and learnt a whole host of things about the beekeeping. I wanted to know well-nigh everything about the bee-keeping" Nazim says.
Now Nazim had expansion plans on his mind and he soon purchased about 50 hives. A little later he added around 100 more boxes to his business.
In the month of May, according to Nazim, he extracted around 1200 kg of honey from all his hives.
"The harvest was above average. I was also overwhelmed by the market response. Even customers visited my home to get the honey," Nazim said.
Soon Nazim focussed on the packaging and started packing the produce into the crystal clear glass jars of different sizes. He also minted his own brand name – Al Nahil.
"I have also applied for registration of my brand with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)," says Nazim.
As some of the honey-dealer in different areas of Kashmir make a killing by selling the adulterated honey, the honey business in recent years has taken a hit. However, Nazim says that he had thought of a novel idea of regaining the lost confidence of customers.
"As of now, I have a cash-back policy. If you find any kind of adulteration in my product or simply if you are not satisfied, I will return your money" he says, adding that from next year he would sell the honey along with the comb so there would be no room for doubt.
Apart from supplying honey to local markets, Nazim, since June this year, has at least exported 1200 jars of honey outside the state.
I exported it to states like MP, UP and Rajasthan. I received a very good market response from these states," Nazim says. Now he is also toying with the idea of sending honey to outside India.
Barely ten months into the business, Nazim comfortably earns Rs 20,000-25,000 a month and provides employment to two people.
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