Banned gutka worth Rs 3 lakh seized in Erode district

ERODE: Food safety officials have seized banned gutka products worth Rs 3 lakh from a godown at Perundurai here on Saturday evening. They have also seized a van that was parked on the godown premises with tobacco items in it.

Dr T Kalaivani, district designated food officer, said they have seized 210kg banned tobacco products from the Kannan grocery store at Perundurai. “We carried out a search at the store based on a tip that it had stocked a large quality of banned gukta products for sales in retail market.”

During the raid, food safety found banned tobacco products in its godown and a van parked on its premises. The officials have collected samples of the seized items and sent them for lab test.

“The accused will be produced in court and action will be initiated against them shortly,” Kalaivani told TOI.

Thermo Fisher Scientific to Open Food Safety Customer Solution Center in India

Collaboration with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to develop next generation chromatography and mass spectrometry workflow solutions

THERMO FISHER Scientific Inc., announced its intent to open a Global Customer Solution Center in partnership with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in Ghaziabad, India. The collaboration was confirmed during the Association of Analytical Communities (AOAC) - India chapter conference between Thermo Fisher Scientific and FSSAI. 

The new Food SafetyCustomer Solution Center will focus on meeting and exceeding the demands of scientists in food and beverage laboratories by developing critical workflows and integrated solutions that help build food safety capacity in India.

With the food and beverage industry committed to making what we consume healthier and safer, the Thermo Fisher Customer Solution Center will serve as a regional hub for scientists, partners and the FSSAI to collaborate with subject matter experts. The skilled analysts at the Center will focus on development, training and support for next-generation workflows and integrated solutions across chromatography and mass spectrometry, in collaboration with the FSSAI. 

The opening marks the continuation of Thermo Fisher’s global strategic initiative that includes Customer Solution Centers in China, and others planned for the U.S. and Europe, all of which are scheduled to be opened by mid-2019.

“The announcement is a testament to our commitment in bringing world-class food testing technologies to India. It helps us realize our mission of enabling our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer,” said Amit Chopra, managing director, India and the Middle East, Thermo Fisher.

“The opening of the Food Safety Customer Solution Center in India demonstrates our unwavering commitment to support the food and beverage industry in providing safer, more nutritious and better-informed choices for its customers,” said Mitch Kennedy, president, chromatography and mass spectrometry, Thermo Fisher. 

“The FSSAI establishes science-based standards for articles of food and regulates their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale, and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food to the country's 1.3 billion citizens," said Pawan Agarwal, chief executive officer, FSSAI. "The collaboration between the FSSAI and Thermo Fisher at the Food Safety Customer Solution Center in Ghaziabad will help us build new workflows for food safety testing, train our food centers of excellence, and help build capacity and expertise in the region," said Bhaskar Narayan, Ph.D., advisor of quality assurance, FSSAI.

Health department raids: Unsafe food colours, impurities found

JAIPUR: Recently conducted raids at city’s restaurants, food item godowns and food processing units have brought shocking results to the fore. People are not aware that most food they are consuming might be adulterated or impure. 

From using unsafe synthetic food colours to compromising with food purity, health department’s food safety officers have found that all during their raids conducted in January and February. Even powdered spices are being sold in the market without packaging it. There are provisions under Food Safety Standard Act, which do not permit sale of spices without packaging. This year, food safety officers have taken their efforts to a new high to ensure availability of food safety but what they have found during their inspections could be just the tip of the iceberg.

“We have found that food handlers at restaurants were not having any kind of medical fitness certificates. The certificate is necessary because if someone has tuberculosis and he is preparing or serving food, he may infect others. Also, if a food handler is suffering from any skin infection, he may transmit it to his clients. Under Food Safety and Standard Act (FSSA), there is a provision of fitness certificate, but we found that the restaurants are violating the norm of FSSA,” said a health department official. 

Besides, it has also been found during inspection that a restaurant selling Chinese food had kept vegetarian and non-vegetarian food at the same place, which is violation of FSSA. The health department had seized three such restaurants in past two months for violating FSSA norms. The three restaurants were re-opened only after renovation, as directed by the food safety wing.

Also, the food safety officers claimed that among the total pulses samples, there four samples of pulses they had taken have failed quality test. The pulses were containing synthetic food colour, which were unsafe. Besides, the health department is awaiting more test report of samples of food items during their raids.

Punjab to conduct gap analysis of its food lab

CHANDIGARH: For increasing efforts to control the menace of food adulteration and make it more effective, Punjab government has decided to improve the functioning of the state food laboratory, Kharar.

For this purpose, it has been decided to get a gap analysis conducted for which the process for hiring a consultant has been initiated. At present, the laboratory is facing shortage of infrastructure and manpower. A micro-level survey for every test/calibration parameter of the laboratory will also be conducted besides a detailed study of all activities of the laboratory. For helping employees perform better, specialised training will also be imparted.

Commissioner, food and drug administration, Punjab, K S Pannu shared that a detailed gap analysis of infrastructure, manpower and processes would be conducted to ascertain the shortcomings. Accordingly, corrective steps will be taken. “Once the corrective steps will be taken, the department will get the lab accredited from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL),” said Pannu.

In the last one year, the Punjab government has tightened the noose around traders by carrying out a sustained drive against spurious food products. About 30% food samples collected between July 2018 to January 31, during raids in different parts of Punjab were found unfit for human consumption. A total of 7,615 samples of different food items, including milk, milk products and bakery products, of which 2,099 samples were found of sub-standard quality while 86 were found unsafe for human consumption.

As many as 1,625 cases have been filed in the court of additional deputy commissioners and 51 in the courts of chief judicial magistrate. During the seven months in only one case the accused was sentenced with six-month imprisonment.

Food and drug administration raised Rs 1.69 crore by imposing fine in 954 cases as per the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act.

To facilitate quicker analysis of samples, followed by quick action on the defaulters, the government recently roped in another laboratory Punjab Biotechnology Incubator (PBTI) in Mohali had been notified as referral laboratory by the government under Food Safety and Standards Act. Besides, two scientists of the PBTI had also been appointed as food analysts under the Food Safety and Standards Act by the government of India, whereby their services can be utilised by the state government.

Consumer bodies suffer due to shortage of manpower

Vijayawada: In a striking revelation it has been found that the implementation of consumer rights and strengthening of enforcement agencies is very poor in Andhra Pradesh as compared to other southern states. Two major departments of the state - the Legal Metrology and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have been crippled by staff crunch for more than two decades, especially post-bifurcation. 

Vikas Pandey, president, AP Consumer Rights Organisation, said, “Despite repeated pleas to civil supplies commissioner in 2018, the Legal Metrology department has not been beefed up. Our departments do not have the necessary manpower to tackle various consumer rights violations such as tampering of weighing instruments to MRP violations.” 

“We are now used to the drill of submitting pleas for increasing the manpower and resources to the civil supplies ministers every year,” the officials say.

From ghee adulteration to drinking water, Krishna district and Vijayawada have emerged as a hub for sub-standard and unsafe food products in Andhra. In the last three years, police and food safety officials cracked down over 70 ghee adulteration rackets in Vijayawada alone. But these were only a small part of the problem.

Dr Krishna Veni, a nutritionist running a private clinic in Vijayawada said, “ Artificial ripeners like ethylene can cause an intestinal disorder. An apple a day might keep the doctor away but a waxed apple might need a doctor’s appointment eventually. The effects of these adulterants may not be visible immediately but it has a harmful effect with other food products that people consume.”

According to WHO and Central Public Health norms, one food inspector is required to manage a place with 1 lakh rural population or 50,000 urban population. Going by that norm, Krishna district is short of 57 food inspectors and Andhra requires more 629 food inspectors.

There are routine violations of maxim retail price and discrepancies in weighing scales in the state. Even fair price shops do not give consumers any protection, hitting hard the lower middle class and BPL families.