May 7, 2019
Food poisoning: Mystery yet to be resolved
Since the group, who went to Ramalkalmedu in Idukki, cooked their own food, the police are clueless as to what caused the adulteration.
KOCHI: Mystery surrounds the case of the poisonous substance that claimed the life of a 30-year-old due to food poisoning in Angamaly on Sunday, even as the other 13 of the 30-member group were discharged from the hospital on Monday.
Since the group, who went to Ramalkalmedu in Idukki, cooked their own food, the police are clueless as to what caused the adulteration. Nedumbassery police have registered a case under section 174 (unnatural death) of CrPC and commenced a probe. The deceased was Anilkumar N P, of Nayathod, Angamaly.
“Though the postmortem report suggested that death was due to food poisoning, clarity can only be shed after getting the chemical examination results,” said Nedumbassery SI.
Chemical contamination of fruits allegations are baseless, say Kochi fruit merchants
With Ramadan month here, fruit vendors in the district are aiming at a major spurt in sales.
KOCHI: With Ramadan month here, fruit vendors in the district are aiming at a major spurt in sales. While they anticipate a manifold increase in sales, the merchants are worried about the "negative campaign going on in the social media about widespread chemical contamination of fruits". According to the All Kerala Fruit Merchant's Association, there are many baseless videos and texts doing rounds in online platforms which are threatening the existence of vendors.
"Some allegations are totally unscientific like plastic painting on watermelons and large scale contamination of grapes. There is no measure to curb these campaigning on social media," says P M A Hussain, general secretary, All Kerala Fruit Merchant's Association.
He said the association wanted to address such rumours before the fasting began when the sales would soar. "We too are responsible citizens. We have been ensuring the supply of good fruits to people here for years. In a meeting held in 2006 and 2012 while implementing the Food Safety Act, we had promised to ensure only good quality produce in Kerala. Many times, the Food Safety Department had conducted inspections and collected samples for testing. But, so far, no complaints have been registered against us," says Hussain.
According to Hussain, it is impractical to conduct contamination like the allegations in social media. "How can anyone coat tonnes of grapes and watermelons with plastic. It is humanly impossible. But, people tend to believe what is shown in WhatsApp videos. We want to bring attention to this," says Hussain.
The fruit merchants say they ensure the produces are healthy and devoid of chemical contamination. "We have agents who approach the farmers and middlemen and inspect the farms in Nettoor, Bengaluru and Mysuru markets. We too are responsible for the item we sell. No product will be bought from farms that resort to such tricks," says Dasappan, a vendor at Broadway. The association officials add the change in shape and colour of the fruits are mostly due to climatic changes and has little to do with the fertilisers or insecticides used.
Food safety office to conduct drive against Adulteration
A spurt in the number of fruit and vegetable sales are observed every summer.
KOCHI: A spurt in the number of fruit and vegetable sales are observed every summer. Adulteration, the addition of calcium carbide to fruits to trigger speedy ripening, and pesticide residue in vegetables are not uncommon during this time of the year. To substantiate, graphic images of contaminated fruits and vegetables are doing the rounds on online platforms. Amidst such allegations, the Food Safety Office will be conducting a drive to investigate samples of fruits and vegetables in the district, in accordance with the instructions from the Food Safety Commissionerate.
"The date will be decided upon the meeting convened today. Currently, we plan to collect samples from across the district. The drive will also be implemented in check-posts through which fruits and vegetables are brought in from other states," said Rani Chacko, food safety officer at Assistant Commissioner of Food Safety Office, Tripunithura.
Despite the directive from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to prevent the use of calcium carbide and acetylene gas for the artificial ripening of fruits, claims have asserted their usage across the district. "Carbide is widely used to ripen seasonal fruits, especially mangoes. But as it is banned, the permitted ripening agent is ethylene. Last month, a certain species of jackfruit with carbide was found by the police and we fined the dealers. Carbide affects the quality of fruits. Nevertheless, it is extremely difficult to trace carbide as it evaporates post ripening the fruit," said Rani.
Experts from the Pesticide Residue Research and Analytical Laboratory, Kerala Agriculture University, cite vegetables to be more contaminated than fruits. As per their study last November, around 11 per cent of the products labelled to be organic were found with pesticides while farm-based samples were 3.8 per cent. Samples ranging from eco-shops run by the agriculture department to the open market are examined.
"Grapes are the most adulterated. Spices such as red chilli and cardamom are also highly corrupted. Once in every three-four months, the lab test results are updated. Awareness classes are given to farmers to reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers," said a professor.
Maintaining fridge hygiene for quality food
Food Pi monitors the hygiene level of food items inside a refrigerator and sends notifications to a user's smartphone
Keeping in view food safety concerns, four engineering graduates have developed a device that can monitor the hygiene level of food items kept inside a refrigerator.
Tanmay Baranwal, Ajitesh Dixit, Nitika Rajput and Chandrasena Sai Srikanth who graduated with a BTech degree in Computer Science Engineering from Lovely Professional University (LPU) in 2016, took seven months to develop the device namely 'Food Pi'. After conceptualising the idea in October 2015, the team along with the help of their professor Harshpreet Singh, completed the product in May 2016.
Talking to Education Times, Nitika says, "Keeping stale food items for days inside a refrigerator disrupt the inside environment. However, due to our fast-paced life, we hardly get time to constantly keep a tab on the food items. Hence, we decided to create a device that will keep a check."
Food Pi comes with an app of the same name, which is available on both Android and iOS platforms. Users need to install the device inside the refrigerator and install the app on their smartphones as well. When a food product starts decaying, Food Pi will send notifications to the user's smartphone in the form of a hygiene score as well as graphs. "On a scale of 0-100, the user can learn about the hygiene level of the food items. The graphs will illustrate the current state of food items and if they are close to getting rotten," says Tanmay, who works as a Computer Engineer in Hyderabad.
The device consists of four sensors namely temperature and humidity monitor, volatile organic compound (VOC) sensor, Carbon Monoxide (CO) sensor and Ammonia sensor.
Tanmay says that getting hold of all the sensors and carefully implementing them in the device was one of the major challenges for the team. "VOC sensor is not easily available in India unlike the other three sensors; hence finding it was a big challenge for us."
A Delhi-based agricultural entrepreneur, Nitika says that implementing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in the device was another challenge. "A refrigerator contains several food items, which means each item releases variable readings. Calibrating these readings and using ML to make the device process all the information, and send notifications to a smartphone was a tough task."
"We began working on Food Pi from third year of college when we were yet to learn AI and ML. Therefore, we had to read and do a lot of research to use our understanding for the development of the device," adds Tanmay.
The product is yet to hit the market. The team had applied for patent in 2016 and are awaiting the same. Currently, they are working to build a custom-built processor so that the cost of the device lessens. "We built the prototype with a pre-developed processor that cost us around Rs 23,000, but a custom-built processor costs Rs 700-800. Hence, with that the cost of the device will go down to Rs 5000-7000, which in turn will make the device affordable to most Indians," says Tanmay, adding that the team aims industrial bases such as cold storages and urban households as their target audience.
Harshpreet Singh says that currently he is working with the team to add more features to the device. "Presently, Food Pi can monitor the hygiene level of food products for several categories such as milk products, green vegetables. We are working to add a feature through which users can be notified about the hygiene level of a particular food item such as cheese, milk, butter, etc. and even packed and unpacked items," he says, adding that he hopes to launch Food Pi within another two to three years.
FSSAI issues new guideline for branding food products
GUWAHATI: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has announced a new regulation prohibiting brands from using words such as ‘Pure’, ‘Natural’, ‘Fresh’ and ‘Authentic’ on their various food products from July 1 next.
As per the new FSSAI mandate, if the brands need to utilize such words, they will either have to take permission or convey a disclaimer about the same. In the event that the brands neglect to do so, the manufacturers will be charged with a fine of Rs.10 lakhs for the infringement.
FSSAI CEO Pawan Kumar Agarwal said in a statement, “We have decided to redefine our role as an organisation that helps align the expectations of key stakeholders, including scientists, testing labs, food businesses, state governments and consumers.”
An official from the Health Department reportedly said that people generally believe what is written on the packaging and seeing such words like ‘real’ or ‘natural’ leads to compulsive buying.
To keep a check on companies randomly using these words, FSSAI has made it mandatory for brands to either take permission before using these words or carry a disclaimer that states- ‘this is only a brand name or trademark and does not represent its true nature’.
Only food items which have been cut, peeled, chilled and trimmed and which has undergone other processing required to make it fit for consumption, can be referred to as ‘Fresh’.
Companies and brands can also use the word ‘Fresh’ if the food items are unprocessed and “all the nutritive values in them are intact”.
The FSSAI statement further stated, “These regulations are aimed at establishing fairness in claims and advertisements of food products and make food businesses accountable for such claims /advertisements so as to protect consumer interests.”
According to the new guidelines, organizations can't go tub-thumping about their products that they have been suggested by restorative professionals or medicinal affiliations.
In the event that they do so, each of the declaration should be substantiated. In this way, whenever anyone goes out to shop, no one will get carried away by the high claims made by the brands of its different food products.
An examination done by two analysts of the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in Pune a year ago on 1,200 Indian food commercials revealed that almost 60% of such promotions are 'deceiving in nature'. The analysis further found that FSSAI principles and codes of the Advertising Standards Council of India are 'tossed out of the window'.
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