Aug 1, 2019
Coming soon: Safety norms for food banks
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is set to come up with draft regulations for recovery and distribution of surplus food to ensure that the food distributed among the poor and needy is safe for consumption, official sources said.
The draft regulation – a copy of which has been accessed by TOI – has been approved by the health ministry and is likely to be placed in the public domain by the food regulator within a week, seeking comments from stakeholders.
The move comes in the wake of efforts by the government to prevent food wastage, resulting in a number of food recovery and distribution organisations coming up in the recent past. At present, there are over 150 such recovery and distribution agencies across the country.
In 2017, FSSAI had launched an initiative to create a web-based common platform to establish a network of agencies that collect surplus food and distribute among the needy.
In the first phase, the regulator has already verified and registered nearly 50 agencies.
"The idea is to increase the outreach and encourage safe collection and distribution of surplus food," FSSAI chief executive Pawan Agarwal told TOI.
Official statistics show more than 50,000 tonnes of food is wasted in social gatherings annually, whereas around 15.2% of people in the country are undernourished and 38.7% of the under five children are stunted. As per the 2018 Global Hunger Index, India ranked 103 out of 119 qualifying countries.
While the new regulations are aimed at ensuring safety of surplus food, it will also facilitate systematic recovery of such food and prevent wastage at weddings, birthday parties and other public functions.
In fact, various companies selling food products such as cereals, rice, dry fruits, confectionaries and baby milk products are also interested in giving away surplus stocks closer to expiry but find it difficult in the absence of a regulated mechanism as there are concerns about such products finding their way back into the retail even after the expiry date. "The proposed regulations are aimed at facilitating such distribution," says Agarwal.
The proposed regulations state that "no surplus food distribution organisation shall distribute surplus food after the expiry of its shelf life".
It also defines the responsibilities of food business operators and distribution agencies dealing with surplus food.
To ensure regular monitoring, the draft regulation suggests setting up of monitoring committee at state level consisting of members from state enforcement agency, department of consumer affairs and NGOs. It also defines the functions of the monitoring committee and gives detailed guidelines about handling and distribution of surplus food.
Food Safety seals two manufacturing units, seizes food products
According to officials, many food business operators and manufacturers were found violating sanitary guidelines under FSS act by the market checking teams constituted by Commissioner Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Kashmir and Jammu under the leadership of Deputy Commissioner Food Jammu and Deputy Commissioner Food Kashmir
“In Jammu, during the last 2 days, the team conducted inspections of the Manufacturing units Viz JK Food Industries opposite Kotbalwal Jail, M/s Dairy King Food Product Gharaota Block Kotbhalwal, M/S sunrise Bread Box Bakery Purkhoo, M/S quality Fruit Ice cream, Machine Domana, M/s Vaid Milk Products Pvt. Ltd. Gangyal, M/s J.K Oil Industries, Gangyal, M/s Sansar oil Mills, Sansar Dal Mills & Sansar Flour Mills, Gangyal,” they said in a statement.
It said that during the drive, it was observed that Jammu and Kashmir Food Industries opposite Kotbalwal Jail had no proper basic infrastructure as mandated under law for manufacturing of noodles (Dry) and accordingly food license issued in favour of the firm was suspended, and directed to stop the activities till proper infrastructure is put in place.
“Improvement Notices under section 32 of the FSS Act, 2006 & Challan under section 56 for manufacturing food articles under insanitary and unhygienic conditions have been issued to Manufacturing unit Viz M/S Dairy Kind Food Product, Gharota Block Bhalwal , M/S JK Oil industries, Gangyal, M/S sunrise Bread Box Bakery Purkhoo, M/s Vaid Milk Products Pvt. Ltd. Gangyal, Sansar Dal Mills & Sansar Flour Mills, Gangyal,” the statement said.
As per the officials, one of the Manufacturing Unit M/S Sansar Flour Mills, Gangyal who was found carrying the manufacturing process in unhygienic conditions and without mandatory FSSAI Food License was sealed on spot.
“During the Special drive 8 samples of various categories of food articles viz, Sewain, Frozen Dessert, Biscuits, Toned Dahi, Mustard Oil, Refined Soyabean Oil, Besan & Atta have been lifted and sent to the Food Laboratory for analysis,” they said.
Similarly, in Kashmir Division, during last two days, various food manufacturing units at Industrial Estate, Rangreth Budgam viz, Kashmir Dairy, Aqualite Waters, Aroma Sweets, Golden Sweets, Shaw & Shaw Foods, Royal Fast Food, Royal Bakery, Royal Sweets, Adfar Spices, Kanwal Spices, HR Spices and FIL Industries Ltd. were inspected by the team.
“A total of 7 Food Samples were lifted from various Food Business Establishments and were sent to Food testing Lab for analytical purposes,” the official statement said.
“The manufacturing process of M/S Royal Fast Foods was prohibited and stocks of snacks worth Rs. 6.00 lacs were seized from the said manufacturing unit. The license of M/s Aroma Sweets was suspended for a period of ten days with the direction to carry necessary renovation of the unit to meet sanitary parameters as mandated under the Act,” it said adding that improvement notices were issued to M/s Kashmir Dairy, M/s Aqualite Waters, M/s Adfar Spices, M/s Kanwal Spices and H.R Spices for rectification of packaging material and up-gradation of in-house testing labs and sanitary conditions and proper documentation.
Uttar Pradesh tops in food adulteration; govt collects Rs 38 crore penalty in over 4500 cases
The government has collected over Rs 50 crore as a penalty in convicted cases of food adulteration in the last three financial years.
A penalty of Rs 38 crore has been collected from Uttar Pradesh.
The government has collected over Rs 50 crore as a penalty in convicted cases of food adulteration in the last three financial years. In 4,590 cases of food adulteration, the state of Uttar Pradesh has paid the highest amount of penalty in this duration. A penalty of Rs 38 crore has been collected from Uttar Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh, Goa, and Tamil Nadu are the other states where the rate of food adulteration is high. Over 60 per cent of the total convicted cases of food adulteration in India were from Uttar Pradesh in 2017-18.
“States undertake regular monitoring, inspection, and sampling of food items to check the compliance of the prescribed standards and take penal action in cases where the food products are found adulterated, misbranded or are of inferior quality,” Danve Raosaheb Dadarao, MoS, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, said in a reply to a query in Lok Sabha.
Food adulteration refers to a food product that fails to meet legal standards. It can lead to many harmful effects on health. Not only toxicity, but it can also make the body paralysed or lead to death. This makes it very important to detect adulterants.
Around 68.7 per cent of milk and its products sold in India did not follow the FSSAI standards, said a member of the Animal Welfare Board of India last year. Heart failure, liver disorders, kidney disorders are a common consequence of toxic adulterants. Adulterated food also hinders the nutrients and can make the body nutritive deficient.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has set up standards to ensure safe and nutritious food to the consumers through various regulations under the Food Safety and Standards Act. Implementation and enforcement of these standards is primarily the responsibility of state governments, said Danve Raosaheb Dadarao. The minister further informed that the states regularly monitor, inspect and collect samples of food items and wherever the prescribed standard is not followed, the penalty is imposed.
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