Aug 17, 2019
Ghee, butter as prasad in temples could be ‘inedible’
Chennai: The butter given as ‘prasad’ after prayers at temples may contain cancercausing dyes, mustard oil and vanaspati, say food safety officials.
Worse, some brands of edible ghee risk contamination as they are made on the same production line churning out ‘inedible’ ghee.
Ahead of Krishna Jayanthi, officials on Friday raided more than nine houses in T Nagar that manufacture and sell ‘inedible’ ghee and butter under various names including Vishnu lighting ghee, Sri Krishna deepa ghee, Sri Eshwari ghee and Krishna butter at ₹200 a kg compared to ₹435 per kg of edible ghee by brands such as Aavin.
More than 4,000 tonnes of this ghee and butter is sold to various shops every week besides being supplied to temples, officials estimate.
“The labels clearly mention they are not edible. But we found that people who don’t see the labels eat this butter after it is offered to the god at various temples,” said Chennai food safety officer A Ramakrishnan.
Most manufacturers also make edible ghee and butter on the same assembly line. “This is a complete violation of food safety as there is risk of edible food getting mixed with these chemicals,” another official said. Samples of ghee and butter products were seized from these units and sent for analysis.
“We will be able to find adulterants they use. We can frame charges against the manufacturers if edible ghee is contaminated and if there are labelling issues,” he said. If the charges are proved, it can lead to cancellation of manufacturing licence besides criminal action.
None of the manufacturers reared cows or had dairy farms and bought raw material — white and yellow butter and ghee — from a distributor (name withheld for investigation) in tins. The distributor also gives them 5 litres of a red dye mixed with mustard oil. This goes into ‘white’ butter to give it the colour and texture of cow’s ghee.
The chemicals have also been sent for analysis. Last year, food safety officials in Visakhapatnam found manufacturers mixing synthetic resin adhesive such as Fevicol with ghee.
Consuming ghee or butter mixed with colouring chemicals and vanaspathi is dangerous. While the chemicals can cause digestive disorders and cancer, the effect of vanaspathi is equally devastating.
“It is vegetable ghee that has been hydrogenated and hardened with palmolein. It is high on trans fats, a risk factor for high cholesterol, heart attacks and strokes,” said nutritionist S Bhama.
In 2018, the government said 47 major temples in Tamil Nadu run by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department will get Food Safety and Standards Authority of India certification for ‘prasad’. Food safety officials say they check all temples. “We told temple officials and priests not to use inedible substance as offering,” he said.
Modern Dairy products inspected for quality by FDA
The FDA officials seized a total of 561 kilogrammes of spurious curd, malai, paneer, and fresh cream collectively worth Rs 1,23,691 on Friday
FDA officials said the food items sold at Modern Dairy violated the norms prescribed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and is a serious threat to the public
In a surprise raid conducted on Friday, the Food And Drug Administration (FDA) Pune seized paneer (cottage cheese), curd and cream from Modern Dairy shop located in Camp area, to inspect for quality.
The FDA officials seized a total of 561 kilogrammes of curd, malai, paneer, and fresh cream collectively worth Rs 1,23,691 on Friday.
According to Food And Drug Administration officials, the products would be inspected for hygiene.
Suresh Deshmukh, joint commissioner, FDA, Pune, said they received a tip-off on which the action was taken
Earlier this month, FDA conducted surprise checks at 100 eateries, creameries, milk establishments across the city. Most of the cases were attributed to unhygienic preparations, usage of acids and other colouring methods.
The officials said that any violations of norms prescribed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is a serious threat to the public.
FSSAI implements ban on colistin use
The food regulatory body came up with the draft of the amendment and directed that it be operationalised immediately
NEXT NEWS ❯
Colistin and its tolerance limits will be removed from the list of antibiotics and veterinary drugs for foods.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on August 8, 2019 issued a draft regulation to prevent the use of antibiotic colistin in food, banned by the Union government in July.
Colistin, which is a last resort antibiotic for humans, is used to treat drug-resistant gram-negative infections in critically ill patients.
According to the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations 2019, colistin will be added to the list of antibiotics and veterinary drugs that are prohibited for use in processing of meat and meat products, poultry and eggs, sea foods including shrimps, prawns or fish and fishery products.
Also, colistin and its tolerance limits will be removed from the list of antibiotics and veterinary drugs for foods. While the draft will be notified in some time, FSSAI operationalised it from August 8.
The Union government's July notification prohibited the manufacturing, sale and distribution and colistin's formulations for food-producing animals, poultry, aqua-farming and animal feed supplements with immediate effect.
“The regulation to ban colistin is timely reflected in the food law. This will enable necessary monitoring of food by food inspectors,” said Amit Khurana, programme director, food safety and toxins, Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based non-profit.
The World Health Organization (WHO) not only categorises colistin as a highest priority critically important antimicrobial, but also places it under "reserve" category under the AWaRe categorisation.
In 2018, mcr 1 and 3 genes that confer resistance to colistin were reported for the first time in food samples procured locally in India.
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