Sep 13, 2019
MDH 'sambhar masala' recalled in US on salmonella contamination
The contaminated lot of MDH's sambhar powder was distributed in some northern Californian stores, the drug regulator said in a statement late on Wednesday.
MDH, ubiquitous in Indian kitchens, is known for selling various spice mixes that are key to Indian cooking. The family-run company did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails seeking more details.
"The recall was initiated after it was discovered by the FDA that the salmonella contaminated products were distributed," the statement said. It was not immediately clear if the recall was voluntary, or what the source of the contamination was.
No illnesses had yet been reported in connection with this problem, the regulator said.
The salmonella bacteria can cause serious and severe infections, especially in children or elderly people and others with weak immune system. Illnesses usually last 4 to 7 days and most people recover without treatment, according to the FDA.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India did not immediately respond to a query about possible local checks.
FSSAI ropes in Virat Kohli to eliminate the usage of single-use plastic
NEW DELHI: Aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for action to eliminate single-use plastic in coming years, develop environmental friendly substitutes and also an efficient plastic collection and disposal system in the food and beverages (F&B) sector, the apex food regulatory authority Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is developing a concrete action plan in partnership with stakeholders.
Apart from developing this incremental and agile plan, FSSAI has recently initiated some regulatory measures to enable F&B industry to reduce its plastic footprint. These include:
* Hotels can use paper-sealed glass bottles for captive use without BIS certification in place of plastic bottles. An order has been recently issued on this.
* Use of bamboo as an alternative to plastics such as straws, plates, bowls, cutlery etc.
* Removing the restriction on use of returnable bottles for packaging of artificially sweetened beverages.
* Permitting the use of liquid nitrogen dosing in PET bottles during the packaging of drinking water.
The food authority has started a consumer awareness campaign “Eat Right India for Sustainable Living” as a call to action for plastic waste management and reduction of plastic footprint in the F&B industry.
To kick-start the movement, the Indian Cricket Captain, Shri Virat Kohli had reached out to millions of fans through his social media accounts (Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) and invited them to a collection drive organised on Thursday. He asked them to bring empty F&B plastic packaging, plastic bottles, aluminium cans and tetra pack cartons for recycling in a move towards sustainable living. Thousands of people joined hands during the activation at MGF mall, Gurgaon where Shri Kohli himself segregated F&B plastic packaging waste and motivated people to follow his foot-steps.
This campaign comes a day after, the Prime Minister launched ‘Swachhata Hi Seva (SHS) 2019’, which has a special focus on ‘plastic waste awareness and management.'
FSSAI is further asking state/UT food safety departments to conduct similar awareness and collection drives at public places and malls at their State capitals and major cities in accordance with the timelines of SHS 2019. It has also urged the State Level Advisory Committees to organise state level discussions around the same and devise activities for sustaining the agenda.
At the event, Virat Kohli, captain of Indian cricket team urged his fans to not just talk about the problem but to also start acting on it. He said, “Don’t get inspired by (my) hairstyle or clothes, get inspired to do good for the society. Join hands to achieve a plastic waste free India by participating in this campaign.”
Speaking on the occasion, FSSAI CEO, Pawan Agarwal said, “Shri Virat Kohli is not only India’s ace cricketer but a wonderful human being with a sensitive heart, who cares for the society. He thanked him for his support to the cause of ‘healthy India’ through safe food, healthy and sustainable diets. He hoped that endorsement of celebrities like Virat Kohli will help to make India completely free of plastic soon and FSSAI is committed to work with various stakeholders from the food and beverages sector to bring about this change.”
Food safety staff plan to turn used oil into biodiesel
Food safety officials from Dindigul district have initiated the process of identifying food business operators who use more than 50 litres of edible oil a day, in order to collect waste oil for safe disposal. The intention is to make sure that used oil does not enter the system in any manner as it can cause greater health problems, say officials.
The collected oil will be covered into biodiesel, which can be used to operate machines and motor vehicles. According to the officials, food business operators who use more than 50 litres have to maintain a separate record to show daily usage and waste oil generated. Hotels, restaurants, snack factories and bakeries will come under the radar, designated officer for food safety, Dindigul district, Dr K Natarajan said. While some sell the used oil to roadside eateries, others flush the waste oil into drainage and water bodies, which can create environmental issues, he said.
“We have communicated to all food business operators that oil should not be used multiple times. The process of identifying those who use oil in bulk quantity is under way. Once the process is over it will be made sure that waste oil goes straight to public sector undertaking oil companies, which will convert it into biodiesel,” Dr K Natarajan said.
According to the notification of food safety and standards (licensing and registration) first amendment regulation, total polar compounds should not exceed 25% in cooking oil as they can cause serious health problems if consumed over a long time. TPC is a widely accepted parameter to check the quality of oil.
PCI urges media to be careful in reporting on food safety
New Delhi, Sep 12 The Press Council of India (PCI) has urged media houses to verify all facts before publishing any news related to food safety after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India expressed concern over several false and factually incorrect news pertaining to the issue.
The PCI has taken note of the concern expressed by the FSSAI regarding several false and factually incorrect news pertaining to food safety which are being published in the press, a statement issued by the media watchdog said.
Such news creates fear among the people at large and erodes their confidence in the food control systems of the country, the statement said.
Dissemination of any unverified or false information creates panic among consumers, public at large, international media and investors etc, the PCI said.
"All the media houses are hereby advised to verify all facts before publishing any news related to food safety," it said.
Registration of shops to be made compulsory: Hek
SHILLONG: Health and Family Welfare Minister A L Hek said the registration of all shops would be made compulsory in view of health issues.
He was replying to the Call Attention Motion of Congress MLA Mayralborn Syiem in Meghalaya Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
Admitting to the shortage in manpower, Hek said the Food and Safety Department was being run with skeletal staff and would rectify the problem not only in Shillong but in other places of the state as well.
Hek said that a complaint was received from Lansius Syienmlieh, Quinine, Ri-Bhoi District with the sample of a Jalebi on July 1, 2019. The Food Safety officer was instructed to visit the restaurant of Shiv Prakash Joshi (owner of M/S Amit Restaurant, Nongpoh).
He said that the Food Safety Officer inspected the premises and sent the sample jalebi brought by the complainant to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Center in North Eastern Region, Umiam for confirmation of the presence of insect.
During inspection of the premises of M/S Amit Restaurant, Nongpoh by the Food Safety Officer, many anomalies were detected which may be the reason for which such incident might have happened.
On receipt of the inspection report from the Food Safety officer and confirmation of the presence of body parts of insect embedded in the Jalebi, the Designated Officer, Ri-Bhoi district issued Improvement Notice under Section 32 of the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006 including the measures to be taken by Shiv Prasad Joshi within given time.
The designated officer directed the immediate closure of the shop for 14 days with effect from July 4, 2019.
The owner of the restaurant appealed for extension of the days for compliance by another 60 days more to renovate whole of kitchen, store- room and eating area.
In case the owner of the restaurant does not comply within the given time a case under section 59 (i) of the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006 will be filed for non-compliance. The 60 days’ time extended ends on September 23, 2019.
Speaking at the Call Attention Motion, Congress MLA Mayralborn Syiem said there should be regular checking of restaurants/dhabas and those eateries that do not fulfill the food safety norms should be cancelled.
He said that the manpower of the Food and Safety Department should be strengthened and said there was only one Food and Safety Officer in Ri-Bhoi and there is no other staff. He also said that there should be field staff to monitor day- -to-day activities.
How SaaS technology is ensuring food safety and security in IndiaSaaS models made the enterprise-class software accessible to the smallest players in the agriculture ecosystem
“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food” is how the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations defines food security. In the case of India, while we have seen impressive economic growth in recent years, there is still a struggle with widespread poverty and hunger. India’s poor population amounts to more than 300 million people, with almost 30 percent of India’s rural population living in poverty. But there’s good news too: poverty in India has declined from 37.2 percent in 2004-05 to 28.9% in 2009-10. The time has come for the use of digital technologies to improve the food security situation in India. These digital technologies provide data-driven decision-making support to precision farming and climate-smart agriculture, as well as for supply chain management and traceability. Broadly, these technologies fall under the SaaS (software as a service) model that is already in use and is witnessing widespread implementation in several parts of India. But first, a peek into what SaaS is all about.
What is SaaS?
Traditionally, enterprise software such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) was licensed to customers and these software applications were internally hosted and managed by the customers themselves by having a large internal Information Technology teams. These models were prohibitively expensive for smaller organizations for two reasons; initial acquisition of software and the need to maintain and support the software with large internal IT teams.
As the high-speed internet has evolved and became ubiquitous and affordable, there was no need for software to be installed within the walls of the customers and supported by internal teams. The software vendors are hosting the applications in their own data centers and providing it as a service to their customers based on the usage or subscription, which has come to be known as SoftwareAsAService or SaaS models in the industry which has drastically reduced the overall cost of using the software and hence making it accessible for smaller organizations.
SaaS models have come as a boon in digitizing the agriculture value chain. Agriculture value chains are very fragmented and there are no big margins to invest in technologies. However, SaaS models made the enterprise-class software accessible to the smallest players in the agriculture ecosystem.
How SaaS enables food security?
Food security ultimately boils down to the availability of food, access to food and climate-smart farming. For all of these, SaaS-based solutions come handy. Food security can be improved by design. Some of the methods include the prevention of wastage of resources during the crop cycle – resources such as water, fertilizer, and pesticide so that the environment that supports food production is not depleted. At the core of SaaS technology is the use of data-driven decision making. This helps in precison farming, supply chain management, climate-smart agriculture, and warehouse management, all of which help increase food security by curtailing losses during production and post-harvest stages.
SaaS-enabled smart farming is a precise and resource-efficient method, so it has real potential to deliver higher productivity and sustainability in agricultural production. This is achieved through a combination of satellite data and ground truth data processed through advanced AI/Machine Learning Algorithms which can provide precise actionable advice to help farmers make informed decisions. For example, the use of soil moisture sensors helps farmers make decisions on how, where and when to irrigate thus reducing the costs. Trends indicate that the continued implementation of smart farming in agriculture will help mitigate some of the food security problems that many parts of the world are experiencing. Precision in the use of pesticides and fertilisers can help reduce leaching problems and release of harmful greenhouse gases to the environment. Overall, smart farming encourages the use of technology in site-specific weather forecasts, probability mapping of diseases and disasters, and yield projections. Smart farming comes with all of these opportunities, and the added benefit of reducing the ecological footprint.
The connection between food security and food safety
Food security is closely related to the concept of food safety, both of which have a profound impact on the quality of human life. For that matter, there is no food security without food safety. Food safety has to do with the quality of food, not the quantity. If a person cannot eat the food they have, there is no food security.
Food Safety Issues in India
Some of the challenges with regard to food safety in India include compromised quality, increasing adulteration cases and instances of product integrity issues. Such issues can cause irreplaceable damage not just to individual health, but also to the reputation of brands that manufacture and market these products. With the advent of social media, companies have become prone to scrutiny from both government and consumers. One key element of keeping product integrity intact is to have a full view of the product and throughout the various processes. Digitisation is helping manufacturers manage their risks more effectively with a range of tools aimed at communications between employees and support teams, and improving access to data and analytics. This is another SaaS-based application that supports food safety. This means that if food safety issues arise, they can be resolved quickly and effectively without impacting production performance.
How SaaS enables food safety through traceability
Meeting food safety challenges brought about in the new global context requires a “whole value chain” approach that identifies and addresses risks right from production through consumption. This solution is called traceability. Traceability is getting increasing attention because, in all the unforeseen food safety lapses, the response action needs to be immediate. When we understand food safety beyond recalls, the important thing is to keep track of the origin of products, ingredients and their attributes, from the farm through food processing to retail, foodservice and consumers. The food safety chain is more complicated in our globalised world because it can span international borders and encounter domestic and global regulations. Without technology, managing this complex network is next to impossible. SaaS technology enables the capture of relevant data related to the food supply chain from remote and multiple locations, which is stored in a central repository, enabling near real-time and complete visibility so that any anomalies that spotted can be corrected easily, minimizing risk and saving costs.
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