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Festivals ahead, Health Dept yet to start collecting samples of sweets

Bathinda, September 25

Even as the festival season is just around the corner, but Health Department officials have yet to start taking samples of sweets and confectionery items in Bathinda and Mansa district.

Health officials said though they have been collecting samples of milk and its products, those of sweets and confectionery items will be started collecting ahead of the festival season.

Notably, Dasehra is two weeks away and the department has not started collecting samples of sweets in the district.

District Health Officer Dr Amrik Singh said, “We have been carrying out drives to create awareness about adulteration among sweets manufacturers and confectioners in order to avoid heavy penalties later. Because during raids, it has often been observed that many shop owners and manufacturers of confectionery and sweets items say they were not told in advance. So, we have decided to carry out awareness drives”

Department officials said a robust surveillance mechanism would be in place in this festive season to check adulteration of sweets. They said those violating the food safety norms would be penalised.

“Unpermitted colours must be avoided in sweets. We have standard FSSAI guidelines for use of colours in sweets. Any other synthetic colour found in sweets would be liable to invite a penalty. For the volume of a colour, on an average, one gram of colour is permissible in 10 kg of sweets. Manufacturers of sweets and confectionary items must avoid the use of cheap and low quality colours in their products to avoid penalties,” he added.

Notably, ahead of the festival season when sweets and other confectionary items are purchased in bulk, many unscrupulous elements sense a golden opportunity and try to take consumers’ health for granted by resorting to adulteration.

An executive member of a city-based NGO, who did not wish to be named, said, “In case of mouth-watering sweets, which are predominantly made with milk and its products, adulteration goes virtually unhindered. We need to comprehend the magnitude of the menace that is spreading at a high velocity. In spite of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, nothing seems to have changed on the ground. Adulterators keep on exploiting the gullible consumers and the administration seems to be in a deep slumber.”

There approximately 200 sweets shop and confectioners in Bathinda district.

The District Health Officer said, “We have a mechanism in place for collecting samples and testing them to deter adulteration in sweets. But, residents also need to be aware of the products they buy as such malpractices prevail only when there is demand in the market. We have conducted awareness drives in Rampura, Maur and Rama Mandi. In a day or two, it will be conducted for city-based sweets shop owners and manufactures.”

FDA closes Yewale tea shop in Pune for violating safety norms

The matter came to the light after FDA officials conducted a surprise visit at the Yewale tea stall and found out that they were violating the norms prescribed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shut down famous Pune tea stall for not following The Food And Drug norms of 2006 and on the suspicion of using excessive melanite in tea. FDA immediately ordered the closure of Yewale tea stall and also seized tea packet worth Rs six lakh which did not have any information printed about the product as per norms.

The matter came to the light after FDA officials conducted surprise visit at the Yewale tea stall and found out that they were violating the norms prescribed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Suresh Deshmukh, joint commissioner, FDA said, "In a surprise visit we have found that they were operating the tea stall without norms. This is a violation of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. We have therefore issued notices demanding that they shut down the shops immediately."

Earlier the FDA officers looking at the hygiene and health-related precautions had asked to shut down the stall for not following licence norms. Once famous, Yewale tea had family monthly earning the business of Rs 1.2 million. The tea is sold at a nominal rate of Rs 10.

FDA ream collects paan samples for testing

Bhopal: A team of food and drug administration (FDA) department on Wednesday collected samples of paan (betel leaves) from a paan shop. This is for the first time during the current drive against adulteration that samples of paan, when they were being served to customers, were taken. According to Food Safety Act, serving paan containing tobacco is violation of law.

FDA teams also reverted to sampling of milk and milk products ahead of Navratra beginning on Sunday to see if adulteration in milk and its derivatives has begun again.

FDA teams collected a sample of ghee and two samples of milk from Koh-e-Fiza, one sample of milk from BHEL township, and one sample each of cream, paneer and milk from a dairy in Kotra.

Samples of paan were collected from paan shops in New Market and Mangalwara. Senior food safety officer at Bhopal, D K Verma, said it was for the first time that sample of paan were collected from paan shops in the state in the course of ongoing drive against adulteration. Pouring tobacco in the paan before serving it to a customer was a crime under Food Safety Act.

During the special drive undertaken to check adulteration in food stuff on July 19, FDA teams in Bhopal have collected 274 samples so far. FIR has been registered against 10 manufacturers/traders based on reports of the sample collected from their establishment, notices have been issued to 48 and 3 have been booked under provision of National Security Act (NSA).

Plan to train 10K more food vendors on hygiene, FSSAI

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is planning to launch an initiative to enforce dietary guidelines, involving reduction of trans-fatty acids (TFAs), salt and sugar in commercially available foods in Telangana, a senior official said on Wednesday.

"We are inviting the groups and associations of oil and fats manufacturers for understanding the challenges in implementation of this mission, Dr K Shankar, Director, Office of the Commissioner of Food Safety, said.

He was speaking at a Media Dialogue on Hypertension Management and Elimination of Trans Fatty Acids in Telangana organised by Delhi-based not-for-profit organisation Consumer Voice.

Shankar said in Telangana more than 2,000 street food vendors have been trained and they are planning to train another 10,000 food vendors, food business operators about the 'Eat Right Movement', about trans-fatty acids, on the hygiene issue and about FSSAI regulation related to street food vending.

He said strict implementation of regulations of FSSAI can sharply reduce heart diseases caused by TFAs in foods.

Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department A Santhi Kumari said a three-pronged approach, comprising early screening through outreach followed by dispensation of secondary and tertiary medical care, adopted by the state government has proved effective in managing hypertension.

Emphasising the need to adopt a focused and co-ordinated approach in addressing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), several speakers said there is an urgent need to step up efforts to effectively tackle serious health problems caused by hypertension.