Oct 18, 2019
Ban on sale of fruits with stickers attached
Food and Drugs administration, Government of Chhattisgarh has made an appeal to all the fruit sellers not to sell the fruits by pasting stickers on it. The people have also been urged not to procure or purchase fruits which have stickers.
Controller, FDA said if any food trader is found to store unsafe food materials, indulge in its distribution or its sale, then under Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Act 2006, section 59, imprisonment and fine will be imposed by taking necessary legal action.
Office of Controller FDA has intimated the fruits being sold in market mainly apple, mango, orange, guava, banana, sitaphal (custard apple), nashpati (pear) and others are pasted with stickers. The fruit sellers generally claim it to be premium brand or to conceal the damaged part of the fruit. Generally, the stickers carries the traders’ brand, OK tested, best quality or name of the fruit.
It is reported that the stickers have gums which is generally made by chemicals due to which the chemicals damage the fruits. Then, it becomes unfit for human consumption. As per the FSSAI Act standards, the traders and fruit sellers are not allowed to store, distribute or sell such fruits in the market. Even they are not allowed to sell the fruits and vegetables which have started to decay.
Similarly, the sale of fruits covering a layer with wax, mineral oil, colours, ripening the fruits using calcium carbide is also banned.
FSSAI plans to train food safety workers
Govt claims Food Safety Mitras will help reduce hassles for businesses
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan launched the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India's (FSSAI) ‘Food Safety Mitra’ (FSM) scheme on October 16, 2019 — the World Food Day.
The scheme will increase transparency in the food business and reduce hassle, the government claimed, by training individuals to assist food business operators (FBO) with registration and licencing.
‘Mitra’ is the word for ‘friend’ in several Indian languages.
They will have three roles.
A digital mitra will file new applications for licensing or registration, respond to queries and look into suspended licenses or registration.
A trainer mitra will train food safety supervisors and conduct trainings at ‘Eat Right’ campuses certified by the FSSAI.
A hygiene mitra will conduct audits at FBO outlets to check if they are implementing hygiene safety guidelines. Hygiene mitras will also train food safety supervisors and food handlers about safe and hygienic practices to handle food.
FBOs will need to pay the service providers Rs 100-Rs 5,000.
Those keen to be FSMs will need to register on the FSSAI website from November 26, 2019. A graduation in food safety or hygiene will be required.
Selected applicants will be interviewed after an online test. Those successful will be trained by the FSSAI and certified. The certificate will need to be renewed every two years. They will be eligible to assist more than 25 FBOs to comply with the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006.
The government has already selected an initial 15 mitras, whose certificates were awarded on October 16.
The scheme will majorly “focus on small FBOs and food vendors to enable food safety ecosystems at the ground level,” Pawan Aggarwal, chief executive officer of FSSAI, said. He claimed that the initiative will create self-employment opportunities.
“Around 50,000 entrepreneurs are expected to join the scheme. Through services such as licencing registration, hygiene rating and food safety training, we estimate that more than 2,500,000 FBOs will be engaged,” Aggarwal said.
The FSSAI also introduced an initiative to train domestic workers in healthy cooking (eg, using less salt and sugar, not reusing cooking oil, etc) and another to reduce food wastage.
Over 25kg of sweets destroyed during food inspection
Ludhiana: The food safety team of the health department swung into action and carried out intensive checking drives in different markets of the city on Thursday morning, and inspecting several milk producing units. During inspection, the food safety team destroyed more than 25kg of sweet items procured from different sweet shops, along with samples of several milk products, after getting information about their contamination with artificial colours or flavours, which are harmful to health.
District health officer Andesh Kang said, “With the beginning of the festival season across the nation, the consumption of milk products has gone up, forcing the traders into adulteration to increase their daily production. Following the direction of higher authorities, a special team of food safety officials was constituted to carry out raids regularly across food manufacturing units, and take samples to check their purity.”
To ensure the adherence of food items to quality, a food safety team conducted a raid on the premises of two milk producing units on Thursday, and found them violating norms by running in unhygienic conditions, and indulging in adulteration.
Kang added: “After collecting all samples from manufacturing units, we have delivered it to the state food inspection laboratory for further testing. The district health department will now charge the adulterators heavy penalties. We have issued proper guidelines to all city-based vendors that they should avoid the use of newspapers while wrapping food items, and not use their bare hands to collect hard cash and serve food items to customers, to avoid the spread of viruses.”
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