Oct 25, 2019
11000 kg rotten dry fruits worth Rs 70L destroyed
Indore: Taking a big action against food adulterators, district administration on Wednesday destroyed 11,000 kg of rotten dry fruits kept in cold storage. Market value of the dry fruits in eatable condition is around Rs 70 lakh.
As part of its ‘Shuddh Ke Liye Yuddha’ (fight against food adulteration) drive, a joint team of food safety and civil supply led by SDM Anshul Khare raided Mahakaal Trading Company at Himmat Nagar in Palda area. The team found a room locked from outside. A board reading ‘not fit for usage/wastage’ was hung outside the room used as a cold storage.
When the team opened the room they found around 500 sacks of rotten almond and pistachio stored there. “We found 10-12 tonnes of rotten dry fruits stored in the cold storage. We loaded them in IMC vehicles to take it at an appropriate spot and destroy,” Khare told TOI.
The team collected food samples from Shrinath Agency in Palda, Ambika Namkeen on Jail Road and Uttam Bhog in Scheme 54. Another team led by SDM Pratul Sinha also collected food samples from Naagar Misthan Bhandar, Mahakal Misthan, Jain Misthan, Jodhpur Sweets and Jain Mithai Bhandar in Depalpur, for laboratory test. Appropriate action will be taken against owners if test is positive, senior food safety officer Manish Swami said.
Inspection at restaurants to be intensified
Secunderabad: Following crackdown on Paradise food court, the GHMC is all set to inspect more hotels, restaurants and tiffin centres in Secunderabad over sanitation concerns. “Every day we receive nearly 10 complaints from customers on hygiene issues. Post-Diwali, we will be conducting more inspections, especially to improve kitchen conditions and curb use of single-use plastic,” said Ravindra Goud, Secunderabad assistant medical health officer.
On Wednesday, Goud inspected Swagath Grand in Malkajgiri and found the drainage system was improper as manhole was overflowing. In fact, the government had recently permitted recruitment of 26 food safety officers.
Counterfeit food items pose danger to citizens: Centre
Union Health Ministry asks States to take strict action, especially during the festival season, and check the menace
“Counterfeit food items are illegal and bypass all mandatory quality checks and pose a grave danger to the health of citizens. It is imperative that the problem is dealt with effectively,” said the Union Health Ministry asking States to take strict action, especially during the festival season.
Health Secretary Preeti Sudan recently spoke to Principal Secretaries of States and Union Territories highlighting the issue of counterfeit food products and suggested periodic checks with the help of police.
In August, the Delhi HC had directed the Secretary of Health and Family Welfare to hold a meeting of Food Safety Departments of the States along with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and submit a report on the manner in which counterfeiting of food products could be tracked, recorded and curbed.
Ahead of Diwali, govt to step up surveillance on food adulteration
- Along with holding periodic drives with the help of police authorities to keep the food adulteration in check, the government is also looking at strengthening the manpower
- State government were also asked to ensure effective implementation of the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006
NEW DELHI : While the festival of Diwali is round the corner, union health ministry has asked the state governments to step up the surveillance regarding food adulteration. Along with holding periodic drives with the help of police authorities to keep the food adulteration in check, the government is also looking at strengthening the manpower.
State government were also asked to ensure effective implementation of the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006. “Counterfeit food items, being totally illegal, bypass all mandatory quality checks and pose a grave danger to the health of our citizens. It is absolutely imperative that the problem is dealt with effectively," said Preeti Sudan, Secretary ministry of health and family welfare.
“There is a need to ensure requisite availability of manpower for all activities of food safety, “States and union territories need to clearly identify the number of Designated officers (DO) and Food Safety officers (FSO) posts required for food safety administration and take steps to create the posts and fill them. Similarly, technical posts in laboratories need to be filled up, besides upgrading of the laboratories," she said.
While the government has directed the authorities to scale up consumer awareness, it has urged the consumers to insist on bills while purchasing food products etc. High Court of Delhi in its order dated 19.08.2019 had directed the Secretary of Health and Family Welfare to hold a meeting of the Food Safety Departments of the State Governments along with Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and submit a report on the manner in which counterfeiting of food products can be tracked, recorded and curbed in an effective manner.
Why you must completely avoid store-bought sweets in Diwali
01/8The trend of adulterated sweets during Diwali
Diwali is not just a festival of lights, but of sweets and savouries too. In India, from Pooja rituals to gifting, every part of Diwali celebration involves a lot of sweets and that gives a lot of scope to the market players to fool you around. Wondering how? Well, the sweet shops are known for adulterating sweets to meet the demand. From milk to sugar, everything is adulterated and pose a threat to your health. Food experts and home chefs suggest indulging in homemade preparations like halwa, gulab jamun, besan barfi and coconut laddoo. They are easy to make and are least adulterated. Read this piece of information to know about the game of adulteration and you will realise why it is advisable to avoid store-bought sweets in Diwali.
02/8Sugar
How can you think of sweets without sugar? And keeping the demand for sweets during festivals, market players have got a smart trick, where they add powdered chalk, washing soda or white sand to powdered sugar. Experts have found that these materials easily get dissolved in water or milk and can harm the throat and digestive system.
03/8Milk
Indian sweets are incomplete without milk. And when it comes to festivals like Diwali, where sweets are an integral part of the celebration, the demand for milk spikes and this eventually leads to adulteration. These days market players not only add water, but other sub-standard ingredients like detergent, shampoo and even paint to the milk to meet the demand.
04/8Ghee and oil
Indian sweets are generally made with refined oil or desi ghee. During festival time, market players adulterate the former with extracts of animal fat, cotton seeds and palm oil. This reduces the costing of oil and increases the profit margin. While the latter is adulterated with animal fat which increases the cholesterol, triglycerides levels in the human body.
05/8Paneer
We all know that paneer is made with milk and when the milk is adulterated with ingredients like water, shampoo and paint, it is quite obvious that the by-product will be equally harmful and dangerous as the key product. This is saddening because Diwali party is incomplete without delicacies like Matar Paneer, Shahi Paneer and channa based sweets.
06/8Artificial colours
Have you ever observed that during Diwali our very favourite Mootichoor Laddoo suddenly becomes very bright in colour? The credit goes to sub-standard artificial colour added to the boondi mixture. The besan is coloured with metanil yellow to give it an appealing look. You will be surprised to know that these days a chemical called Tartrazine is added to ghee to make it look like pure cow's ghee. The irony is, these non-permitted artificial colours can damage the nervous system.
07/8Vark
According to Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) silver used as a food ingredient must be 99.9 per cent pure, but these days sweets shop owners add aluminium to it, to make the dishes cost-effective. Experts warn eating Kaju Katli or Cham Cham topped with adulterated vark as they can lead to chronic illnesses like cancer, Alzheimer's etc in the long run.
08/8Mawa
Popular Diwali sweets use a lot of mawa and are often adulterated with starch. The consumption of such sweets results in indigestion. If we go by the reports, it can also lead to food poisoning.
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