DINAKARAN NEWS

1.4 tonnes of gutka seized at Broadway

Chennai:

The Esplanade police on Monday seized 1.4tonnes of gutka products from a godown and arrested three people.

M Ramakrishnan, 66, owner of the godown, staff K P Menon, 64, and S Premkumar, 30, were remanded in judicial custody.

Based on the information that gutka was hidden in R K Logistics godown on M K Gate Street at Broadway, police raided the premises.

Investigation revealed that Ramakrishnan who faced loss in business a few years ago approached another logistics company owned by one Balakrishnan on Poonamallee High Road to smuggle gutka. However, Balakrishnan’s son Ashish, 27 and his friend Vikash, 28, hired his godown to keep the contraband. They paid him a monthly rent of ₹30,000. They were remanded in judicial custody. A hunt has been launched for Ashish and Vikash.

Battling the threat of adulteration and other food fraud

Besides adulteration, the food industry also faces misleading claims on labels, untrue brand narratives, unlawful food processing, fudged certification, unchecked food hoarding and wastage. Here's how we can take steps to mitigate these crimes

Let’s start with a story that a colleague shared with me…

“Imagine a group of children eating their midday meals, lucky enough to get nourishment from milk, which otherwise they would not be able to afford. Here’s how milk may sometimes be ‘made’ for them, or for the general public...

"From full-fat buffalo milk, remove the milk fat, which has a good market by itself. Replace it with some vegetable oil and water, emulsifying the two with detergent – which gives it that nice frothy look. Add ammonium sulphate to increase the density, and melamine to increase the protein content. Next, add some urea to give it the body and colour it needs. (Don’t worry—I’m assured urea is a natural constituent of milk). Now add some caustic soda, and a little sugar to adjust for taste. There’s more we can do to make it even more affordable, but it’s a family recipe and this is all I can share.

The ill-gotten gains from such fraudsters are usually enough to pay the authorities (including people in my own department) and circumvent the law. Inevitably, they get away.”

It was depressing to hear how far people go for profiteering, but I felt grateful to the food safety officer who was sharing this frustration with me.

Over the years, I learnt that besides adulteration, there are also misleading claims on labels, untrue brand narratives, unlawful food processing (unapproved premises / unauthorised techniques), fudged food certification, unchecked food hoarding and wastage.

Wilful dishonesty in food production or supply that may be detrimental to consumers or overall public interest isn’t just food fraud...it’s a crime!

Ironically, our recollection of food scams and human suffering, including death that goes with them, is very short lived; as the memory dies, so does the culpability of the perpetrators.

Food crime erodes consumer trust and confidence in the system, the sector, and the nation at large. It eventually leads to loss of wealth for the business, the industry and the exchequer, and inevitably, to loss of jobs and reputation as well. If we agree that this is too heavy a price to pay, we must take a united stance to fight food crime.

The key to preventing or diminishing food crime, as with any other crime, is to mitigate the means, the motivation, or the opportunity to commit it. Basically, make it unthinkable or unattractive for Food Business Operators (FBOs) to cheat, at any stage in its supply chain. Difficult? Yes. But worth it.

Worldwide, there are two factors that override the moral compass of the FBO and drive him or her to food crime—the need for business survival (reducing business margins from intense competition), and the greedfor increasing profitability.

When legit FBOs face unfair competition from operators who use fraud to increase their margins, they’re forced to either quit or otherwise “play the game”. If they choose the latter, they inevitably transition from mere negligence in food safety to outright dishonesty.

Changing expiry dates to cut impending losses from products expiring shortly, is an example. Getting away with fraud like this emboldens operators to indulge in further unfair practices, until a point that they simply do not know where to draw the line anymore. Sad, considering the unofficial oath of an FBO is to never feed his customer something he wouldn’t eat himself.

So the first level of responsibility lies with the individual FBO himself; the next level with other FBOs within his supply chain; and the final level (when the first two fail), with food safety and law enforcement agencies administered by the government.

Counter fraud involves measuring the market impact of each food fraud and its financial benefit to its perpetrators. Based on this, resources of the food safety authorities and law enforcement agencies must be proportionately allocated, and punishment if any, proportionately assigned. Mined data must be used for future monitoring of FBOs.

The 110th report (2018) on the functioning of the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) highlights some very candid findings of the committee (including the unholy nexus between corrupt food inspectors and unethical FBOs), and makes some fairly practical recommendations.

WE NEED:

• Public awareness campaigns about food crime and its impact
• More technocrats rather than bureaucrats in the system
• Strong F&B business intelligence and investigative capabilities
• Food testing authorisation only to food laboratories accredited by NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories)
• More whistle-blowers reporting food crimes
• Zero-tolerance towards food criminality—by food safety officials and law enforcement agencies

Now we all know how very hard it would be to implement such recommendations, and we could simply shake our heads and lament. But I believe it would be best for F&B entrepreneurs and consumers to at least do whatever is within their control and take that first step—to be the change they want to see.

As Hakan Nesser suggests, “A crime is born in the gap between the morality of society and that of the individual”.

Food safety officials conduct special drive covering hotels and shelters providing facility to Sabarimala pilgrimage

KOZHIKODE: Food safety department authorities have commenced special drive covering hotels and shelters providing food and short stay facilities to devotees of Sabarimala pilgrimage. The special campaign was commenced under the Aardram People’s campaign of the state government.

The move was taken to ensure that devotees on Sabarimala pilgrimage get good food and safe drinking water. The officials conducting the drive are including it under its routine inspection works. The food safety officials during the drive checks the sanitation condition and overall hygienic quality of the hotel and shelter facilities, waste disposal mechanism and condition of kitchen. They also check the personal hygiene of staff engaged in cooking food.

The food safety department authorities will continue the drive till the end of Sabarimala pilgrimage season.

According to the food safety department authorities, the officials have conducted the inspections covering a total of 84 hotels and shelters of Sabarimala pilgrimage so far in Kozhikode district. Out of 84, fine was imposed on eight cases.

P K Aleyamma, Assistant commissioner and designated officer of Food safety Kozhikode district said that the drive has helped to improve the overall conditions of shelters and hotels serving food items and providing shorty stay accommodation facilities to the devotees. ‘’Two teams conducting sudden inspections covering as much as locations on a daily basis in the district,’’ said the Assistant commissioner adding that the on-going special inspection will be conducted till the end of Sabarimala season.