Dealers, vendors will be answerable

Many of the major national and multi-national food and beverage companies have started asking their local distributors and wholesale dealers to obtain licenses under the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) 2006.

Because, under the Act, vendors and distributors can be held liable for selling products after its date of expiry, misbranding, and storing in unsafe conditions rather than the manufacturer.

The Act was notified on August 5, 2011. The process becomes mandatory only by February 4, 2014, as the duration has been extended.

The Act (www.fssai.gov.in) states that food business operators functioning without license can be imprisoned for six months and fined up to Rs. 5 lakh.

Dealers found selling substandard products are liable to be fined up to Rs. 5 lakh and those selling misbranded products, up to Rs. 3 lakh.

Some of these penal provisions, however, have been challenged in various courts.

Obtaining these licenses will make the dealer conform to the stringent norms on storage, transporting, and distributing food products.

The dealer must know the entire supply chain right up to the manufacturer.

In the district around 1,750 dealers had obtained licenses and 6,500 had registered themselves.

Conforming to the Act will ensure that high food safety standards are maintained, said R. Kathiravan, Designated Officer, Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department (Food Safety Wing), here on Thursday.

Dr. Kathiravan said that the distributors must provide the vendors information regarding the product, its code, and especially the batch number, which was vital in case of a recall being necessitated.

“A couple of months back, a food item had to recalled from a chain of pharmacy stores in Coimbatore and Erode because of fungus formation. Since the company had provided the batch number, we were able to recall the entire shipments quickly.”

All food business operators with an annual turnover in excess of Rs. 12 lakh must obtain licence under the FSSA by paying Rs.2,000.

Those with an annual turnover less than this threshold need only to register themselves by paying Rs. 100.

The licences have to be renewed annually.

In Coimbatore district, the total target was 22,000, of which 14,000 had an annual turnover of less than Rs. 12 lakh, said Dr. Kathiravan.

National workshop on ‘Wellness Convention: Nutrition, Health and Fitness’ organized by Faculty of Applied Sciences, MRIU, Faridabad

Faridabad, October 17, 2012: The department of Nutrition and Dietetics under the Faculty of Applied
Sciences at Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad organized a 2 daylong conference
(16 – 17th October 2012) on ‘‘Wellness Convention: Nutrition, Health and Fitness’ at the university
campus. The conference was inaugurated by Honorable Chief Guest, Ms. Anita Chowdhary, IAS (Retd.)
along with other eminent guests, Dr. Anuja Agarwala, President IDA, Delhi chapter, Dr. O. P. Bhalla,
Chancellor, MRIU, Dr. N. C. Wadhwa, Vice Chancellor, MRIU and Dr. G. L. Khanna, Dean, FAS .
The aim of the conference was to explore the global databases on the world’s major forms of
malnutrition, the effectiveness of nutrition programs and progress towards achieving sustainable health and nutritional wellbeing of all the people, thereby reinforcing and accelerating human and national development
Dr. O. P. Bhalla, Chancellor, MRIU enforced, many lifestyles and environmental factors, in addition
to nutrition, influence health and well-being, but nutrition is a major, modifiable and powerful factor
in promoting health, preventing and treating disease and improving quality of life. The relationship
between food, nutrition and health is thus one of the global challenges that we are facing today.
Ms. Anita Chowdhary, IAS (Retd.), Former Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India
in her keynote address on 16th October said, “The food you eat today is walking and talking tomorrow.
Your diet is the foundation to optimal fitness, which is needed to minimize the risks for diseases and
help you perform your daily activities without excessive fatigue.”
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Anuja Agarwala, President IDA, Delhi chapter, highlighted, there is a
connection between fitness and nutrition, which is to follow a good nutritional routine which helps to
encourage a regular fitness program and ultimately imparting one a good health. When considered
together nutrition and fitness can have a large positive impact on one’s life. Following a good nutrition program which includes a balanced diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean proteins can help to maintain a healthy weight, prevent diseases such as, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes and also boost energy levels throughout the day. A regular fitness routine in conjunction with the healthy diet can help one to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, sleep better at night, improve mood and help with overall strength and cardiovascular endurance.
Dr. G. L. Khanna, Dean, FAS revealed that Health and wellness are often used interchangeably, but they have slightly different meanings. Health is more of a medical term and describes the physical and mental state of a person. It usually denotes a lack of disease or abnormality. Wellness, on the other hand, is defined as the overall process of maintaining a general state of good health. Wellness involves conscious decisions on the part of the individual, whereas health simply describes a person’s condition. Higher rates of heart diseases, increases in the incidence of cancers, record numbers of clinically obese people, and various other health scares have all drawn attention to the need for healthy lifestyle choices.
Dr. Mohit D Gupta, Assistant Professor, Department of cardiology, G. B. Pant Hospital highlighted that stress is related to 99% illness Stress is a major problem for many people — a hectic, stressful job, a chaotic home life, bills to worry about, and bad habits such as unhealthy eating, drinking and smoking can lead to a mountain of stress. Stress is a major problem for many people — a hectic, stressful job, a chaotic home life, bills to worry about, and bad habits such as unhealthy eating, drinking and smoking can lead to a mountain of stress. He also revealed research has shown that following a healthy eating plan can both reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure and lower an already elevated blood pressure.
Dr. N. C. Wadhwa, Vice Chancellor, MRIU addressed that Good nutrition is essential to both current
health and wellbeing, and health and wellbeing in later life. Eating a healthy diet can help reduce the
risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, some cancers, obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure,
osteoporosis.
Third session with theme “Nutrition for Women and Child” consisted of eminent speakers Dr. Vinita
Narula, Vice President, HSAI, Ms. Swapna Chaturvedi, Sr. Dietician, AIIMS, Ms. Nilanjana Singh, Chief Dietician, PSRI focused on the various issues and health challenges faced by women and child who are considered as important vulnerable sections of society in India.
Dr. Alka Beotra, Scientific, National Dope Testing Laboratory, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports,
New Delhi and Ms. Shruti Sharma, Technical Officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India,
bring out that FSSAI has been established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which consolidates various acts & orders that have hitherto handled food related issues in various Ministries and Departments. FSSAI has been created for laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption. And highlighted Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006; Various central Acts like Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, Fruit Products Order, 1955, Meat Food Products Order, 1973, Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947,Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order 1988, Solvent Extracted Oil, De- Oiled Meal and Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967, Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992 etc repealed after commencement of FSS Act, 2006. The Act also aims to establish a single reference point for all matters relating to food safety and standards, by moving from multi- level, multi- departmental control to a single line of command.
The conference was concluded with a beautiful cultural evening performed by students of Department of Nutrition and Dietetics and Valedictory Function took place in the presence of Guest of Honor, Dr. P. C. Kashyap, Executive Director, SAI, whose existence made the event a great success.

Alert officials on food adulteration; win prize

Awareness campaign on safe food begins in city

Are you fed up with sub-standard foods, expired products sold at shops? Alert officials concerned and win prizes up to Rs. 5,00,00.

With this message the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s first major Information, Education, Communication (IEC) campaign has reached Coimbatore.

‘Food Safety Express,’ operated by Consumer Association of India roped in for the campaign will spend 45 days in the city.

The association project manager Kalyani Rajaraman told The Hindu over phone from Chennai that the Food Safety Express, launched at the State capital on January 17, was targeting to cover 620 locations in the five districts of Chennai, Vellore, Coimbatore, Madurai, and Tiruchi. The campaign would conclude on May 20.

She said that according to a research food and waterborne diseases constituted up to 70 per cent of all diseases in the country. Besides causing large numbers of mortality and morbidity, many households went deep into debt because of preventable diseases.

The Food Safety Express visited CMC Colony at Ukkadam, Karumbukadai, Townhall, and R.S.Puram, on Thursday. The staff at the express said that they were conducting demonstrations for consumers to easily find out if products had been adulterated.

The general public could bring instances of violations such as mislabelling to the notice of the authority. The national toll-free number is 1800 112 100.

Prizes were distributed for people who participated in various programmes organised by the express staff. Short films on food safety were shown on a television mounted on the vehicle. Pamphlets and handbills containing messages about the food safety in regional language was distributed. Equitas Development Initiative Trust, which works with women SHGs, was assisting the authority in the safety campaign.

Many stakeholders have come together to spread the message of safe food. They include the authority, Civil Supplies and Consumers Association of Tamil Nadu, Food Safety Commission – Tamil Nadu, Citizen Consumer Clubs in schools and colleges and voluntary consumer organisations besides food business operators.

Established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, the authority is an independent statutory body created for laying down scientific standards for food articles and regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

Food safety norms, nutrition must be linked; Organic farming should be subsidised

Food safety norms should be linked to nutrition and likelihoods, and organic farming should be given subsidies, according to the Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) director general Sunita Narain. At a conference, it was suggested that food safety should come under the health ministry’s purview.

Addressing the concluding session of the conference on Food as Toxin held in New Delhi recently, Narain pointed out that food safety had changed from preventing adulteration to testing for additive and pesticide residues. She added a lot of money is being wasted on pesticides and fertilisers, which would eventually be checked by the authorities.

Keeping in mind their adverse impact on the environment, it was also recommended that pesticide regulations should either be framed by the health or environment ministry instead of the agriculture ministry, which currently regulates them. Members of the civil society should also be roped in to ensure transparency while framing policies.

Another suggestion was that toxic and obsolete pesticides be banned, and that a report on the use and effects of the use of fertilisers and pesticides should be prepared every year. State universities should be contacted to advise farmers on pesticide use, and organic farming should be promoted, both at the production and the trading level.

Policies
It was also suggested that the policies should be framed keeping in mind that most farmers in the country have small land holdings, and emphasis should be on training. Bio-monitoring should be done to check pollution, and before making an action plan, there should be comprehensive studies regarding the use of antibiotics for the growth of crops.

Labelling
Another recommendation made at the conference was that the regulations concerned with labelling should be made stricter, because the consumers are generally unable to make informed choices. It was also suggested that advertisements featuring children should be banned.

Street food
The event emphasised the need to keep in the mind consumers’ preferences and food habits while making street food a safer alternative.

The two-day conference was attended by K Chandramouli, chairman, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India; Sri Ram Khanna, managing trustee, Voluntary Organisation in the Interest of Consumer Education; Sanjay Dave, chairman, Codex Alimentarius, and Rakesh Kacker, secretary, Ministry of Food and Processing Industries, amongst others.

Regulatory hurdles in nutraceuticals market as trend shifts to preventive

The nutraceuticals market is one of the most booming markets today as the trend for treatment is gradually shifting from curative to preventive. Also, an increasing number of young people are becoming aware of the problems individuals face from the changing lifestyle. This is one of the major reasons why they wish to turn towards nutraceuticals. Nutraceuticals include a number of segments such as functional foods, dietary supplements and functional beverages.

The global nutraceuticals market was estimated at US$142.1 billion in 2011 and likely to grow at a rate of 6.3% to reach $204.8 billion by 2018, according to a report by Transparency Market Research. The report states that Asia-Pacific is most likely to have the second-largest share of the market by 2017, behind only North America. This huge demand in the nutraceutical market has also caught the attention of pharmaceutical companies world over which are keen on grabbing a piece of this big pie. A number of pharma companies are partnering with different nutra companies or launching their own nutraceutical products. It is important to point out, at this juncture, that one of the major hurdles faced by companies in launching nutraceuticals is that of ‘regulatory’ affairs. Would nutraceuticals be governed by drug regulations or would they be governed by other specific regulations?  This article throws light on this critical issue.

Regulations in the past (pre-2005 era)
In the pre-2005 era, nutraceuticals were considered as foods under the ‘food & drug’ regulations, and governed by a plethora of legislations, predominant among which was the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and Rules (PFA). Currently, regulations for food and beverages are in a transition phase from Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and Rules (PFA) to Food Safety and Standards Bill (FSSB).

Before the FSSA came into existence in 2006, nutraceuticals were regulated under PFA but the laws in 2005 were still very different.

Before 2005, food and food processing were governed by multiple laws and ministries such as

The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954; The Fruit Products Order, 1955; The Meat Food Products Order, 1973; The Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947; The Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order, 1998; The Solvent Extracted Oil, De-oiled Meal and Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967; The Milk and Milk Products Order, 1990; and Essential Commodities Act, 1955 pertaining to food.

The standards for food under all of these laws with regard to manufacturing, processing, packaging, and so on were different. At the time, food was classified into two kinds, either proprietary or fortified.

This governance by multiple Acts and Laws led to a great deal of confusion and a clear cut need was felt to bring all the present laws under one law; which was stressed upon by the Standing Committee of Parliament on Agriculture in its 12th Report that it submitted in April 2005. The Government of India appointed a Group of Ministers (GoM) for proposing an integrated food law. Thus, the Food Safety and Standards Bill, 2005, was introduced into Parliament and referred based on the recommendations made by the standing committee.

Current regulations
On August 23, 2006, Parliament passed the FSSB and it was signed by the president. It was believed to have a major impact on the Indian food processing industry. The Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) works at assimilating the food and safety laws in the country such that they develop the food processing industry in a scientific and systematic manner; bringing about a major shift from a regulatory to a self-compliance regime. The Act’s two major objectives are

•  To introduce a single statute relating to food
• To ensure scientific development of the food processing industry

The Act is designed with the intent to create a single reference point for all matters relating to food safety and standards by changing from the multi-level, multi-departmental control to a single line of command. In the FSSA, food was categorised under the following heads: novel foods, genetically- modified food, propriety food, standardised food, foods for special dietary use and functional foods/ nutraceuticals/ health supplements.

Subsequently, in 2011, the Food Safety and Standard Regulations, 2011, were enforced from August 5. These regulations were for control on the manufacture, distribution and sale of nutraceuticals, functional foods and dietary supplements in India.  The increased regulations have been designed to urge manufacturers to come up with long-term market strategies and get rid of any deceitful players or products from the market.

Challenges following the new law
Approval of a product: This is a major cause of concern for a company that wishes to enter the nutraceutical market. Before the FSSAI came into existence, the company had to procure a licence from the PFA to manufacture a product. But now, for obtaining a licence from FSSAI, product approval certificate is mandatory.

To gain this much-needed product approval, the company would have to give an application in the stated format along with a non-refundable initial payment of Rs 25,000. This is certainly something to worry about for the manufacturer/ supplier as it creates technical snags while increasing the cost incurred at the same time.

Different food licence for packed food items:  To ensure that misrepresentation of health claims does not happen, the FSSAI had sent notices to manufacturers of Bournvita, NutriChoice and Pediasure. The notices ask them to give scientific basis of their claims. The Act has thus made it mandatory to procure a different licence for such products.

Labelling and advertising norms: The claims made on the product labels and advertisements need to be scientifically proven and not simply to attract the consumers. The FSSAI approval has prohibited the companies from making any health claims that are false or deceptive in any way on proprietary/ functional/ novel foods.

Conclusion
Although the nutraceutical market is on the rise, the regulations and rules put hurdles in its path. So, it is essential that the government takes appropriate steps which facilitate the growth of the nutraceutical market. The registration process for any product is certainly a complex one. To ensure complete transparency, it should include these five elements: registration, claims, labelling, packaging and quality. This is crucial if more and more people have to opt for these nutra products along with their daily diet to fulfil all their dietary needs. India is moving slowly but swiftly on the path to create a proper and systematic regulatory method which makes it convenient not only for the consumers but also the stakeholders.

Nestle discovers horse meat in food items

Biggest Food Co Latest To Find Traces Of Horse DNA In Beef Products In Italy, France & Spain

London: The horse meat scandal in Europe is only getting worse with the world’s biggest food company now saying that tests have found traces of horse DNA in their packed products made from beef in Italy, France and Spain.
    Nestle on Tuesday said, “Our tests have found traces of horse DNA in two products made from beef. The levels found are above the 1% threshold the UK’s Food Safety Agency uses to indicate likely adulteration or gross negligence.” It added, “When reports first emerged in the UK about the fraudulent mislabeling of beef, we enhanced testing of our products and the raw materials we use across Europe. We are now suspending deliveries of all our finished products produced using beef supplied by a German firm.”
    Nestle added that there was no food safety issue “but the mislabeling of products means they fail to meet the very high standards consumers expect from us. We are also enhancing our existing comprehensive quality assurance programme by adding new tests on beef for horse DNA prior to production in Europe. We want to apologize to consumers and reassure them that the actions being taken to deal with this issue will result in higher standards and enhanced traceablity.”
    An update on test results from throughout the food industry will be published by the Food Standards Agency of UK next Friday with a further update to be published on March 1. After that, food businesses will update the FSA on their tests results every three months.
    UK’s environment secretary Owen Paterson meanwhile met representatives of food businesses including retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and trade associations asking them to conduct tests on all their products.
    At the meeting, food businesses right through the supply chain agreed to do their level best to report back as many testing results as possible to the FSA by Friday.
    Latest revelations on the horse meat scandal shows that FSA had written a letter to the department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) in April 2011 warning that horse meat was being passed off as beef.
    The letter also warned Defra that packaged food was also being contaminated with horse meat, but the warnings were ignored. Paterson has now asked FSA to investigate the claims that the govenment was indeed warned .
    John Young, a former manager at the Meat Hygiene Service write a letter to former minister Sir Jim Paice on behalf of Britain’s largest horse meat exporter, High Peak Meat Exports warning that its effort to stop meat containing the anti-inflammatory drug phenylbutazone, known as bute, getting into the food chain was a “debacle”. “I have discussed it with the chief executive of the FSA and she is going to go back through the records and see exactly what was said at the time,” he said.
    The FSA meanwhile has submitted a full file and evidence on this scandal to Europol. The data submitted is now being analysed by both Europol and law enforcement agencies in 35 countries across Europe and elsewhere. Latest data shows horse meat has been consumed by millions of children and hospital patients across Europe.
Another victim: Top Brazil beef producer
    The world’s top beef producer, JBS of Brazil, was on Tuesday the latest firm to be embroiled in Europe’s horse meat scandal. JBS which used HJ Schypke as a subcontractor, said its Belgian branch would stop buying European meat. It added, “Schypke, a German manufacturer of processed meat products, is not in any way part of the JBS Group.” 

Harmonisation Of India’s Food Standards with Codex Standards and Other International Best Practices

Nutraceuticals: Big to biggest

With growing concern towards increase in lifestyle-based diseases and focus on health & wellness, the theme of prevention is better than cure is likely to prevail as the most important.

Not only that, it is also going to be the base for increased consumer expectation and demand for nutraceuticals, food for specific dietary uses and functional foods & beverages for their ability to address several diseases.

Growing healthcare and consumer awareness in India and the world has led to variety of terms appearing in the industry. Medi foods, vitafoods, functional foods, nutraceuticals, dietary supplements, and fortified foods to name a few. Of these variants – nutraceuticals is one of the fastest and speedily developing segments in the health food & beverage sector.

Definition
Experts define nutraceuticals as “non-specific biological therapies used to promote wellness, prevent malignant processes and control symptoms they can be broadly categorised based upon the products as vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, herbals / botanicals, non-herbals, proteins and fibres.”

In other words, nutraceuticals products provide health & medicinal benefits which includes prevention and treatment of diseases in addition to the basic nutritional value found in foodstuff. Nutraceuticals are particularly of interest to the present generation because they have the potential to substantially reduce the expensive, high-tech, disease treatment approaches presently being employed in Western healthcare.

The nutraceuticals industry is both a brainchild and product of the need for preventative personalised medicine. Born of consumer demand for better food, the industry continues to use consumers for inspiration. The nutraceuticals sector has moved from healthy diet additions to mandatory diet requirements specifically designed to consumer requirements.

S Siddiqui, senior F&B analyst, said, “Nutraceuticals have gained tremendous importance in the last few years in developing & developed nations. Mostly, the nutraceuticals products are high priced which offer additional profitable benefits to players when compared to traditional foods.”

Chart

Source: Frost & Sullivan

A white paper titled “Emerging insights on nutraceuticals - players and policy-makers” jointly, prepared by Grant Thornton and FICCI states consumers of nutraceuticals are demographically diverse: a malnourished child in a developing country, a young mother and her infant, an aged man / woman with prostate issues / severe osteoporosis, an ageing baby boomer who is willing to experiment with her food/ vitamin basket.

Globally, due to buoyant consumers acceptability, the US and Japan are the most developed markets for nutraceuticals. However, India, China and Brazil are developing nations which show huge potential for the nutraceuticals market.

Yesterday & today of nutra business
The industry research report titled “Global Nutraceutical Industry: Investing in Healthy Living,” has found that the global nutraceuticals market has seen maximum growth in the last decade. While, nutraceuticals as an industry emerged in the early 1990s, 2002-2010 has been the key growth period for the industry. From 1999 to 2002, the nutraceuticals industry grew at an annual average growth rate (AAGR) of 7.3 per cent, while from 2002 to 2010, the AAGR doubled to 14.7 per cent. The industry is expected to maintain comparable growth till 2015 driven by growth from India, China and Brazil. The report was jointly prepared by Frost & Sullivan and FICCI.

“Currently, worldwide nutraceuticals are gaining prominence and becoming a part of the average consumer’s daily diet. The key reasons for this have been the increased incidence of lifestyle diseases the world over, increase in life expectancy and inadequate nutrition due to the current lifestyle choices people make today. In fact, in developing nations, mortality due to nutrition-related factors is nearly 40 per cent, underscoring the need for nutraceuticals products, to balance the nutritional intake of the individual,” the report said.

“While the Indian industry is currently nascent, it has great potential and is expected to grow at a growth rate of 16 per cent year-on-year for the next five years. This makes it one of the key markets for entry for nutraceutical products and ingredient manufacturers,” it added.

Trends: Worldwide
According to Grant Thornton’s white paper, the ongoing trends in the nutraceuticals businesses are

Multiple micronutrient intervention studies: The ongoing research in various corners of the world aims to establish a link between single and multiple micronutrient intervention studies and diseases of the human body to arrive at a holistic nutritional approach for combat. The evidence supporting the role of interventions in the prevention of various diseases however is still evolving.

New Dimensions: The usage of nutrients has increased from traditional forms (foods, supplements and beverages) to new markets such as cosmetics, pet care, marine life, and sports.
• Antioxidants for longevity, immunity and vitality
• Increased demand from the highest risk categories of baby boomers
• Non-prescription-based cosmetics with medicinal (including anti-ageing) properties
• Functional and medicated confectionery foods and snack bars
• Fatty Acids (CLA and Omega 3, 6 and 9) and proteins & clinical evidence of their health benefits
• Pet nutraceuticals & sports nutraceuticals
• Functional additives - vitamins, proteins, fibres

Trends in India
Even with the lowest per capita GDP in the BRIC regions, India is poised to overtake China as the most populous country (also with the largest number of undernourished children in the world), and represents an extremely favourable market for the growth of nutraceuticals.

At population levels like ours combined with income disparities, the need for nutrition arises in each strata of our society. While approximately 42 per cent of all Indian children under age 5 suffer from malnutrition, nearly 300 million people are part of an expanding middle class. The middle-class level, with increased disposable incomes has become aware of the importance of diet and nutrition for long- term good health. Rajiv Chopra, president, DSM India, said, “Healthy habits need to start young. Only an appropriate blend of micro / macro nutrients in our diet can help us break through the health deficit.”

Some key emerging trends in the Indian nutraceuticals space are
• Focus on wellness and preventive care.
• Increased awareness and health consciousness.
• Growth currently driven by the functional food and beverages segment.
• Health and wellness yet to reach the fat and oils segment.
• Increased accessibility through new distribution channels and greater visibility (example infant and sports nutrition).
• A large diabetic population (similar to Brazil and China).
• Vitamins used in several food fortifications.
• Mass market retailing is just getting off ground in India with FDI approvals and can represent a great way to market the nutraceuticals.
• One third of the population being vegetarian, protein supplements in the form of soya / rice / others can assume great significance.
• Flavoured, powdered milk fortified with vitamins and minerals is a recent trend. In other parts of the country, milk scarcity drives soya and skimmed milk demand.

Also, India and China have emerged as a key sourcing destination for natural ingredients. Each of the countries in the BRIC region is in different evolutionary stages of development and nutraceuticals are subject to differences in regulation, nutrition awareness, consumer demand, biological support and affordability. China and Brazil have an advanced regulatory framework for the approval of nutraceuticals and their advertising, although these differ somewhat in the specifics.

Top players
Our country can be viewed both as a developer and manufacturer of nutraceuticals ingredients and products, and as a strong emerging market for nutraceuticals. “Key stakeholders in the Indian nutraceuticals landscape need to focus on the following Critical Success Factors – providing access to food in the first place, ensuring the right quality and mix of food, weeding out adulteration, improving the general environment and ensuring the availability of clean drinking water for all,” Chopra added.

Key players in Indian nutraceuticals business include Zydus, Plethico (including subsidiary Natrol), Piramal Healthcare, Elder Pharma, Universal Medicare (Sanofi), Nandan, Tablets India Ltd, Hexagon Nutrition, Natural Remedies, Dabur, and Advanced Enzymes.

The international companies that are existent and growing in the Indian market are DSM nutritional products, Abbott nutrition, GSK, Amway, and Herbalife.

Healthy oil – How to find one

Of late, there has been a plethora of information available on the online media that guides consumers about the right cooking oil to use. If you visit a retail mall or look at the Internet, the claims and counter claims made by these vegetable oil manufacturers can make your head twirl. Not only that, there are infinite opinions about the best cooking oils by self-styled nutritionists and health experts. Anyone and everyone who is a writer and has access to the Internet claims to be an expert on cooking oil. Strange isn’t it? How do you decide which is the right cooking oil for your home? What are the health benefits of these cooking oils? These are important questions for which one seldom finds the right answers.

Claims
There is an incredulous youtube clip by a famed nutritionist who rubbished the entire oil refining process to say that double filtered oil is the best oil to be used for cooking as it preserves all vitamins, nutrients and minerals. I am sure that the distinguished professors and alumni of UDCT (University Department of Chemical Technology), an engineering college in Mumbai that conducts a full-time degree course in oil technology, will freeze in disbelief on hearing such misinformation to gullible consumers. While nutritionists can certainly claim to be experts on nutrition related matters, they cannot lay siege to rubbishing the technology that has been in existence for decades. Sadly, this is only an example of the Internet becoming a medium for false propaganda and misinformation about cooking oils.

As per this nutritionist, the refining process destroys all nutrients in the oil. Even if we agree that this statement may have some element of truth, what the nutritionist is missing is that the refining process also removes harmful toxins from the oilseeds. This is not to say that refining a vegetable oil is akin to throwing the baby along with the bath tub.

With appropriate process control, it is possible to retain the vitamins and nutrients in an oil. Many manufacturers also fortify the oil with minerals, nutrients and vitamins. So, where is the problem? On the contrary, double filtering or triple filtering of oil cannot claim to remove the toxins from the oils. Filtration is a physical process while refining is a chemical process.

The edible oil industry has been associated with processes like solvent extraction of the vegetable oil, RBD (refining, bleaching and deodorisation), hydrogenation etc. from time immemorial. So, to rubbish this technology is ludicrous. However, we have to agree that in India, we still suffer from regulatory inertia when it comes to implementing standards for the edible oil industry. There is so much oil adulteration happening in India that it is sad that no concrete action has been taken by the government or ministry of health to stem this rot.

Standards
There are no clear cut standards either for the solvent extraction process or the RBD process. Even if we have one, there is lot of ambiguity if these processes or standards are being followed by Indian manufacturers – a large number of whom are from the unorganised sector.

Look at the number of sesame oil (til oil) brands that we have in India. Most of these brands are not fit for human consumption and so, knowledgeable households use them for lighting lamps. But what about the uninitiated? Barring one popular brand in the south that charges a premium for its oil and claims that it is an oil that is good for the heart, no other til oil brand sold in a city like Bangalore comes close to comparison. One shudders to think about the health impacts if such oils are consumed by the ignorant population just because they are cheap.

The CSE report
An investigative report made by the Delhi-based Centre for Science & Environment (CSE) in 2009-10 made some alarming revelations. A random testing of popular vanaspathi and cooking oil brands in north revealed that most of these contained high levels of trans fats. Trans fats are banned in all countries except Denmark where an upper limit of 2% has been stipulated. This means that no cooking oil sold in Denmark should contain more than 2% of trans fats. Trans fats are formed when an oil is hydrogenated to make it more stable so that it can have a prolonged shelf life.

Trans fats are harmful because they can reduce the amount of HDL (good) cholesterol in your blood, cause infertility in women, lead to health complications like diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. The CSE lab tested the samples and found that in India, some of the brands have as much as 13-20% of trans fats.

The matter gets exacerbated further when you note that we don’t even have any law banning trans fat or any law that stipulates a standard for trans fat in an oil or vanaspathi. This has complicated matters so much so that it is the public who suffers in the end. Most of the labeling, the CSE report found out, was completely misleading. Either there was no correlation between what was found on the pack label and the actual lab test results or in some cases, important data was conveniently missing. The lack in product integrity standards was appalling. CSE alleges that many manufacturers have influenced the government to go slow in these matters leading to a compromise in the health of the nation.

Which is the best – sunflower oil or olive oil or ricebran oil
There are as many opinions on this topic as the number of stars in the sky which actually compounds the confusion. Let us take a quick peep into the facts already known to us. The National Sunflower Association maintains that sunflower oil is light in taste and supplies more vitamin E than any other oil. Sunflower oil is a combination of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats with low levels of saturated fat. It has a reasonably good frying performance.

In the US, oil manufacturers have used scientific breeding methods to create different hybrid varieties of sunflower oil namely - High Oleic Sunflower Oil; Nu Sun Sunflower Oil; and Linoleic Sunflower Oil.
The difference between these grades is that each of them contains a different proportion of oleic acid in them. Chemically, oleic acid is a fatty acid molecule that has a single double bond. Linoleic acid is a molecule that has two double bonds and linolenic acid has three double bonds. Any student of chemistry will tell you that the more the number of double bonds in a molecule, higher is the susceptibility of the molecule to oxidation at high temperatures. What is wrong with oxidised products? Oxidised products are carcinogenic and toxic. This is the reason why oils that contain a high proportion of linolenic acid (3 double bonds) are seldom suited for frying. This is also the reason why nutritionists will advice you against reheating the oil again and again.

Contrary to what is being touted, no vegetable oil contains cholesterol. So, if someone is claiming that their cooking oil contains no cholesterol, he is saying that for the entire vegetable oil family. Cholesterol is a source of fat in animal products and byproducts like milk, ghee, and eggs. However, some cooking oils help the good cholesterol in the blood stream to increase.

Reports & research
Sunflower oil has phytochemicals, minerals and vitamins (Folate, Vitamin E, Selenium, Iron, Zinc) that lowers the bad cholesterol (low density lipo protein). As per the report by National Sunflower Association, 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil contains 9.9 mg Alfa Tochopherol equivalent vitamin.

However, a lot of research has pointed out that use of sunflower oil also leads to reduction in the good cholesterol (high density lipo protein). This is where the problem lies. LDL cholesterol is bad because it increases the risk of coronary heart disease.

US manufacturers conducted research to modify the breeding techniques to alter the fatty acid composition in sunflower oil. Experts however warn that such genetically-modified oils are not healthy. NuSun is the mid-oleic sunflower oil that contains less saturated fat (less than 10%) than linoleic sunflower oil and has 55-75% oleic acid, 15-35% linoleic acid. Linoleic sunflower oil is the original sunflower oil. It is a polyunsaturated oil with low saturated fat levels, light taste and high in vitamin E. It has 65% polyunsaturated fatty acids. It contains an omega 6 fatty acid linoleic acid. This essential fatty acid is a nutrient which our body needs but cannot make. This type of oil contains 21% oleic acid and 11% saturated fat. Due to high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), this oil is susceptible to oxidation during commercial usage, especially frying.

High oleic sunflower oil is high in oleic acid which is a monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA). It contains minimum 80% oleic acid. It is stable and is used for applications in bakery, frying and as a spray coating oil for cereals and dried fruit. High oleic hybrids have been recently developed. The benefit is that higher intake of MUFA can increase the level of HDL (good cholesterol) without raising the levels of LDL (bad cholesterol).
Research scientists point out the fact that sunflower oil contains a high proportion of omega 6 fatty acids for which the primary source is vegetable oils. Omega 3 fatty acids are present in seafoods and flaxseed oil. For proper metabolism in our body, there is a need for a proper balance between omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. However, of late, there has been a prevalence of more of omega 6 fatty acids than omega 3 because omega 3 is only available from limited sources.

Excess omega 6 fatty acid tends to be stored in body fat while excess omega 3 is excreted. Omega 3 fatty acids lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, increase concentration, help in prevention of rheumatoid arthritis and prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Overdosing of oils rich in omega 6 (sunflower oil), which keep the blood cholesterol levels down can double the risk of dementia. If you are using sunflower oil in your diet, you have to ensure that you get enough omega 3 fatty acids in your diet to balance it out. Omega 3 fatty acids are found in fish, fish capsules, olive oil, flaxseed oil, and walnuts.

Omega 3 fatty acids increase the production of good HDL cholesterol. The mechanism of action is not yet clear, but the primary effect of omega 3 fatty acid is to inhibit the production of triglycerides by liver. However, medical experts warn that an overdose of omega 3 fatty acids can lead to harmful side-effects.

Olive oil
Considered as “Liquid Gold,” olive oil is an important component of a Mediterranean diet. It helps lower bad cholesterol and also helps in reduction of blood pressure due to the presence of oleic acid and polyphenols that are good antioxidants. Oxidised Low Density Lipoproteins (OLDL) is an important contributor to atherogenesis – the process of plaque build up in arteries that can lead to atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries). Some of the refined olive oils may not have these polyphenol antioxidants. Research has proved that olive oil can arrest cognitive decline associated with ageing. It improves memory and helps in reducing the fat around the tummy.

The first pressing of olives gives Extra Virgin Oil, the second pressing gives Virgin Oil. In the next step, we filter and refine olive oil to get pure olive oil. Extra light olive oil, is obtained after considerable processing. The quality of Extra Virgin Oil is supreme and therefore it is a staple component of the Mediterranean diet.

Ricebran oil
The use of ricebran oil for edible purposes is a truly a remarkable innovation in edible oil technology. In the 90s, Ricebran oil was used more for making soaps and greases. Ricebran oil, left by itself, would decompose quickly due to the presence of enzyme like lipase and at room temperature, one would have ricebran oil, with almost 50% free fatty acid in it. However, extensive research has resulted in producing ricebran oil for edible purposes.

Ricebran oil is becoming more popular in Asian countries like Korea, China, Taiwan, Japan, and India. As it is rich in Monounsaturated fatty acid (Oleic acid), it can lower cholesterol. The presence of oryzanol in ricebran oil arrests the increase in cholesterol levels in blood. Due to presence of oleic acid, ricebran oil is quite stable as it does not decompose at higher temperatures to form toxic compounds.

Soyabean oil has a high level of PUFA and so it cannot be used for frying. If it is used for frying, it can generate toxic compounds.

The final word
It is important to use oils that are stable at the temperature we use them. One should avoid refrying the oils. Oils enable absorption of fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K. Oils are also a good source of energy and provide number of health benefits too.

Mono unsaturated fatty acids lower level of bad cholesterol and triglycerides without lowering good cholesterol levels. Polyunsaturated fatty acids lowers both good and bad cholesterol. When saturated fats are consumed in excess, it increases the levels of bad cholesterol and allows fat to be deposited on the walls of the blood vessels.

So, the best option, as per experts is to mix oils to derive maximum benefit from cooking oils. A number of blended oils are available in the market. Or one can use two different types of oils on alternate days for cooking. Often we forget that the junk food that we eat spoils the healthier eco system in our body and we end up blaming the cooking oil for the same. At the minimum, we have control on the amount of cooking oil that we use in our kitchen, but what control do we have when we go for eating food outside?

So, as customers, we have to decide the healthier options among the available variety of cooking oils and seek the counsel of experts in the field. We also need to remember that moderation is the best way to preserve one’s health when it comes to the use of cooking oil.

Rs 3 lakh fine imposed for selling spurious Ghee

JAMMU: In a land mark judgement,  the Additional District Magistrate Kishtwar,  R.K Shavan   in the capacity of  Adjudicating Officer under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, on Monday imposed rupees three lakh as  penalty on a firm and distributors  for selling spurious ‘Desi Ghee’.
The Adjudicating Officer also directed the firm to remove all spurious ghee items  from the market as the same was hazardous for consumption.
As per the case, ‘Deep Classic Cooking Medium’, commonly projected as Desi Ghee was found misbranded and unfit for human consumption.
From the samples, it was found that the ghee lifted  by Food Safety Officer was  misbranded.
A Challan was produced before the Court of Additional District Magistrate who after hearing  the case, imposed the penalty of Rs 3 lakh.
The manufacturer, “Tapan Agro industries Pvt. Ltd Dayal Bagh Agra was  penalized with a fine of 1.40 lakh and the main distributors  Bodh Raj- Vishno Das Gupta of  Nehru market Jammu, was  penalised with Rs one lakh, while as food business operators –Jughal Kishore, of Janta Atta Store  and. Narinder Kumar  of Paras Ram Narinder Kumar  of Kishtwar  were penalized with Rs 30,000 each.
It  was also  established during the arguments that this brand of  Deep Ghee was already found adulterated two years ago but the case  was still pending in the court and the manufacturer was supplying misbranded item without any deterrence or accountability.
The adjudicating officer had not only imposed a fine of Rs three lakh  but also directed the manufacturer “Tapan Agro industries Ltd. Agra (UP)” to recall/ withdraw  food articles from the market immediately .
The court of Adjucating Officer while delivering the judgement,  held that in order to free the society from the menace  of adulteration, such cases need to be dealt  with iron hands.
Soon after the  decision,  two offenders food business operators deposited Rs 60,000  as fine in the court.
Sajjad Hussain Gagroo,  Food Safety Officer and  Tariq Ahmed designated officer appeared from prosecution side.

Deep Desi Ghee found adulterated, manufacturer, distributor penalised

Kishtwar Feb 18: In a land mark judgment, the Additional District Magistrate Kishtwar, Rajesh Kumar Shavan (KAS) has imposed Rupees 3.00 lakhs as penalty on “Deep Classic Cooking Medium” commonly known as Deep Desi Ghee under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
After hearing to the prosecution, which also presented reports of samples Desi Ghee which were sent to Jammu for their quality analysis, DM Rajesh Kumar Shavan found that Deep Desi Ghee was not fit for human consumption and it was not as per the standards of Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. He thus imposed a penalty of Rs 3 lakhs on Deep Desi Ghee.
During hearing of the case, as per the report of Public Food Analyst Jammu, ADM Kishtwar found guilty the manufacturer / distributor and the food business operators. The manufacturer “Tapan Agro industries (Pvt. Ltd) Dayal Bagh Agra (U.P)” has also been penalized with a fine of Rs. 1.40 lakh. The main distributors Bodh Raj Vishno Das Gupta 7C Nehru Market Jammu who distributed the food  articles to Kishtwar has also been penalized as a fine of Rs 1.00 lakh.
Apart from this, the food business operators, Jughal Kishore son of Chuni Lal Gupta (Janta Atta Store Shaheedi road Kishtwar ) and Narinder Kumar son of Paras Ram (Shaheedi road Kishtwar)  have also been penalized with rupees thirty thousand each. The adjudicating officer not only imposed a fine, but also directed the manufacturer “Tapan Agro industries Ltd. Agra (UP)” to recall/ withdraw the food articles from the market immediately after issuing notice in the national daily under intimation to the court.
The adjudicating officer while delivering the judgment has held that in order to free the society from the menace of adulteration such cases need to be dealt with iron hands. Soon after the decision, the two offender’s food business operator’s deposited sixty thousand fine in the court. Sajjad Hussain Gagroo Food Safety Officer Kishtwar and Tariq Ahmed designated officer appeared from prosecution side.

Aavin: Collector serious about adulteration plaints

Is a chemical powder being added to the milk?

Are you sure that the Aavin milk you give your child is safe? Milk producers say it's not.

A chemical powder is being substituted for milk on a large scale by some of the farmers who sell their milk to Aavin, according to complaints made to Collector Anshul Mishra here on Friday. “Despite complaints made against this kind of adulteration, Aavin officials have not taken any concrete steps to prevent it, and also no action has been taken against those involved in it,” said P.S. Muthupandi, district secretary of Tamil Nadu Milk Producers’ Association. He was supported by K. Devarajan of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam.

Mr. Muthupandi said that after the issue was brought to the Collector’s notice through the public grievance redressal page on Facebook that officials started rejecting such adulterated milk.

“This chemical, said to be brought from Kerala, is being sold to the farmers in Chellampatti union. It costs around Rs. 250 a kg. When half a kilo of powder is mixed in 40 litres of water, the water turns milky. It passes the lactometer tasting tests,” he said.

He said that customers were buying the Aavin milk with great faith in the product. “It was being promoted as a healthy drink for children, the aged and for patients in hospitals,” he said.

When the Collector sought an explanation, an Aavin official said that such milk had been rejected following complaints.

Mr. Devaraj asked the Aavin official, “All that you did was discard the adulterated stuff. But what is the action you have taken against those involved in adulteration.”

“Should not Aavin officials doubt when somebody suddenly supplied abnormally higher quantity of milk to the cooperative societies?” Mr. Muthupandi asked the official.

Not satisfied with the official’s answer, the Collector said that it was a very serious issue. He promised to look into the allegation and take stringent action against the officials, if they had failed to prevent adulteration.

Demand safe food, Naveen tells people

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik stressed that the State Government was giving utmost importance to providing safe drinking water to people.
 He was speaking at the 2nd National Seminar on Food Safety, organised by the Institute of Quality and Environment Management Services Pvt ltd (IQEMS) on Friday.
 Naveen stated that since food is a basic necessity, unhygienic practices should be shunned. As food safety was a low priority in developing countries, greater efforts should be given on creating awareness and people should start demanding safe food.
“The food sold by street vendors should be monitored closely for safety standards. People in the food industry should be trained in hygienic practices too,” said Naveen.
 The two-day seminar on ‘Challenges and Opportunities in food Safety in Food Processing Industry’ was attended by people from food safety, processing and manufacturing industries.
 Ministry of Commerce Joint Secretary and Agricultural and Processed Foods Export Development Authority (APEDA) Chairman Asit Tripathy spoke on the need for more laboratories, both by private and government institutes to test the standard of food in the State.
In last five years India exported food amounting to `1,65,000 crore. “Food export is disrupted everyday due to high standards expected by the private buyers,” said Tripathy.
Another major concern is the use of pesticide in agriculture. The incidence of cancer due to chemical pesticide residue has been rising. Tourism and Culture Principal Secretary Ashok Tripathy mentioned that food safety was one of their top priorities considering the number of hotels and restaurants that they have to operate.
 Discussion on Food Safety and Standards Act, 2011, will take place on the second day. The participants will deliberate on a road map to achieve better food safety standards in the State. IQEMS MD Debabrata Panigrahi, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) member DP Guha and seminar chairman DN Padhi were present.

State to empanel 5 more labs for testing food

The State government will empanel five more laboratories, apart from the food testing labs at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode, under the Food Safety wing for testing food samples as part of the proper implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) 2006.

These include the Quality Evaluation lab of Spices Board, and the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology’s lab, both at Kochi, the Pesticides Control Lab of Agriculture University, Vellayani, the Microbiology lab of DFRD at Konni, and the laboratory of Cashew Export Promotion Council at Kollam.

Deadline for seeking licence under food safety Act extended

Solan, February 13
The deadline for seeking a licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2011, has been extended by one year till February 4, 2014.

There had been several representations from food business operators and nutraceutical industry representatives seeking extension of the deadline.

However, investors, including dairy units, vegetable oil processors, slaughter houses, meat processors, food processing units, including export-oriented units producing various items like honey, glucose, chocolates, sweets, etc, and food catering service providers, had to seek a fresh licence after the notification of this Act from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Earlier, this licence was granted by the Medical Officer, Health, of districts at a nominal fee, but now a fee of Rs 25,000 per product is being charged.

With the Delhi-based office of the authority catering to five northern states, including Himachal, Delhi, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir, there is an immense rush of applications.

Industry executives had to make several trips to the Delhi office to first seek a licence and then product approvals. Terming it as a time-consuming exercise, an industry executive said they would request the authority to open an office at Chandigarh. Since the drug licencing office too had its sub-office at Chandigarh, they would press for the demand.

Since 12 Acts had to be implemented under the new Act, it had become a tedious procedure for state health officials to implement the Act as no staff or additional infrastructure had been provided to adhere to its guidelines, which included online reporting.

With a lone food inspector looking after two districts of Solan and Sirmaur and there being only Composite Testing Laboratory at Kandaghat catering to the state, the implementation of the Act was a tall order. More so as each food inspector had to take at least 10 samples from each district in a month, and the lab also received scores of samples of drugs from all over the state.

With little upgrade in infrastructure vis-à-vis requirements of this Act, its implementation had remained a mere paper formality.

Germ-free kitchens a rarity in city: Survey

Chennai: A kitchen that appears clean is not necessarily free of germs, say doctors of the Indian Medical Academy (IMA). A survey conducted in 1,400 homes across Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune has revealed that most of those surveyed don’t clean their kitchens regularly with disinfectants.
    This might lead to gastro-intestinal infections such as diarrhoea, abdominal pain, fever, loss of appetite nausea and vomiting, the doctors said at an awareness programme on Wednesday about maintaining hygiene in the kitchen.
    None of the women surveyed in Chennai cleaned their kitchen daily or even bi-weekly, just 1% cleaned it weekly, 8% fortnightly and 14% on a monthly basis. More than 69% of the women said they were not aware that the kitchen was a possible source of infection, said the doctors. Those interviewed said they used detergent powders, bars, liquids and plain water to clean utensils, sinks, slabs, towels and clothes.
    Dr Preetaish Kaul, medical advisor of the IMA, said a visually clean kitchen was generally regarded as free from bacteria, but most people were unaware that only a sanitized and properly disinfected kitchen was free of disease-causing germs.
    About 18% of the Chennai women surveyed said an unclean kitchen could be as dirty as the bathroom and 30% were aware that kitchen slabs, towels and chopping boards could be possible sources of infection.
    Most of the respondents attributed food-borne diseases to be a result of consuming food sold in public places but doctors said most cases of contamination of food occurred in the kitchen, which is the largest cause of infection after contaminated water and unclean hands.
RECIPE FOR DISEASE
E coli | Found in contaminated food and water, undercooked meat, eggs, vegetables, unpasteurised milk
Symptoms | Diarrhoea, vomiting, fever, abdominal cramps, dehydration and weight loss
Norovirus, Rotavirus | Found in dirty food and water Symptoms | Nausea, vomiting, watery diarrhoea, abdominal pain, headache, fever
Giardia Lambia | Spreads through contaminated food and water Symptoms | Bloating, fatigue,diarrhoea, stomach ache

INDIA TODAY ARTICLE ON FOOD SAFETY ACT

UK food agency raids abattoir in horsemeat scandal

 

Tesco, the country's biggest supermarket chain, took out full-page newspaper ads Thursday Jan. 17, 2013 to apologize for an unwanted ingredient in some of its hamburgers: 

horsemeat. The contrite grocer told customers that "we and our supplier have let you down and we apologize." (AP)

British authorities on Tuesday raided a slaughterhouse and a meat processing company suspected of selling horsemeat labeled as beef for kebabs and burgers, shutting them down temporarily and seizing all the meat found.
It was the first time since the growing scandal broke across Europe that horsemeat being marketed as beef has been traced to suppliers in Britain, officials said, raising questions about how widespread the practice is.
Millions of burgers and frozen meals have been recalled around Europe and many accusations have been made, but so far it's not clear how horsemeat got introduced into so many beef products. French authorities have already pointed to an elaborate supply chain that involved Romanian butchers and Dutch and Cypriot traders that resulted in horsemeat disguised as beef being sold in meals like lasagna and moussaka to consumers around the continent.
Britain's Food Standards Agency said it suspended production at the Peter Boddy slaughterhouse in northern England's Yorkshire and a company it allegedly supplied horse carcasses to, Farmbox Meats, in west Wales. The agency said it was investigating how "meat products, purporting to be beef for kebabs and burgers, were sold when they were in fact horse."
"It is shocking that we actually found this practice going on within the U.K.," Environment Secretary Owen Patterson said.
Horsemeat is largely taboo in Britain and Ireland, though in France it is sold in specialty butcher shops. While no health effects have been reported, the scandal has unsettled consumers and made clear that unscrupulous dealers in the complicated network of meat wholesalers are benefiting from selling much cheaper horsemeat as beef.
Peter Boddy, the owner of the slaughterhouse, said he would cooperate with police, while the BBC quoted a spokesman from Farmbox Meats as saying "there is nothing we have done here which is not totally permissible."
Food Standards Agency director Andrew Rhodes said the companies appeared to be involved in "blatant misleading of customers." He declined to speculate on how long such alleged fraud may have gone on, saying only that officials have seized documents — including customer lists — from the two venues and are investigating how much horsemeat was sold as beef to how many people.
Horses are slaughtered legally in abattoirs across Britain, and the meat is exported to countries where horsemeat is eaten.
Meanwhile, authorities on the continent have not established where the mislabeling of horse as beef occurred.
In Romania, food safety officials said Tuesday that the country produced 6,300 tons of horse, mule and donkey meat last year, and that it was correctly labeled when it was exported from 35 authorized plants to other European countries.
Romanian officials have said the fraud occurred somewhere else down the line.
In rural Romania, horses are sold from individual households to abattoirs, and each animal has four sets of documents before the meat is exported.
The manager of a Romanian slaughterhouse implicated in the scandal, Doly Com, defended his plant on Tuesday and tried to assuage buyers' concerns about his company's meat.
"We have always watched closely the way we work here....and we can guarantee one hundred percent that all the products Doly Com puts on the market are certified from a quality and origin point of view. One hundred percent," said Iulian Cazacut, the plant's general manager, where horsemeat accounts for just five percent of the plant's business.
No horse was being processed Tuesday in the plant in remote northeast Romania. Dressed in white overalls, their heads and mouths hygienically covered, workers pierced cow and pork carcasses with sharp knives, sawing off hunks.
The other Romanian slaughterhouse implicated in the horsemeat scandal, Carmolimp, has also denied wrongdoing.
An Irish food company has said that burgers found to be partially horsemeat were made from meat offcuts originating in Poland, but Polish officials denied the country had shipped horsemeat.
Sweden's food safety authority on Tuesday said it would test a wide range of frozen meat products sold in supermarkets to check whether they contain horsemeat and have been mislabeled.
Peter Bradenmark, head of food control management at Sweden's National Food Agency, told the AP that the agency would test about 50 to 100 samples from supermarkets nationwide.
"What's happened is alarming," he said. "Food companies are sincere and they want to do the right thing. But sometimes things go wrong unintentionally, and unfortunately, at times it's intentional."

Almost five out of ten retail outlets in Delhi have no garbage disposable mechanism: Study

Almost fifty per cent retail outlets in the Capital are sans garbage disposal mechanism, raising concerns over hygiene in these crowded places. A study conducted by the Delhi University has revealed this and noticed that in number of outlets water quality is also poor. The findings of the study revealed that the attitudes and practices need more attention on the implementation level.
The students studied the various gap areas which can act as threats to food safety. A total of 100 different retail outlets were surveyed. The retail sector, being the most visible part of Food Supply Chain has to adopt a approach of looking beyond the four walls for a holistic approach to food safety, the study has suggested. Inspite of the fact, all the FSMS (Food Safety Management Systems) are in place but their effective implementation is lacking. The most neglected areas are the water quality and the garbage disposal.The study found 78.9% of the retail outlets were following the hygiene guidelines whereas 12.6% partially and 8.4% were not following any. Only 54.7% of the lot had proper water facilities whereas remaining had no proper facility. Water is a critical factor in food safety because it can act as a source of contamination,the study said. It found that all the retail outlets were following standard practices,but the neglected area was found to be disposal mechanism where no mechanism was found in place for 48.4% outlets at all. The study recently conducted by the innovative project team comprising three faculty members - Dr Shalini Sehgal, Associate Professor, Department of Food Technology,Dr Purnima Anand (Department of Microbiology),Dr Uma Chaudhary (Department of Biomedical Science) from Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences, University of Delhi, along with their ten students has studied the behaviour of food employees in retail food establishments of Delhi. The purpose of this study was to assess their knowledge of compliance with Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) and also find out the gap areas which act as an threat to food safety in the retail market. The study was funded by Delhi University under the Innovation Scheme which encourages innovative thinking and trans disciplinary approach among the undergraduate students. The study's mentor,Dr RK Khandhal,Vice Chancellor, UP TECH University has suggested that these results can be used as a referral document for drawing up plans and strategies to achieve the desired standards of food safety in the country especially metros.

Govt policy on GM food flawed, say scientists

Chennai: More than 150 scientists from across the country have written a letter to Union minister for environment and forests Jayanthi Natarajan pointing out flaws in the stand taken by the agriculture ministry in favour of conducting field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops.
    The scientists pointed out that this was despite an expert panel appointed by the Supreme Court recommending a 10-year moratorium on such trials.
    “The ministry of agriculture has argued that our nation’s food security would be jeopardized without GM crops. It argues that transgenic technology is absolutely needed for India’s food security and what’s more, that unsafe field trials of transgenic crops were needed for India’s food security!
    Examining the food security situation of USA or Brazil, which have adopted GM crops on a massive scale, it is evident that the situation has worsened after the introduction of GM crops,” the scientists have cautioned.
    The scientists have noted that the agriculture ministry has completely ignored the important aspect that food safety is an integral part of food security and cannot be separated from it.
    P M Bhargava, genetic scientist and former vicechairman of the Knowledge Commission, who is one of the signatories to the letter, noted that former environment minister Jairam Ramesh had positively opposed open release of BT Brinjal.
    “This statement should apply to all other GM crops,” he told TOI. Bhargava, who was a member on the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee during the tenure of the previous environment minister, noted that the new committee was yet to be constituted. “No field trials can be conducted without the approval of this appraisal committee,” he said.

Extension a welcome step, but FSSA will facilitate entry of foreigners

The recent Feb 4, 2014, extension accorded to Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for obtaining licence or secure registration by food business operators (FBOs) has been welcomed by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT). But the body will continue to oppose the implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006.

This was informed by B C Bhartia, national president, and Praveen Khandelwal, secretary-general, CAIT, while speaking to FnB News. They said, “The Act and its Rules have been framed keeping in mind the interest of foreign companies which will promote packaged foods in India and prove very detrimental to the interests of existing Indian food businesses. FSSA has a number of provisions, which are impossible for the domestic food business operators in the country to adhere to.”

They referred to a provision of the Act which stated that any such FBO - institution with a profit motive or not, irrespective of whether it was a private or a public sector establishment, and engaged in the activities of manufacturing, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, import and distribution of food articles or any type of food service would be treated as FBO and needed to either obtain a licence or get registered.

Bhartia and Khandelwal, said, “Under the provisions of the Act, registration would have to be obtained not only by the people engaged in food businesses (including hawkers and street vendors) and the caterers who use food articles at social functions, but also by those who make prasad in temples or langars in gurudwaras. Even a minor lapse would make these FBOs liable for punishment stipulated in the Act.”

Bhartia and Khandelwal have urged the government to re-examine the rules and regulations of the Act, and informed that a CAIT delegation would be meeting Ghulam Nabi Azad, minister of health, Government of India, and K Chandramouli, chairman, FSSAI, and present a memorandum demanding that a joint committee, comprising senior officials and trade representatives, be constituted to review the rules and regulations.

Preservatives in food

When we buy a packaged food, how can we know about the preservatives added in it? In most countries, law requires to label the food additives. Note the ingredients and the preservative will be specified with a number rather than the actual chemical name. The most widely used numbering system is the International Numbering System (INS). How to find out what is the exact chemical used as preservative? Note down the INS number and enter into the link:

http://www.codexalimentarius.net/gsfaonline/additives/search.html?lang=en

This site is the official site of CODEX Alimentarius Commission which sets many food code and is widely used by national regulators and consumers. Enter the INS number in the tab labelled INS and click "search". The preservative detail like the synonyms, functional classes, the food in which the preservative can be used will be listed.

But, how to know what is the allowed preservative quantity that is safe for health? The CODEX Alimentarius Commission has many standards related to food safety. One such standard is "General Standard for Food Additives" : CODEX STAN 192-1995 . This standard can be downloaded from the following link:

http://www.codexalimentarius.org/standards/list-of-standards/en/?no_cache=1

In this standard, the safe limit of any food additive per Kg of food is tabulated.

All said, we are not sure if the packaged food contain preservatives within safe limit! Health authorities in several countries check samples from different companies in the laboratory for the amount of food additives present in the food. Many countries have mechanisms for the common consumer to complaint agaisnt possible misuse of preservatives above prescribed safe limits under their national law.