No food poisoning in biriyani death case

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The mystery shrouding the controversial biriyani death is getting unravelled slowly.
The chemical examination has termed an insecticide as the cause of death. An organophosphate insecticide, ethion, was identified in the chemical analysis test, which rules out food poisoning theory.
Rajitha Rajeev, an MBBS student hailing from Ulloor, died on July 27 at Medical College hospital. Her relatives had alleged that she died due to food poisoning from biriyani which she had for dinner from a hotel in Kazhakoottam on July 26.
Chief chemical examiner K G Sivadasan said the chemical examination report has been sent to the head of forensic department, Medical College, for further analysis. According to Sivadasan, common symptoms of intake of ethion are vomiting, nausea, diarrhoea, dizziness, blurred vision, etc., which are incidentally the common symptoms of food poisoning also. "We are yet to get the quantity of the pesticide consumed. At present, we can't make a final assessment about the reason for the death," he said.
He, however, ruled out the possibility of ethion being present in the food. The pesticide is commonly used to kill insects and worms in gardens, he added.
Shiroz Khan, owner of Halai's Biriyani, said though he felt relieved, he was still thinking on whether to reopen the hotel or not.
"I suffered so much mental trauma that I feel two years of my life will be lost due to it. I got an order from the food safety commissioner allowing me to reopen the hotel. Also, the sessions court has informed me that I am not an accused in the case," he said.
He said his business was affected and a loss of Rs 10 lakh was expected.
"More than the financial loss, the mental trauma was unbearable. The condition is so worse that the authorities can close down any hotel if anyone has any doubt against the eatery," Shiroz said.
The food safety officials had closed down Halai's Biriyani following the complaint on July 28. However, the food safety department has not registered any case under the Food Safety and Standards Act as it did not get any evidence to prove food poisoning.

Shopkeeper, supplier arrested for selling adulterated chocolate to a 14-year-old girl

Thane: The Kapurbaudi police have arrested two people for supplying and selling adulterated food items in the shop. The two arrested are Haresh Bhanushali, 48, the owner of Shri Avdharam General store and Bagoji Manohar Ghatkar, 34, the supplier.
A girl, who celebrated her birthday on Wednesday, had distributed chocolates, after which around 20
students suffered food poisoning and were admitted to a city hospital.
Vidya Patare, 14, a class IX student from Sanket Vidyalaya, Manpada, purchased chocolates from the
store, which was opposite her school.
After consuming the chocolates, the students were admitted to the Titan hospital in Manpada. They were vomiting, shivering, they had severe stomach pain and were not able to stand. a staff from the hospital said.
The Kapurbaudi police registered a case against two accused and arrested them on Wednesday night.
KD Katkar, investigation officer, Kapurbaudi police station said, "We arrested the two culprits on
Wednesday night itself. Both were produced in Thane court on Thursday and were released on bail."
The Kapurbaudi police have registered a case under section 273 (sale of noxious food or drink), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 337 endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and section 59 (punishment for unsafe food) of The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

DINAMALAR NEWS

13 food, milk samples collected

Ludhiana, August 14
A Health Department team led by Food Safety Officer Manoj Khosla and Harpreet Kaur conducted a raid and collected 13 food samples from different areas of the city.
The team has collected two samples of milk from dairies on Pakhowal Road. The samples of moong, chana, rajmah, rice, sugar and cold drinks has been collected from different shops. Samples of fine flour has been collected from a biscuit factory on the Jalandhar bypass. Meanwhile, water sample was also taken from a hotel near DMCH.
"To maintain quality and keep a tab on adulteration, we conduct raids on commercial setups on a routine basis", said Dr Avinash Kumar, District Health officer, Ludhiana.

New Guidelines To Prevent Wastage Of Food In Five Star Hotels

New Delhi:The government issues new guidelines to prevent the wastage of food in five star hotels.As per the Environment ministry,the hotels should allow customers to order for half the food and the balance remaining with out using are to be distributed among the poor. Also the hotels should prevent the wastage of water.
These instructions prepared by the Pollution Control Board had been presented before the parliament yesterday by Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan.Additional to this the soaps,shampoo sachets,bed covers etc used and thrown by the customers can be distributed to the needy.The hotels should use soap refills,100% cotton towels, and bed covers and environment friendly materials and should encourage use of materials which can be recycled.

Seminars on food safety

The Kerala Pradesh Karshaka Congress (KPKC) will organise 140 food safety seminars across the State.

A statement issued by KPKC leaders Lal Varghese Kalpakavadi and Thykkoottathil Zakeer here said the Centre had entrusted the KPKC with the awareness campaign of the food safety programme in the State.

They said the proposed seminars to be held in all the 140 Assembly segments are part of this awareness campaign.

Mr Zakeer said the KPKC would launch the seminar series on the Malayalam new year day on Saturday.

The KPKC would launch an intensive public awareness campaign to make people properly aware of the importance of the National Food Security Bill.

Dinamalar News

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO ALL !!!

More square meals

The HinduFood to be monitored for quality: Students at a Patna government school eating their mid-day meal.

A proposal to revamp the Mid-Day Meal scheme includes extending the service to unaided private schools in tribal, Schedule Castes and minority dominated districts

The Mid-Day Meal scheme could be next extended to unaided private schools in tribal, Scheduled Castes and minority dominated districts, if a proposal by the Centre to revamp the scheme under the 12 Five-Year Plan passes through. The revamped scheme will also cover children studying in pre-primary classes located in the premises of primary schools.

Moreover, in the wake of the Chhapra mid-day meal tragedy where 23 children died after consuming food laced with pesticide, the government has asked Accreditation Board for Laboratories (NABL)-recognised laboratories to collect the samples from the field for testing on parameters such as microbiological presence or absence of e-coil, chemical parameters such as moisture content, fats, proteins and calorific value of the meals served.

“Reports are useful”

“These reports have been useful for enhancing the effectiveness of the scheme. The State/Union Territories have also been requested to consider engaging Food Safety and Standards Authority and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research institutes or NABL-recognised laboratories for carrying out sample checking of mid-day meal, to ensure quality meal to the children,” Union Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju said while answering a question in Parliament.

Mr. Raju said that there is a detailed mechanism for supervision of the meal scheme through periodical reports and monitoring at the local level through the school monitoring committees as well as by the State government officials. In addition, the Centre also ensures independent monitoring through 41 monitoring institutes such as IIT-Chennai, Visva Bharati University and XLRI among others. The Joint Review Missions (JRM) visits the States at regular intervals. In the current year, seven JRMs have been conducted; and 13 more are planned. In addition, surprise visits are made from time to time; three such visits have been carried out in the current year in Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir and Assam.

The implementation of the scheme is monitored by the district, state and national level steering-cum-monitoring committees. The district-level vigilance and monitoring committee meeting under the chairmanship of the MPs from the district has also been activated. Mr. Raju has personally written to all MPs to ensure that the quality of meal served in schools is good.

Norms of assistance

The Centre would also revise the norms of assistance by enhancing cooking cost by basing the mid-day meal price index exclusively on the basket of items.

Transportation assistance of Non-North Eastern Region States is also sought to be raised to Rs. 150 per quintal from its existing limit of Rs. 75 per quintal. The monthly honorarium of cook-cum-helpers would be raised from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,500 during 2013-15 and Rs. 2,000 during 2015-17.

The Management Monitoring and Evaluation (MME) rates would be revised upwardly by three per cent of the total recurring Central assistance for the cost of food grains, cooking cost, transportation assistance and honorarium to cook-cum-helpers.

Similarly, revision of norms for Central assistance for the procurement of kitchen devices for new schools and replacement of kitchen devices after five years of their sanction would be increased to Rs. 15,000 per school. This would be shared between the Centre and the State in the ratio of 75:25 except for the NER States where the sharing would be in the ratio of 90:10.

Meanwhile, the HRD Ministry and the Ministry of Tourism are working together on training master cooks engaged under Mid-Day Meal scheme.

Training master cooks

The Ministry of Tourism has agreed to provide training to selected cook-cum-helpers as master trainers through Hotel Management Institutes and the Food Craft Institutes (FCIs). A ten-day full time course will be organised that will include knowledge dissemination regarding the caloric and nutritive values, the methods of cooking for retaining the nutritive value of cooking ingredients, awareness regarding the issues of malnutrition and also the benchmarking of nutrition levels and the importance of regular washing of hands.

HEALTH ALERT: Watch out before reaching out for that samosa

Gutkha sale, consumption unabated

Gutka-carrying lorry held

The Hindu The lorry driver claimed the consignment was from Delhi.

3 tonnes of contraband may have been headed to A&N islands via Port

A patrol team of the R.K. Nagar police seized three tonnes of banned chewable tobacco products from a lorry near Vaidiyanathan bridge on Ennore High Road in Korukkupet on Tuesday.

Investigations revealed the consignment might have been heading to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where there is no ban in place, via Chennai port.

Police personnel said that as part of security checks conducted before Independence Day celebrations, a five-member patrol team was inspecting vehicles along Ennore High Road early on Tuesday, and stopped the lorry that had Tamil Nadu registration plates (TN 18 Q 5107).

The team found gutka packed in 100 gunny bags, each containing 30 kg of the banned product.

The police immediately detained the vehicle and questioned the driver, S. Akilesh Tiwari (32) from Jharkhand, and the lorry cleaner, Manoj Kumar (20) from Himachal Pradesh.

During the interrogation, the driver stated that the consignment was from New Delhi and was on its way to Bangalore. But since the police officers doubted that the route from New Delhi to Bangalore would pass through Chennai, they investigated further and established that the consignment was headed to the Islands.

The police then informed officials of the Food Safety and Drug Administration department. A team of food safety inspectors led by S. Elagovan, took possession of the banned products and the vehicle.

“The seized products will be destroyed at the Kodungaiyur dumping yard along with a previous seizure of one tonne of gutka from Sowcarpet last week,” said an official.

The Tamil Nadu government banned the manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of carcinogenic chewable forms of tobacco in May this year.

However, ever since the ban came into effect, the contraband has been smuggled into the city through various means. On August 3, food safety officials seized over 16 tonnes of chewable tobacco products at Central Railways station on a train that had come in from Nizamuddin.

DINAMALAR NEWS

Plea in Guj HC against mandatory warning on betel nut products

A trader has moved the Gujarat High Court, seeking that betel nuts (supari) should be declared as not injurious to health.
City-based H M Products, the petitioner, has challenged a regulation introduced by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India which makes it mandatory to put a label on betel nut products warning the consumer that chewing betel-nut is injurious to health.
Contending that betel nut in itself is not harmful, petition argues that manufacturers of supari-based products should not be treated on par with those of tobacco-based products, who have to fix such a warning label.
The division bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala, after hearing the primary submissions by petitioner's lawyer Sanjay Gupta, directed him to produce scientific evidence to support the claim and fixed the next hearing for August 23.

Curd fails purity test, four food samples collected

Ludhiana, August 12
A sample of curd collected by the Health Department from Rajguru Nagar in July has failed purity test. The sample has been found to be substandard as the fat content was less in it.
District Health Officer, Dr Avinash Kumar said, "The sample was collected from a karyana store. Action will be taken against the owner under the Food Safety and Standard Act 2006 on the basis of the report.
Meanwhile, four more samples were collected by the Health Department. Samples were taken from eatries. The sample of "Aalu -Chane' was taken from Basant Chowk, cold drink from Ghumar Mandi, while soya nutri from a dhaba at Miller Ganj Chowk and mutton rogan josh from a restaurant at Pakhowal.

DINAMALAR NEWS

VICAM, a mobile app that gives access to mycotoxin regulations for food

Waters, a global lab equipment company, has now introduced VICAM, a first-of-its-kind mobile application that provides instant access to global mycotoxin regulations.
With the application, food manufacturers and exporters can obtain critical regulatory data without general web searches, saving both time and resources. In addition, customers can search products using commodity and finished product images, simplifying the search process and ensuring that clear and actionable results are available to stakeholders in food and agriculture markets worldwide.
The app enables instant searchable results for mycotoxin limits by geography and commodity or food type in seconds.
"The Mobile App for the Global Mycotoxin Regulations Tool expands the functionality of the tool so that farmer, processor and exporter will all have access to the data they need. Users will be able to meet the complex demands of the global marketplace, while knowing they are minimising the impact of mycotoxins on human and animal health," said Marjorie Radlo, GM, director of operations, VICAM.
Mycotoxins are naturally occurring chemical byproducts of ubiquitous mold species, which are natural inhabitants of crop soils. Severe rain or drought can encourage mycotoxin production and, once released, mycotoxins are difficult to manage and virtually impossible to destroy. The USDA, US FDA, and the European Union and international government agencies impose specific regulations and guidelines for acceptable levels of mycotoxins. Producers and exporters use on-site and laboratory testing to ensure regulatory compliance and to protect human and animal health from illnesses associated with mycotoxins, including cancer and feed refusal in animals.

VICAM is a world-leading provider of mycotoxin testing solutions. Since 1985, VICAM has been dedicated to developing USDA- and AOAC-approved rapid tests for mycotoxins. Its mycotoxin test kits offer a choice of rapid qualitative screening and quantitative test methods for a wide variety of mycotoxins.

The Growing Importance of Food Safety Education for Food Handlers at India

NIST opens Food Safety Certification now in India. Food handlers need to know why its safety is important and the only way to do that is through training. In the commercial kitchen, there should be no excuse for handling eatables in an unsafe manner. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been mandated by the FSS Act, 2006 which elicits to provide training program for all to do hygienic practices. Now, NIST helps chefs and cooks to value their role in the food safety culture.
NIST serves as a single reference point for all courses relating to Safety starting from catering unit, manufacturing industry to a single line of retail industry and food auditing. Why this Safety Training is Important? Foodstuff safety is an important public health issue in India now. Eating at restaurants and other service facilities increasingly has been associated with food borne disease outbreaks. Nutrition safety training and certification of chefs has been used as a method for reducing food safety violations at facilities. However, the literature is inconclusive about the effectiveness of such training programs for improving and protecting consumer health.
Here are several reasons why it is important to train staff in safe eatables handling practices:
The employees are the ones actually handling eatables. The recent mid-day meal programme pesticide poison incident at Bihar which killed 23 children was a big tragedy of this year eating contaminated food which is five times more than what is found in insecticides and pesticides. Since cooking professionals are the ones actually handling and preparing the food, it is important that they do so in a safe manner through proper food safety training. This protects both employees and customers to a safe food handling practices and conserve the food premises from legal issues and customer satisfaction.
It is a health code requirement. Currently, the only restaurant workers who need to be food safety certified are managers, but the FDA Food Code does stipulate that all food handlers need to have a working knowledge of foodstuff safety. What constitutes "working knowledge" is left up to the local health departments to decide. Chances are the health inspector will ask employees what safety measures they are using and maybe why those measures are important.
Reduce the risk of food poisoning. Eight people - including a pregnant women-have alleged that they suffered food poisoning after eating at a 5 star hotel at New Delhi. Many Food poisoning issues are prevailing in India and this elucidates the importance of foodstuff safety education by the food handlers as advised by the FSSAI. Despite the investment and focus on training, researchers suggest that the impact of food handler training programs is inconsistent and program evaluation is rarely conducted.
Training helps with quality control. The basic responsibility of any food facility is to prepare, produce and market good quality and safe food that is honestly presented. It is the duty of the government to ensure compliance by industry to national food quality and safety requirements. Eatable safety education is a huge part of quality control. NIST offers courses on food safety, HACCP and lead auditor course FSMS. Not only providing education but also cater auditing services for all the food establishments.
Behavior will change. The best way to ingrain proper procedures into people is to change their behavior. Training and regularly applying those food safety training principles will eventually change the way staff handle and look at food to the extent that safe food handling just becomes second nature.
Employees can gain a better appreciation for their jobs. After so long, preparing food in a commercial kitchen can become monotonous, and employees may begin to question why they have to do things a certain way. Food safety training teaches workers why safe food handling is important. Once they realize that they are directly responsible for the health and safety of the customers, their jobs may feel a little less monotonous.
Conclusion
The number of food-borne disease outbreaks has been increasing around the world. Annually, about 1.5 billion cases of food-borne disease outbreaks are reported, resulting in 3 million deaths globally and also closure of the food business. We handle and consume food in one way or another. As such, the assurance of food safety is a shared responsibility. Through food safety education, NIST hopes to raise awareness about the importance of food safety. Now, you can also join NIST to promote food safety through education, and you too can play a part in ensuring your food is safe to eat.

NOTIFICATION - LICENSE NUMBER DISPLAY ON LABELLING

நிகோட்டின் சோதனைக்கு பின் "ரெய்டு' உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அதிகாரிகள் "ஐடியா'

மேட்டூர்: பகுப்பாய்வு மூலம், புகையிலை பொருட்களில் நிகோட்டின் இருப்பதை உறுதி செய்த பின், கடைகளில் சோதனை நடத்த உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை அதிகாரிகள் திட்டமிட்டுள்ளனர்.
தமிழகத்தில் புகையிலை, பான்மசாலா, குட்கா போன்ற போதை பொருட்கள் விற்பனை செய்வதற்கு தடை விதிக்கப்பட்டதையடுத்து, ஜூன், 22 முதல், உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை மாவட்ட நியமன அலுவலர்கள், ஆய்வாளர்கள் கடைகளில் சட்ட விரோதமாக விற்பனை செய்த பான்மசாலா, குட்காவை பறிமுதல் செய்தனர்.
இந்நிலையில், ஜூலை, 30ம் தேதி, உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை கமிஷனர் அனுப்பிய சுற்றறிக்கையில், "உணவு பொருட்களில் புகையிலை மற்றும் நிகோட்டின் கலக்காமல் இருப்பதை உறுதி செய்வதே தடை ஆணையின் நோக்கம். பான்பராக், குட்காவுக்கான தடையை காரணம் காட்டி, உணவு பாதுகாப்பு சட்டத்துக்கு உள்படாத புகையிலை தயாரிப்பாளர்கள், வணிகம் செய்வோரை துன்புறுத்த கூடாது. வணிகம் செய்பவர்களிடத்தில் பொருட்களை பறிமுதல் செய்வதோ, பயமுறுத்துவதோ கூடாது' என கூறப்பட்டிருந்தது.
அதன்படி, புகையிலை பொருட்கள் விற்பனையை தடுக்க, உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை அலுவலர்கள் புதிய முறையில் நடவடிக்கைக்கு மேற்கொண்டுள்ளனர்.
இது குறித்து உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை அலுவலர் ஒருவர் கூறியதாவது:
விழுங்காமல், வாயில் வைத்து மென்றால் கூட உடலில் மாற்றத்தை ஏற்படுத்துவதால், புகையிலை உணவு பொருளாகி விடுகிறது. மேலும், போதை பொருள் தடுப்பு சட்டத்தின்படி, நிகோட்டின் கலந்த கலந்த உணவு பொருட்கள் விற்பனையை தடை செய்ய முடியும். புகையிலையில் இயற்கையாவே நிக்கோட்டின் கலந்துள்ளது. இதனால், பறிமுதல் செய்த பான்பராக், குட்கா, பாக்கெட் புகையிலை சாம்பிள் உணவு பகுப்பாய்வு கூடத்துக்கு பரிசோதனைக்கு அனுப்பி வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.
பரிசோதனையில், ஒவ்வொரு போதை வஸ்துகளிலும், எத்தனை சதவீதம் நிக்கோட்டின் கலந்துள்ளது என்பது, ஆதாரபூர்வமாக தெரிந்து விடும். அதன் பின், கடைகளில் அதிரடி ஆய்வு மேற்கொண்டு, புகையிலை சார்ந்த போதை பொருட்கள் விற்பனைக்கு தடை விதிக்க வாய்ப்புள்ளது. இவ்வாறு அவர் கூறினார்.

Soon children across India will eat healthy food

Sale of junk food in school canteens across the country is likely to be banned soon. In its draft guidelines submitted to the Delhi high court to regulate the sale of junk food and aerated drinks in and around schools, the Centre has said that to begin with, the schools in Delhi could “regulate or phase out” the sale of unhealthy food and the same model would then be extended to the rest of the country.
In its 35-page document submitted before the court, the Centre, through the health ministry, has said that to rein in obesity and hypertension among children, schools must regulate the sale of junk food items such as burgers, pizzas, chips, samosas and colas. Schools have also been asked to discourage binging among students.
School canteens must make available fresh fruits, green leafy vegetables, and whole grain and pulse based food items, the guidelines state. It also stresses on making healthy food easily available in schools and pricing the same moderately to make them accessible to children.
“The problem of obesity among children is on the rise mainly due to reckless dietary habits. Based on a study conducted by the health ministry and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, we can say that junk food items such as burgers, pizzas, chips, fries, samosas, biscuits etc. sold rampantly in school and college canteens contain no vitamins or proteins and are instead high on salt, sugar and saturated fat.
The food available in and around schools thus, must be nutritionally balanced,” the draft document reads.
“Leafy vegetables and fruits enhance the immunity of children and provides minerals and vitamins. Authorities must encourage consumption of locally available and seasonal vegetables and fruits in schools. School canteens must come up with diversified diets with a judicious mix of a variety of food groups. Cereals, millets and pulses must also included in food items available in canteens,” read the guidelines.
Besides regulating the quality of food, the Centre’s draft guidelines also stresses on regulating the quantity of food items available in canteen keeping in mind the calorie count and nutritional needs of children of different age groups.
“Economics can play a crucial role in encouraging the consumption of healthy foods, Studies indicate that reduction in the prices of healthy foods leads to the rise in their consumption. School managements, canteen committees etc should work effectively towards subsidising the price of healthy food items and selling them in and around schools,” the Centre has said.
The government has also suggested advertising the benefits of consuming healthy food through television and social media.
The high court is likely to take cognisance of the report in the coming week.

Trade bodies wary of new food safety law

Hygiene has often been a debatable aspect of street foods and small eateries situated in every nook and cranny of the city, however, the Government has taken the task of setting things right and ensuring that what is being served doesn’t make people sick.

However, Government’s route to hygiene — Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Amendment Regulations, 2013 — has given trade bodies goose bumps as they are wary of the sweeping powers vested in the authority under the provisions. “The penalties are too severe for small businessmen to bear. It can’t be justified so we would like the Government to reconsider the provisions,” said FJCCI Spokesperson Suresh Agrawal.

The trade association fears that the sweeping powers would only contribute to corruption and may promote blackmailing by the authorities entitled to inflict penalty. While the monetary punishment for the violations of the provisions are in the bracket of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh provisions of awarding punishment upto seven years has sent hoteliers in tizzy. Failing to pay penalty would invite termination of license besides auctioning property of the offender. “Street vendors will become extinct in a matter of days,” said a small eatery owner in Kanke road.

Notably, a double whammy of monetary punishment and imprisonment is been opposed by FJCCI with tooth and nail as the association feels that maintaining standards of packaged food products is a responsibility of a manufacturer not the seller.  “Many small ration shop owners do not even make profit equivalent to the minimum penalty stipulated in the regulation,” said Sushil

Yadav a ration shop owner in Dhawan Nagar. Meanwhile, under the amended regulation a competent authority will set the standards for the businesses to emulate. For instance, there will be a set parameter for fortified aata or maida with predetermined quantities for its ingredients. The authorities will also set the quantity of a particular substance in food product.

Visitors get a taste of millet’s versatility

Participants prepare delicacies from millets at a competition organised at the venue of Traditional Food Festival in Tiruchi on Thursday.

Consumers at traditional food festival advised to shun junk food

A traditional food festival featuring a variety of dishes made from minor millets such as finger millet (kelvaragu), foxtail millet (thenai), kodo millet (varagu), pearl millet (kambu), and sorghum (cholam), was inaugurated by T.P. Poonachi, Minister for Khadi and Village Industries, here on Thursday.

Chief whip and MLA R. Manoharan, District Collector Jayashee Muralidharan, and Mayor A. Jaya were present at the event which was organised by the Agriculture Department. The aim of the festival was to create awareness among the public about the benefits and importance of traditional food items.

Ms. Jayashree said that today’s generation had moved away from traditional food and consumes junk food such as colas and pizzas which affected their health. “We all are awed by colas. The public should avoid such harmful items and consume traditional and healthy items such as coconut water,” she said.

Adding that dishes such as biryani, pizzas, and biscuits could be prepared from millets, apart from usual items such as idli and dosa, she said it was necessary to bring back youth and children to their roots by using millets.

Ms. Jayashree and Mr. Poonachi together released a special recipe book providing details about the dishes prepared using millets and the procedure, importance as well as benefits to preparing and consuming them.

The one-day event, held at Kalaiarangam Marriage Hall, attracted many visitors who sampled the interesting food that was made out of pulses, minor millets, and lesser known grains.

Unusual dishes such as varagu idlis, thenai pongal, multigrain laddus, haverkorral (kaadaikanni) biscuits, ragi murukkus, kelvaragu biryani, and kambu urundai, were available and a few were served in man sattis in traditional style.

Entry was free for the festival in which women’s forums, women’s self-help groups, restaurant associations, home science colleges, and government and private colleges of catering and hotel management, displayed and sold food items made of minor millets at low prices in stalls.

They educated visitors about the uses and benefits of millets.

“I never knew that there was a millet called haverkorral (kaadaikanni) and that one can make biscuits using it. This festival is useful as I learnt a lot about these traditional food items and got a chance to taste many unique dishes,” said P. Rajeswari, a housewife.

Food officers from the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India), State government as well as Union government offices put up stalls where they enlightened public on the methods to detect adulterations in salt, mustard, tea powder, and pepper. People learnt not to be misled by false advertisements and the importance of paying only the MRP while purchasing items.

“I now know how to distinguish between nai kadugu and normal kadugu. It is easy to spot the difference if one uses magnifying glasses and looks closely. I understood the side effects of consuming adulterated food,” said M. Priya, student of a private college.

Competitions were conducted for the participants and prizes were distributed among the winners.

New system tells which restaurants can leave you sick

Scientists have developed a new system that tells you how likely it is for you to fall ill if you visit a particular restaurant by 'listening' to the tweets from other restaurant patrons. The University of Rochester researchers said their system, nEmesis, can help people make more informed decisions, and it also has the potential to complement traditional public health methods for monitoring food safety, such as restaurant inspections. The new system combines machine-learning and crowdsourcing techniques to analyse millions of tweets to find people reporting food poisoning symptoms following a restaurant visit. This volume of tweets would be impossible to analyse manually, the researchers noted.
Over a four-month period, the system collected 3.8 million tweets from more than 94,000 unique users in New York City, traced 23,000 restaurant visitors, and found 480 reports of likely food poisoning. They also found they correlate fairly well with public inspection data by the local health department. The system ranks restaurants according to how likely it is for someone to become ill after visiting that restaurant. "The Twitter reports are not an exact indicator – any individual case could well be due to factors unrelated to the restaurant meal - but in aggregate the numbers are revealing," said Henry Kautz, chair of the computer science department at the University of Rochester and co-author of the paper.
In other words, a "seemingly random collection of online rants becomes an actionable alert," according to Kautz, which can help detect cases of foodborne illness in a timely manner. The system "listens" to relevant public tweets and detects restaurant visits by matching up where a person tweets from and the known locations of restaurants. People will often tweet from their phones or other mobile devices, which are GPS enabled. This means that tweets can be "geotagged": the tweet not only provides information in the 140 characters allowed, but also about where the user was at the time.
If a user tweets from a location that is determined to be a restaurant (by using the locations of 24,904 restaurants that had been visited by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in New York City), the system will continue to track this person's tweets for 72 hours, even when they're not geotagged, or when they are tweeted from a different device. If a user then tweets about feeling ill, the system captures the information that this person is now ill and had visited a specific restaurant.

Biting off more than we can chew

Food contamination happens with alarming regularity.

He ordered a second lamb chettinad, its spicy textures triggering some primordial, addictive urge. After the final bite, folded into crispy rounds of puri dough, he leaned back to stifle a satisfied belch. His eyes widened. Pointing indignantly to his plate, he waved the waiter over. Between the resid ue of mango chutney and a dab of ghee, there was a curly hair.

He hadn't actually swallowed the hair and must have seen far worse in the course of frequent eating out. My friend's reaction seemed totally out of proportion with the minuteness of the strand. And the waiter, rather than apologising, sloughed it off with a "these things happen" shrug. My friend became infuriated. The waiter suggested my friend's excitable nature likely propelled one of his own hairs onto the plate. The manager was summoned to berate the waiter, complimentary desserts appeared and what should have been a pleasantly uneventful meal degenerated into a source of indigestion - all because of a hair. Setting aside the case of errant hair, what turns up in our food is not at all a laughing matter. Food safety and security has to be one of the most significant concerns across the world today.
Commodity
We look to food for its nurturing, restorative and nutritional qualities but the pervasiveness of food scandals should increasingly give us pause. The recent tragedy of children dying and getting sick in Bihar after eating vegetables laced with lethal insecticide is a serious wake up call. Any nation complacent about food does so at great peril. The United States, unfortunately, is a poster case for what should be avoided. Food, like air and water, are essential social goods without which no organism can survive. Despite this truism, the US leads the way in treating food as a mere commodity and source of corporate profits.
Food contamination happens with alarming regularity. I recall a documentary of a mother pleading with a US congressman for more stringent regulations after her child died from eating a tainted hamburger. Beholden to contributions from meat industry lobbies, he gave the distraught mother the waiter's brush-off shrug.

Big agro business, with enormous government subsidies flowing to it and millions of dollars deployed to stave off meaningful oversight has tipped the balance of power. And consumer protection groups have become voices in the wilderness.
As a result, Americans today are slowly but surely being made sick by food that's hyper-processed, packed with additives, chemically modified and nutrition light. Granted, it's not as dramatic and deplorable as children dying from toxic food or malnutrition. But all over the US, there's a steady decline in public health and quality of life from the prevalence of junk food and lack of proper control over the food supply.
Collateral
The irony is that the collateral effects from this shortsightedness are patently obvious. Healthcare costs skyrocket, productivity goes down and there's a general degradation of culture as unhealthy food choices become normalised and quality of food yields to profits, desire for cheapness and consumption based upon all you can eat.
Morbid obesity in the US has become an epidemic and malnutrition also is on the rise. The mayor of New York recently took up the cause by trying to ban supersized, sugar-laden carbonated drinks. The White House too is seeking to promote healthier eating along with regular exercise. They've been accused of attempting to institute a "nanny state" and the junk food lobby has pumped millions into convincing people that freedom entails being able to consume whatever one darn well wants.
It's a cautionary tale for India as the food processing industry develops to prevent spoilage and make getting food from farm to table more seamless and efficient. In crafting an effective food policy, India must place people above profits, heeding lessons from other countries such as the US, where things have gone so horribly wrong.
Punishment
India leads the world in school lunch programs after a Supreme Court order mandated this in 2001. With some 120 million free lunches given to school children across the country, like any program with completely laudable goals, execution is everything. What happened in Bihar reveals deep systemic failures and now is the time to institute accountability.
We need severe punishments for entities that compromise quality and see school lunches as a way to siphon off money for bloated private gain. This is tantamount not only to stealing from public coffers but also robs India of its future, what wellnourished and educated children ultimately represent. A key aspect of food policy also means understanding the entire supply chain. A breakdown in any aspect can have disastrous consequences.
There's a fundamental tension between profiting off feeding people and the imperatives of quality. The history of food abuse runs the gamut from improper labeling, watering down contents and adding cheaper substitutes to insidious use of growth hormones, genetic modifiers and antibiotics. The food industry insists every additive is safe while being notorious for muzzling opposition from scientists and food advocates. Surely the more prudent course is to err on the side of caution.
We also should not be rushing to welcome certain multinationals to India. Somewhere there's a delicate compromise between food efficiency and not putting out of business local grocers with fresh, organic produce.
The Indian love of simple wholesome food must trump eating some glossy-packaged novelty delivered in a can. The push for healthier food is taking hold in the West. Indifferent to public health consequences, Food Inc's focus now is in emerging markets. It's not something to shrug off; instead, we must resolutely resist.

20% of your food is adulterated

Random test of 29,328 samples in 123 labs across the country shows everything from packed items to cereals is contaminated.


One-fifth of food items in the market, tested by government labs last year, were either substandard or adulterated, records of the health and family welfare ministry have revealed.
The food items tested range from everyday items such as edible oil, milk, sugar and grains to ready-to-eat packed foods available in grocery shops as well as kirana stores. As part of a standard procedure followed by all states, 29,328 samples of various food items were collected from markets, including malls as well as wholesale shops, in the financial year 2012-13. Of these, 5,180, or about 20%, were either adulterated or substandard.
Food items that do not meet the standards set by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), or have an inferior quality substance added to them fall in this category.
Worse, the amount of adulterated food making its way to the market is on the rise. While the figure stood at 8% in 2008-09, it more than doubled to 20% in 2012-13. Worried by the trend, the FSSAI in October, 2011 requested all the states to take stringent action against peopled involved in the adulteration business.
Consumption of adulterated food leads to serious health problems such as heart disease and even neurological problems, especially in children, said public health activist Dr Meera Shiva.
“Increasing use of chemicals and pesticides for production and storage has also significantly contributed to the increase in adulterated food items in the market,” she said.
Food safety officers appointed by each state government regularly pick up random food samples from markets. These are then tested in the 123 government laboratories spread across the country.
The state governments then send the results to FSSAI, which compiles the figures and takes necessarily action.
Going by the figures between 2008 and 2010, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the three states with the worst record.
As per the new rules, a food business operator — anyone involved in the manufacture, storage, distribution or retail of food items — can be punished if the food item is not up to the mark.
However, the low prosecution rate of those found guilty has led to a spike in adulteration.
According to the ministry’s records, the average prosecution rate in the past five years has been only 13%.
The lack of a proper monitoring mechanism is another reason for the problem. At present, there are more than 50 million food business operators who are required to register with the state governments. But until April, 2013, only 2% had done so.

FDA ensures you eat quality food through new Act

New amendment on food packaging makes it compulsory for manufacturers to print licence or registration numbers, along with the FSSAI logo, so that consumers know the product has undergone quality checks

According to new norms, food packaging is now supposed to tell you if the food you are consuming has been produced by the manufacturers who are registered under the Food Safety and Standards Act, India (FSSAI).
As per the central government notification and the amendment of the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and labelling) Amendment Regulation, 2013, it has become necessary to print an FSSAI registration number on the packaging. This notification would help the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) track manufacturers who do not have FSSAI licences.

All clean: The (circled) 14-digit registration or licence number provided by FSSAI on the packaging helps the FDA track the food manufacturer and implement quality control measures

According to FSSAI 2006, either a registration number or a licence is provided to each food manufacturer. It is a 14-digit number provided to the applicant, which must be compulsorily printed on food packages. “As per the new amendment on packaging by FSSAI it is compulsory to print licence or registration numbers with the FSSAI logo. This will help people understand if the food has undergone quality checks,” said Deelip Sangat, assistant commissioner, FDA, food. The 14-digit number would provide information on the manufacturer’s licence or registration details, and the manufacturing state.
“If we decode the 14-digit number it will tell us all we want to know about the manufacturer. The 14-digit number is divided into five parts. The first single digit tells us whether the manufacturer is licence holder or just registered, the next two digits provides the state, the following two digits tell us the year the manufacturer was registered with FSSAI.
The licensing authority or registering authority is disclosed in the next three digits and remaining digits are the manufacturer’s licence number,” Sangat added. Sonia Patankar of Patankar Khauwale, a chain of food shops in the city, said, “The Act is good to maintain quality, but will increase cost of food.
Some time ago it had become mandatory to print nutritional facts on the packaging and many of us did so. But, now there are many products in the market that don’t have nutritional facts printed. Such a thing should not happen with this new amendment.”
Licencing and registering
According to the Food Safety and Standards Act India (FSSAI) 2006, every food manufacturer should get a licence from the FDA or a concerned authority of FSSAI. If the food manufacturer has an annual income of less than Rs 12 lakh, a process of registration is enough. The centralised Act has been implemented to promote safe food across the country. It was implemented in August 5, 2011.

Inedible oil flows to Kochi

Kochi: With Onam just a couple of weeks away come rep­orts that huge quantities of inedible and discarded oil from Tamil Nadu is  being widely used  to make the snacks so much in demand during the festival  in bakeries and eateries across the city.

The oil transported on trains is allegedly sold to the eateries for as little as Rs. 30 a litre, and so  usually has many buyers. 

“Except a few, all other bakeries and eateries in the city  no longer prepare their own snacks , but buy them in bulk from catering centres like those in Palluruthy, Edappally and Vypeen, which generously use the cheap oil. And as there is no mechanism to monitor their hygiene  or the ingredients they use they get away with it,” said a trader, adding that the oil trade lobby does brisk business during the festival season, when  chips and fried snacks fly off the shelves of eateries.

“With Onam  just a couple of weeks away, there  is a boom in the sale of chips. The authorities need to take stringent measures to prevent the use of substandard cooking oil for making them and other delicacies,” underlined CPM councillor in the corporation council,  P. S. Prakash.

While food safety officers and the corporation’s health department appear to be  turning a blind eye to the major public heal­th hazard that the sale of such eatables constitutes,  district food safety officer,  Ajith Ku­mar, when contacted, clai­med he had received no complaints about substandard oil being used by catering centres in the city.

“Although we’ve not re­c­eived any reports about substandard oil arriving in Kerala, we will do an intensive check at railway stations and other entry points,” he promised.

Food department officials crack down on hostel kitchens

CHENNAI: Private hostels serving unhygienic food will get the boot if the food safety department has its way. Acting on complaints from various parts of the city, the department began raids on hostel kitchens on Thursday.
District food safety officer S Lakshmi Narayan said that they conducted surprise inspections in various hostels in Saidapet and T Nagar. "It was shocking that most private hostels are in a bad condition and serve poor quality food". TOI had recently highlighted the lack of quality food and hygiene in the private hostels in the city.
During the raid, officials found that many hostels serve substandard food and water, posing health risks.
Other conditions in these hostels were also found to be bad. "Some 16 people were staying in a crammed room in bunker beds without adequate space. There aren't enough toilets for the residents. We have issued notices to these hostels and asked them to improve the quality of food and the living conditions in 15 days. If they don't comply, we will take action," the officer added.
Many professionals and students from different parts of the country stay in hostels as they provide cheap accommodation, but there are several complaints about the quality of food. "I don't have the money to pay 12-month rental advance and broker commission for a flat. The hostel owner prepares food for only 25 people, though 35 live here. The quality of food is pathetic," said Anita Rajendran, a resident of a private hostel in Saidapet. "If we complain, they ask us to leave the hostel."
Chennai corporation doesn't monitor the functioning and facilities of hostels. Sources said people who run five to ten hostels in various parts of the city have a centralised kitchen. "Food material is sometimes transported in unsealed containers, and they can get contaminated," said an employee of a private hostel in West CIT Nagar. Residents often have no choice as the monthly rent of about 6,500 is always inclusive of the food.
Anyone with complaints about poor quality food served in hostels can call 23813095 or email commrfssa@gmail.com, officials said.

MAALAI MALAR NEWS

Steps initiated by Government to ensure food safety compliances for export of agricultural products

There has been an increase in the RASFFs issued by EU for the last three years. The Government has initiated following steps to ensure food safety compliances for export of agricultural products:
- Residue monitoring plan for exports of fresh table grapes to the EU through control of residues of chemicals.
- A web based traceability system for grapes has been put in place to ensure compliance with the EU requirements.
- Control of aflatoxins for exports of peanuts and peanut products to all countries.
- Standards for 51 fruits and vegetables have been prepared. These standards are notified by Govt. of India under AGMARK Act.
- APEDA has introduced schemes for registration/recognition of pack house/processing units for fresh fruits and vegetables like grapes, mangoes, pomegranates, peanuts and peanut products, meat etc.
- Taken up laboratory recognition and upgradation programme for making available testing facilities to ensure the quality of produce exported. 23 laboratories have been recognized.
- Recognition of food safety management system implementation and certification agencies for HACCP, ISO and GAP certification.
- Development of packaging standards and sea transportation protocols for fruits.
- Negotiations/Talks are held with EU at bilateral meetings, Joint Working Group meetings and Sub Committee on Trade meetings to ensure Indian food exports is not compromised.
The information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Dr. D. Purandeswari in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

DINAMANI ARTICLE

DINAMALAR NEWS

JMC holds awareness camp for shopkeepers

JAMMU: To generate awareness about new Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 and rules and regulations 2011 to improve the standards of hygiene, quality of food etc. Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) on Wednesday organised an awareness camp at CPO Ustad Mohalla for food business operators.
Health Officer JMC, Dr. Vinod Sharma and Food Safety Officer of the concerned area made shopkeepers aware about hygienic conditions they have to maintain in their premises.
The eating point owners/rehriwalas are directed to get their licences/registrations from the Office of the Health Officer JMC Jammu.
Dr Vinod advised the cooks of the eating joints/rehriwalas to wear mask, apron, cap, gloves, use only portable filter water to the customers, use two types of covered dustbins i.e. green and blue colour to separate biodegradable and non-biodegradable garbage and use soap and running water for cleaning of utensils.
The team also visited the market and checked the eating joints and made customers aware of precautions to be taken before eating or buying anything from the eating joints they are requested to check everything in advance. The food business operators assured the authorities that the irregularities be removed within a short span of time.

JMC organises awareness camp to improve quality of food
Jammu Tawi, August 7
To generate awareness about new Food Safety & Standards Act 2006 and rules and regulations 2011 to improve the standards of hygiene, quality of food. The JMC organised
a awareness camp at CPO Ustad Mohalla on Wednesday for Food Business operators like dhabas walas,
restaurants, karyana shopkeepers, juice shops, meat shops, rehri and phari walas dealing with sale of food items, the undersigned Dr Vinod Sharma and Food Safety Officer of the concerned area aware the shopkeepers about the hygienic conditions they have to maintain in their premises.
The eating point owners, rehriwalas are directed to get their licenses, registrations from the Office of the Health Officer JMC Jammu. The cook of the eatable points, rehriwalas must wear mask, apron, cap, gloves etc. They have to use only portable filter water to the customers.
After the awareness camp the team also visited the
market and checked the
eating points and the customers also aware that before eating or buying anything from the eatable points they are requested to check every thing in advance.

FSSAI draft guidelines do not propose ban on junk food in schools

Guidelines submitted to Delhi High Court dwell more on promoting consumption of water and hygiene among school kids through Facebook,Twitter

The nodal agency for food safety in the country, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), has submitted to the Delhi High Court the draft guidelines for discouraging children from eating junk food and developing healthy habits. The guidelines were submitted on August 5 following a court direction on a public interest petition by Uday Foundation, seeking ban on junk food in schools. The stakeholders have been asked to send in their comments within two weeks from August 5 after which FSSAI is expected to submit the final guidelines.

The guidelines, titled "Guidelines for Making Available Quality and Safe Food in Schools", fall short of expectations and demands of the public health experts who have been vigorously campaigning against unhealthy food in school canteens. The guidelines devote some chapters to explaining nutrients and nutritional value of healthy and hygienic food. The rest of the chapters advise schools on how to include good practice in eating. It suggests that schools should promote consumption of water among children because "water is the most important nutrient of all and assists in the upkeep of our health". It also advises schools to promote hand-wash before every meal.

The high Court had asked the government in January to submit draft guidelines in six months; the deadline expired on July 24. The government asked for 10 more days as the guidelines were still under preparation.

Wrong categorization

The guidelines are more of an advisory rather than a document meant to address the health hazards posed by junk food. The guidelines do not mention about banning junk food though the document itself defines junk food as "those containing little or no proteins, vitamins or minerals but are rich in salt, sugar, fats and are high in energy (calories)." The guidelines have also termed unhealthy/junk food (chocolates, potato chips), fast food (burger, noodles), instant food (instant noodles, soup, cornflakes) and street food (samosa, wada, chat items) separately, thus bringing very few items under the category of junk. Items like burgers, pizzas and sandwiches, proven for their unhealthy content by various studies, have been put under fast food category.

The guidelines do not suggest any replacements to unhealthy food. They focus more on improving hygiene and good practices among students, rather than putting responsibility on the canteens to serve healthy food. They suggest that healthy practices should be promoted through social media platforms like facebook and twitter. They have also suggested the Ministry of Information and Broadcast should promote healthy practices among children.

Silent on regulations

The guidelines are also silent on the matter of regulation. They say, "The rationale of this guideline is to provide a set of model standard operating procedures to schools in order to achieve a high degree of compliance with the food regulations as well as attaining higher standards of food safety through adoption of good practices."

However, whether the schools comply to the suggested model and ensure that students have healthy food, has not been addressed in the proposed document. The guidelines also do not suggest any penalty and follow up of the same in case schools fail to promote healthy practices.

The guidelines were framed based on a survey conducted by a private market research company, AC Nielsen, covering six zones and 12 states. The school profiles included state as well as Central government, government aided, private, private aided, local body and tribal schools.

Junk food PIL

February, 2010: Uday foundation files public interest petition
January, 2013: Delhi High Court passes order, asking FSSAI to prepare guidelines on junk food in six months
July 24, 2013: Deadline for preparing guidelines expires
August 5, 2013: Draft guidelines submitted to court
August 20, 2013: Last date for stakeholders to submit responses
September 4, 2013: Last date for submission of final guidelines to court

Use social media to make pupils ditch junk food, Government tells schools

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has turned to social media for the promotion of healthy food habits in schoolchildren.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) under the ministry has recently drafted guidelines on junk food, advising schools to use social networking sites to spread awareness about the ill-effects of consuming unhealthy food.

"With the advent of information technology, television, newspapers, and Internet and social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, schools can spread messages related to risks associated with the consumption of unhealthy food. The message can be spread by schools nationwide to sensitise parents and guardians," the draft guidelines say.

New guidelines

"Dedicated web pages on school websites and other social media sites would assist children and guide them to consume foods with high nutritious value like foodgrain, pulses, legumes, fruits and vegetables. Student clubs and groups should be formed for sensitising and advertising the ill-effects of consuming unhealthy food among peer groups," the guidelines further say.

The FSSAI has also given suggestions to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to loop in television channels and other mass media for spreading the mantra of healthy food habits.

"The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting regulates communication media, including the audio-visual, print and the Internet. Guidelines related to quality of food products advertised in Indian media should be urgently formulated. The principles can include norms, including size, content, nutrition and health benefits of the food marketed to children," the guidelines say.

Other salient features of the guidelines are on maintaining hygiene in school canteens and conducting regular quality checks for cooked and stored food. The dietary guidelines have been drawn after a survey designed to account for the heterogeneity of schools, as well as their spread.

The survey was conducted in urban as well as rural areas of the country, covering 600 schools in six zones and 12 states. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Nutrition analysed the findings of the survey.

Earlier this year, the Delhi High Court directed the FSSAI to frame an effective policy and guidelines to ban the sale of junk food and carbonated drinks in and around educational institutions across the country.

The high court passed the order on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), filed in 2010 by Uday Foundation, an NGO based in the national Capital.

The NGO points out that junk food damages health and hampers the mental growth of children. The foundation had sought a ban on the sale of junk food in schools and within 500 metres of educational institutions.

Guidelines to ensure quality, safe food to schoolkids in offing

In a bid to ensure a healthy diet for schoolchildren, the Central Government has drafted guidelines to regulate the sale of junk food in school canteens across the country. According to the Government instructions, canteen staff will be trained to ensure nutrition value and hygiene.

“Training of food-handlers and kitchen staff in schools would reduce mishaps pertaining to food safety. Schools should have at least one full time person-in-charge certified in Food Safety and training programmes should be promoted in schools through interactions and demonstrations,” suggested the guidelines, which have been submitted in the Delhi High Court. The court has asked the Centre to formulate rules for the same while dealing a PIL seeking a ban on the sale of junk food and aerated drinks in schools.

The guidelines dissuaded the consumption of junk food and highlighted its harmful implications. The Government also suggested purchase of packaged food items and raw materials from reliable supplying agencies preferably approved by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

According to the guidelines, schools should ensure that the food purchased carries certification mark assuring good quality. “For example, AGMARK for Honey and FPO (Fruit Products Order) for jams and squashes. Packaged food items must be checked for their manufacturing and expiry dates before making them available to the kids,” said the guidelines also asking the schools to maintain a detailed performa of food items -- including the name of vendors, date and time, quantity of raw items ordered and delivered.

In 35 paged set of guidelines, the Government has also prescribed safety measures to be followed during procurement of food items in schools, storage and hygiene measures required to be taken.

“Schools should maintain a rejection policy to ensure quality if the containers carrying food items are deteriorating the food it should be kept in safe temperature zone.”

It also mentioned the need to spread awareness among kids, parents and teachers about what constitutes healthy food. Schools have been asked to elaborate on the ill effects of unhealthy products, through social media and health awareness programs in the curriculum.

“Messages related to risks of unhealthy foods can be spread across through social media like Facebook and Twitter to sensitise parents or guardians of school children,” said the guidelines. The PIL was filed by Uday Foundation on July 24, the bench had given ten days to the Government to draft guidelines and fixed the case for September 4.

Govt comes out with mid-day meal guidelines

Shocked by the Bihar mid-day meal tragedy, the centre has for the first time come out with guidelines to be followed by all schools in the country with special emphasis on hiring qualified hands in the kitchen and strict monitoring.

It prescribed code of hygiene and safe practices to be followed during procurement, preparation and serving of meals.

These were part of ‘guidelines for making available quality and safe food in schools’ submitted on Monday by the health ministry to the Delhi High Court which is hearing a PIL for banning the sale of junk food in schools.

It said food ingredients should be purchased from Food Safety Standards Authority of India-licensed food merchants and no food having traces of pesticide residue or parasites should be purchased.

Schools should have at least one full time in-charge certified in food safety who has undergone food safety education training.

உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அதிகாரியாக நடித்த இருவர் சிக்கினர்

கோவை, ஆக. 7:

உணவு பாது காப்பு அதிகாரியாக நடித்து பணம் பறித்த இருவரை பிடித்து பீளமேடு போலீசார் விசாரிக்கின்றனர்.

கோவை பீளமேட்டில் உள்ள ஒரு தனியார் மருத்துவக்கல்லூரிக்கு அருகே ஓட்டல் ஒன்று உள்ளது. கட ந்த சில மாதங்களுக்கு முன் ஆண், பெண் ஆகியோர் இந்த ஓட்டலுக்கு வந்து உணவு பாதுகாப்பு பிரிவு அதிகாரிகள் எனக்கூறி ஓட்டலில் ஆய்வு செய்தனர். பின் ஓட்டல் உரிமையாளரிடம் இருந்து ரூ.2 ஆயிரம் பணத்தை பெற்றுச் சென்றனராம். இந்நிலையில், அதே இருவர் நேற்று மதியம் மீண்டும் பீளமேடு பகுதிக்கு வந்து அதே ஓட்டலுக்கு சென்றனர். தங்கள் ஓட் டலை ஆய்வு செய்யாமல் இருக்க பணம் அளிக்க வேண்டும் என அந்த இரு வரும் நிர்பந்தம் செய்ததாக தெரிகிறது. இதனால் சந்தேகமடைந்த ஓட்டல் ஊழியர்கள் அந்த இருவரையும் பிடித்து பீளமேடு போலீசில் ஒப்படைத்தனர். விசாரணையில், இருவரும் கணவன் & மனைவி எனத்தெரியவந்தது. இதையடுத்து பீளமேடு போலீசார் இருவரிடமும் தொடர்ந்து விசாரித்து வருகின்றனர்.

Couple picked up for impersonating as food safety inspectors

Charged with impersonating
A couple have been picked up by the Peelamedu police on charges of impersonating as food safety inspectors and allegedly resorting to intimidation and extortion of merchants.
According to police, a man and a woman visited a grocery shop and ordered for packing samples for laboratory assessment for quality. It was alleged that the two left the shop after taking Rs 2,000 for not taking samples. Subsequently, the two visited a hotel in the afternoon and said that they wanted to take food samples. On suspicion about their behaviour, the hotel owner informed the police. Police have identified the two as Francis (42) and Surya (36) and inquiries are on.

Ban on Sale of Nicotine Containing Products

Government of India has notified the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011 dated 1st August 2011, under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which prohibit the use of tobacco and nicotine as ingredients in any food products. The said Regulation 2.3.4 lays down as under
“Product not to contain any substance which may be injurious to health: Tobacco and nicotine shall not be used as ingredients in any food products”.
So far, 33 States / Union Territories have issued orders for implementation of the Food Safety Regulations banning manufacture, sale and storage of Gutka and Pan Masala containing tobacco or nicotine. (Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Chandigarh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland, Andaman & Nicobar, Daman & Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Sikkim, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, J&K, Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry).
(c)For Pan Masala, Regulation 2.4.5 (30) of Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulation, 2011 issued under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, prescribes that,
“Every Package of Pan Masala and advertisement relating thereto, shall carry the following warning, namely – “Chewing of Pan Masala is injurious to health”.
Further, under the National Level Public Awareness campaign, this Ministry has launched media campaigns both in national as well as regional electronic channels focussing on the harmful effects of smokeless tobacco use. In addition an outdoor media campaign along with a press advertisement has also been carried out.
The Ministry has notified the new pictorial health warnings which have come into effect from 1st April, 2013. Three (3) sets of warnings each, have been notified for smokeless and smoking forms of tobacco.
The Ministry has notified the Rules to regulate depiction of tobacco products or their use in films and TV programmes. As per these rules all films and TV (Indian and Foreign) depicting tobacco products or their use have to screen a ‘health spot’ of 30 second duration and a ‘disclaimer’ of 20 second duration on the harmful effects of tobacco use, in the beginning and the middle of the films and TV programmes.
This information was given by the Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

60 நாட்களில் கடைகளுக்கு உரிமம் ஆன்-லைன் பதிவு விறுவிறுப்பு

சேலம்: உணவு பாதுகாப்பு சட்டத்தில் ஜூலை, 1ம் தேதி முதல் கடைகளுக்கான உரிமம் பதிவு செய்யப்பட்டு வருகிறது. 60 நாட்களில் கடைகளுக்கு உரிமம் அளிக்கப்படுவதால், "ஆன்-லைன்' பதிவு விறுவிறுப்பாக நடந்து வருகிறது.
ஜூலை, 1ம் தேதி முதல் உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை மூலம் கடைகளுக்கான உரிமம், பதிவு புதுப்பித்தல் உள்ளிட்ட பணிகளை, "ஆன்-லைன்' மூலம் மேற்கொள்ள நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. சேலம் பழைய நாட்டாண்மை கழக கட்டிடத்தில் இயங்கும் உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை அலுவலகத்தில், சில வாரத்துக்கு முன், "ஆன்-லைன்' மூலம் பதிவு செய்வது சம்பந்தமாக, துறை அலுவலர்களுக்கு பயிற்சி அளிக்கப்பட்டது.
சேலம் மாவட்டத்தில், 28 ஆயிரத்து, 396 கடை, நிறுவனங்கள் உள்ளன. இதில், 16,582 கடை, நிறுவனங்கள் உணவு பாதுகாப்பு சட்டத்தில் பதிவு, உரிமம் பெற்றுள்ளன. மீதம் உள்ள, 11 ஆயிரத்து, 814 கடை, நிறுவனங்கள் உரிமம் மற்றும் பதிவு புதுப்பிக்காமல் உள்ளன. அவற்றை, ஆன்-லைன் மூலம் பதிவு செய்யும் பணி விறுவிறுப்பாக நடந்து வருகிறது.
சேலம் மாவட்டத்தில் இதுவரை, 50 கடை, நிறுவனங்கள், "ஆன்-லைன்' மூலம் உரிமம் வேண்டி விண்ணப்பித்துள்ளன. 25 கடைகள் பதிவு செய்ய விண்ணப்பித்துள்ளன.
இதுகுறித்து மாவட்ட நியமன அலுவலர் டாக்டர் அனுராதா கூறியதாவது:
உணவு பாதுகாப்பு சட்டத்தின் கீழ் அனைத்து கடை, நிறுவனங்கள் பதிவு, உரிமம் பெறுதலுக்கான நடவடிக்கை ஜரூராக நடந்து வருகிறது. "ஆன்-லைன்' மூலம் பதிவு செய்தல், உரிமம் மற்றும் புதுப்பித்தல் பணிக்கு கடை, நிறுவன உரிமையாளர்கள் ஆர்வம் காட்டி வருகின்றனர். "ஆன்-லைன்' மூலம் உரிமம் வேண்டி விண்ணப்பிப்பவர்களுக்கு, 60 நாட்களில் பணியை முடித்து கொடுத்து விடுகிறோம். இவ்வாறு அவர் தெரிவித்தார்.

DINAMALAR NEWS

உணவு பொருட்கள் கொள்முதல் : விடுதி அதிகாரிகளுக்கு புது உத்தரவு

விடுதி மாணவர்களின் உணவு தயாரிக்க, கொள்முதல் செய்யப்படும் பொருட்களில், ஏதாவது பிரச்னை இருந்தால், உடனடியாக திரும்ப ஒப்படைக்க வேண்டும்' என, நலத்துறை அதிகாரிகளுக்கு
உத்தரவிடப்பட்டுள்ளது. ஆதிதிராவிடர் மற்றும் பழங்குடியினர் நலத் துறையின் கீழ் செயல்படும், 1,300 ஆதிதிராவிடர் நல விடுதிகளில், 97,239 மாணவர்; 42 பழங்குடியினர் நல விடுதிகளில், 2,782 மாணவர்; 301 உண்டு உறைவிட பள்ளிகளில், 31,899 மாணவர் தங்கியுள்ளனர். அதே போல், பிற்படுத்தப்பட்டோருக்காக, 1,294 விடுதிகள் உள்ளன. இதில், பிற்படுத்தப்பட்டோர் நலத் துறை கீழ், 710 விடுதி; மிகவும் பிற்படுத்தப்பட்டோர் மற்றும் சீர்மரபினர் நலத் துறை கீழ், 572 விடுதி; சிறுபான்மை நலத்துறை கீழ், 12 விடுதிகள் செயல்படுகின்றன. இவ்விடுதிகளில், 80,064 மாணவர் தங்கியுள்ளனர். இவற்றில், தங்கி உள்ள மாணவர்களுக்கு, ஒரு மாணவருக்கு, ஒரு வேளை உணவுக்கு, 600 கிராம் அரிசி செலவிடப்படுகிறது. சமீபத்தில், பீகாரில் மதிய உணவு சாப்பிட்ட குழந்தைகள் இறந்ததை அடுத்து, தமிழகம் முழுவதும் உள்ள, அரசு விடுதிகளுக்கு பல புதிய உத்தரவுகள் பிறப்பிக்கப்பட்டன. இருந்தாலும், பல இடங்களில், மாணவர்களுக்கு வாந்தி, மயக்கம் போன்றவையும்,
சாப்பாட்டில் புழு போன்ற பிரச்னையும் ஏற்பட்டது. தற்போது, விடுதியில் சமைக்கப் பயன்படும் அரிசி, பருப்பு போன்றவை, அருகில் உள்ள, உணவுப் பொருள் வழங்கல் துறையின் கிடங்குகளில் இருந்து, பெறப்படுகின்றன.
ஒரு மாதத்துக்கு தேவையான, அரிசி மூட்டைகளை, மொத்தமாக கொள்முதல் செய்வது வழக்கம். அவ்வாறு கொள்முதல் செய்யும் மூட்டைகளில், புழு, வண்டு போன்றவை இருந்தால், உடனடியாக, திரும்ப ஒப்படைக்க, விடுதி அதிகாரிகளுக்கு உத்தரவிடப்பட்டுள்ளது. அது மட்டுமின்றி, உணவு சமைத்த பிறகு, அதில் குறைபாடு காணப்பட்டாலோ, சமைத்த சோற்றில், இறந்த புழு, வண்டு போன்றவை இருந்தாலோ, உடனடியாக, அரிசி மூட்டைகளை, உணவுப் பொருள் வழங்கல் துறையிடமே, மீண்டும் ஒப்படைக்க வேண்டும் எனவும், உத்தரவிடப்பட்டுள்ளது.