Dec 20, 2017
FSSAI to check quality of food in hospitals, healthcare facilities
FSSAI wants hospitals and to follow food safety standards prescribed by the regulator
New Delhi: India’s food safety regulator has turned its sights towards hospitals and other healthcare facilities to ensure they serve safe and nutritious food.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which already has oversight of food consumed in households, offices and even places of worship, wants public health institutions to follow safety standards prescribed by the regulator.
In the first step, the FSSAI will organize a round-table meeting of health ministers from the states. The event will be chaired by Union health and family welfare minister Jagat Prakash Nadda, said FSSAI chief executive officer (CEO) Pawan Kumar Agarwal.
“Next month, we are holding this round table,” Agarwal said, adding that research by regulator has identified food served in hospitals as “potentially hazardous.”
According to FSSAI, people visiting hospitals are more susceptible to food-borne illnesses than the general population. Food contamination by pathogens could be particularly harmful. In fact, small numbers of enteric pathogens that may be innocuous to most healthy people can cause disease and even death in susceptible patients, especially immune-compromised subjects, the food regulator recently said in a note.
India has 35,416 government hospitals with around 1.37 million beds, according to directorate general of state health services data. Of these, 26,604 government hospitals are located in rural areas. Each of these hospitals has a canteen that serves food to patients.
Agarwal said food handlers at hospitals should be trained on food hygiene and hazard analysis and critical control points to ensure food safety.
As part of its agenda of ensuring safe and nutritious food at hospitals, the food regulator has already partnered with industry bodies such as the Indian Medical Association, Indian Dietetics Association, Nutrition Society of India, Indian Pharmaceutical Association, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers, the National Health Mission, and some government health organisations.
This is not the first time FSSAI is trying to ensure food safety and nutrition in a public system. In February, FSSAI said it had teamed up with the ministry of women and child development and drafted a plan to make supply of fortified food mandatory in government-supported schemes such as mid-day meals, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), and the Public Distribution System (PDS), in an attempt to fight malnutrition, Mint reported on 2 February.
CAG: Quality of food testing laboratories suspect
India's food certification process came under the scanner on Tuesday with the Comptroller and Auditor General showing that as many as 65 of the 72 testing laboratories are functioning without an accreditation from the official agency.
The same is true for eight of the 16 referral laboratories that operate without a certificate from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration.
"The quality of testing by 65 out of 72 state food laboratories and 8 of the 16 referral laboratories can't be assured," the CAG said in its report tabled in Parliament. Most of these laboratories are state-level units.
The government auditor also pulled up the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India for its failure to stop import of unsafe food.
The CAG said it found licences were issued on the basis of incomplete documents in more than 50% of cases.
A test check of five state licensing authorities and three central licensing authorities found that in 3,119 out of 5,915 test checked cases, licences had been issued to the food business operators on the basis of incomplete documents. As many as 15 out of the 16 test checked food laboratories did not have qualified food analysts.
The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 came nearly a decade ago in order to consolidate multiple laws related to food safety and to put in place an effective regulator.
But even after a decade of enactment of the legislation, the Union Health Ministry and FSSAI failed to finalise the recruitment rules, leading to acute shortage of regular staff at various levels because of which the FSSAI made unauthorised appointments on contract.
The ministry sanctioned 356 posts for FSSAI at various levels, out of which there are only 115 regular staff as on December 2016. FSSAI appointed 261 contractual staff who run the lion's share of the food regulator's regular work.
To test whether the penalty is collected from violators, the auditor test checked 10 cases between 2011 and 2016 in which nearly Rs 13 crore penalty was imposed on the food business operators. Around Rs 7 crore was deposited by the operators to the FSSAI, but the agency failed to retrieve the balance Rs 6 crore.
CAG raps FSSAI over licencing process, poor food testing labs
The CAG report said FSSAI issued licences to food manufacturers on the basis of incomplete documents in more than 50% of cases checked in the audit
The CAG report said that neither FSSAI nor the state food authorities had documented policies and procedures on risk based inspections, and the FSSAI does not have any database on the food business. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint
New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has slammed the food safety regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) in a performance audit report released on Tuesday.
The CAG performance audit report said FSSAI issued licences to food manufacturers on the basis of incomplete documents in more than 50% of cases checked in the audit.
The audit on food safety was taken up to assess the performance of the ministry of health and family welfare, FSSAI and food regulatory authorities in 10 selected states.
The report said that neither FSSAI nor the state food authorities had documented policies and procedures on risk based inspections, and the FSSAI does not have any database on the food business. FSSAI has failed to ensure that the customs authorities follow up on the non-conformance reports issued by the FSSAI itself and take appropriate action to ensure that unsafe foods do not enter the country, it said.
The CAG held that food safety covers the entire food chain, and includes the stages of manufacturing or preparation, handling, transportation and storage of food in ways that prevent contamination and food-borne diseases. Any relaxation of food safety standards and their enforcement may lead to proliferation of illegal, dishonest manufacturers and suppliers, which is detrimental to public health.
“At least 65 out of the 72 state food laboratories to which FSSAI and state food safety authorities sent food samples for testing do not possess National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accreditation. Consequently, the quality of testing by these laboratories cannot be assured,” the CAG report said.
The report highlighted that FSSAI has no data on public analysts declared eligible under the erstwhile Prevention of Food Adulteration Act who continue to function under the FSS Act. FSSAI also has no data on whether all the notified empanelled food laboratories have qualified food analysts. Audit test checks found that 15 out of the 16 test checked food laboratories did not have qualified food analysts, it said.
“Shortage of qualified manpower and functional food testing equipment in state food laboratories and referral laboratories resulted in deficient testing of food samples. There were significant delays in finalization of cases by Adjudicating Officers. Further, a significant portion of the penalty imposed remained uncollected,” the report said.
Slack food safety could be risking public health: CAG
Audit report says most food testing labs in country are ill-equipped.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), India’s constitutionally mandated federal auditor, has cited serious lapses in enforcing food-safety norms in the country, which, it said, could be putting public health at risk.
A majority of the country’s food-testing laboratories were poorly managed, the report said. It found that 65 of the 72 state-wide food laboratories were not accredited to the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), as required. “Consequently, the quality of testing by these laboratories cannot be assured,” the CAG report said. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the national regulator, relies on these laboratories to confirm safety of food items.
Over 50% of licenses granted to manufacturers were issued on the basis of incomplete documents, which suggests they may not be fully complying with safety standards. From popular snacks to savouries, all foods found in stores possess the FSSAI’s licences.
In 2014, a state-level food laboratory in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur had found Swedish food giant Nestlé SA’s popular instant noodles brand, Maggi, to be unsafe. Nestlé SA had, at the time, claimed its product was safe and that there were “issues of interpretation” by Indian food inspectors. Samples tested were found to contain monosodium glutamate or MSG in Maggi.
The samples were then sent to the Kolkata-based Central Food Laboratory in June 2014. The Kolkata lab took almost a year to come out with a verdict, which said the samples not only contained MSG but also lead. This prompted the FSSAI to order a recall of Maggi in June 2015.
“Most of the state food laboratories entrusted with food testing and certification functions, were not only ill-equipped but also did not possess the NABL accreditation,” the CAG report states.
A range of issues afflicts these laboratories, including lack of trained manpower, which hampered “effective fixing of science based food standards and their enforcement”. The FSSAI’s office did not respond to queries on the CAG report, including an email sent to the CEO’s office.
“Governance lapses could mean a lot of ineligible and unsafe products could be floating around. The other aspect is technical, namely proper calibration of laboratories,” said Anurag Sharma, a former food-standards consultant to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation.
“Any relaxation of food-safety standards and their enforcement may lead to proliferation of illegal, dishonest manufacturers and suppliers, which is detrimental to public health,” the CAG said.
It said the enforcement aspects of the FSSAI were slack, including activities related to licensing, registration, inspection, sampling and prosecution. The FSSAI, according to the audit, had also failed to finalise recruitment regulations and there were irregularities in the appointment of contractual employees. Until the enactment of the Food Safety Act, 2006, the main legislation that governed food safety was the archaic Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954.
CAG slams FSSAI over lapses in enforcing food safety
New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS) The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has come down heavily on the Union Health Ministry and its body FSSAI for not framing regulations governing various procedures, guidelines and mechanisms in line with the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
As per the top audit body's observations, there is a possibility that unsafe/declared unsafe food articles continued to be manufactured and sold due to the failure of the authorities to monitor and cancel licences.
"Audit observed that even after withdrawal of NOCs (no-Objection Certificates), there was no mechanism to ensure that the licences issued on the basis of the withdrawn NOCs were cancelled," said the report.
The audit body found that licences were issued on the basis of incomplete documents in more than 50 per cent of the cases test-checked in the audit.
"Neither FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) nor the state food authorities have documented policies and procedures on risk-based inspections, and the FSSAI does not have any data base on food business," said the audit report.
According to the CAG, 65 out of the 72 state food laboratories to which FSSAI and state food safety authorities sent food samples for testing do not have the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)'s accreditation, due to which the quality of testing by these laboratories could not be assured.
It observed that between January 2012 and May 2013, the FSSAI issued, without the approval of the ministry, a series of advisories covering the category of proprietary foods, which had been defined as articles of food and for which standards had not been specified.
The CAG has also questioned the continuation of licences issued in terms of flawed NOC procedure.
"Audit observed occasions where the NOCs issued by the product approval divisions had to be withdrawn because the application for product approval for a similar or identical product was denied by the scientific committees/scientific panels," said the audit report, adding that it was, therefore, evident that the FSSAI permitted possibly unsafe foods to be manufactured, distributed, sold or imported in the country.
The CAG observed that though the NOCs were valid only for a maximum period of one year, the FSSAI did not ensure that the licences issued on the basis of these NOCs were accordingly valid for the same period.
"Further, after withdrawal of the NOCs, FSSAI did not ensure that the Central Licence Authorities also cancelled the licences that had been issued on the basis of the now-withdrawn NOCs and also that the food business operators had stopped the manufacture, distribution and sale of such products."
Stating that there was a failure of the ministry and the FSSAI in framing the recruitment regulation even after a decade of the enactment of the act, the CAG observed that there was an acute shortage of licencing and enforcement officers in the states, severely affecting the food safety measures.
Parliament enacted the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 to overcome the difficulties and to consolidate and subsume the existing acts and orders and establish a single-point reference system -- FSSAI.
The body was to lay guidelines, science-based standards and regulate the manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of food products.
The CAG also found matters pertaining to non-refund of product approval fees in the audit report.
"Audit observed that though 1,876 applications for product approval were pending with FSSAI after the Supreme Court judgment, FSSAI has not refunded Rs 4.69 crore to the applicants," the report said.
Among other issues related to the food regulatory, the CAG observed that there were deficiencies in the procedure by food safety authorities in sample handling and failure in monitoring the status of receipts of samples sent for analysis.
Dec 19, 2017
39 out of 297 food samples fail quality test
Pune: Of the 297 food samples drawn during Diwali and tested, 39 have fared poorly on various quality parameters at the state-run lab, the latest report of the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has revealed.
FDA officials had drawn samples of 387 food items ahead of Diwali this year. "Of these, 297 samples have been analysed at the designated laboratory so far. After the testing, it was found that 39 samples did not conform to the quality standards set by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI)," SS Desai, joint commissioner (food), FDA, Pune, told TOI.
Among the 39 samples found substandard (lacking in quality but safe for human consumption), the maximum were of milk and edible oil. "Milk samples found substandard lacked the amount of fat and solids-not-fat (SNF) as per the norms laid down by the law. While purity of edible oil was compromised by mixing oils of lesser quality," Desai said, adding that excessive use of edible colour and milk powder affected the quality of milk products, sweets and farsaan.
"We have started taking action against the commercial establishments from where these 'substandard' samples were drawn," Desai said, adding, "As per the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, the FDA officials can only fine them for such offences. A case is filed against a supplier only when the sample is found unsafe for human consumption."
Meanwhile, activists have questioned the state's approach towards ensuring food safety. "The state health laboratory in Pune, which is a referral lab for testing food samples in the state, has been overburdened. Many key positions of the staff are lying vacant for years. The government should fill up these posts," activist Sanjay Dabhade said.
Lab not yet set up to test food served to VVIPs at official functions
“The Microbiology Lab sanctioned two years ago, as part of the Public Health Laboratory project of the Drug and Food Control Organisation, couldn’t be established due to inordinate delay by the Health and Medical Education Department in buying the necessary testing equipment and supporting infrastructure,” officials told Kashmir Reader.
A Food Safety Officer (FSO), wishing anonymity, said that such callous approach has left officers in a dilemma over what to do about VIP security. He said that in the absence of testing equipment, it is nearly impossible to test the safety of food served at public events.
Sources said that the food analysts are left helpless when they are assigned the job of testing food served to VVIPs. “We can’t test the food for adulteration or poisoning due to bacteria as per the official protocol. Lack of infrastructure and equipment make us vulnerable to grave mistakes,” confided a food analyst.
He said that the analysts who are assigned the job of testing food usually follow a medieval practice of the times of royal courts.
“Analysts and technicians follow an old practice that was prevalent in royal courts, where royal cooks would taste the cuisine themselves in front of the king before he eats it,” the official said.
The food testing is also hampered due to the defunct mobile testing vans of the Drug and Food Control Organisation (DFCO).
“There is no separate staff for the mobile testing vans, which make food testing even more difficult,” rued an administrator.
“The laboratory staff is forced to attend to VIP duty, despite the absence of equipment, which puts them in danger,” he said.
Speaking to Kashmir Reader, Suman Vikas, Assistant Professor at Department of Food Technology, Islamic University of Awantipora, said that a microbiology lab is vital for food safety and quality testing in a variety of food products, raw materials, and ingredients.
He said a simple microbiology lab with basic equipment would take Rs 8 lakh-10 lakh to start.
“The lab must have supporting infrastructure and basic equipment, like ovens for sterilisation, autoclave, incubators, refrigerators, colony counters, laminar flow chamber, microscopes, and computers,” Vikas said.
“It is not a big investment for the government. Many private food and spice companies in Kashmir have small labs. If they have it, why can’t the food department?” he said.
Controller, DFCO, Lotika Khajuria admitted that there has been a delay in setting up the microbiology lab. She, however, denied that any breach of security protocol occurs in her department.
“The police department usually calls us to send food analysts at functions attended by VVIPs. We are doing the best possible to make sure that the food is tested properly. If any of our officials are facing problems in their duty, he or she must give it in writing, so that we take up the issue with the quarters concerned. The issue may be taken up with the Food Safety and Standard Authority for necessary action,” she said.
According to her, the delay in the establishment of microbiology lab is due to the validation process. “We can’t start the lab right away because validation process takes time. We will start it soon because the funds have been sanctioned,” she said.
Dec 18, 2017
Hindus urge India Govt. to mandate listing of gelatin source on food, which many times is beef
Chandigarh,17.12.17-Hindus are urging India Government and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to mandate food manufacturers to mention the source of gelatin, if used in the product, on its “Ingredients” label.
When the source of gelatin is not listed and if it is beef, it is a serious non-disclosure affecting the Hindu devotees and would severely hurt their feelings when they would come to know that they were inadvertently consuming beef-laced popular food products, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed stresses.
Consumption of beef was highly conflicting to Hindu beliefs. Cow, the seat of many deities, was sacred and had long been venerated in Hinduism; Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out in a statement in Nevada (USA) today.
“…there is no requirement to declare the source of gelatin on the product label under our regulations”, P. Karthikeyan, FSSAI Assistant Director, wrote responding to an email query from Rajan Zed.
It would be shocking for the Hindu community to learn that some of the popular food products, which they might had been unknowingly eating for years, might contain beef as part of the gelatin while beef was not explicitly mentioned under the ingredients listed on the boxes/packages to caution them, Zed indicated.
Rajan Zed further said that it was hard to comprehend that why corporations, both domestic and international, many times were not transparent enough to mention beef explicitly under the ingredients on the box/package when, being constituent of gelatin, it was part of the product inside, so that an ordinary consumer could make right and appropriate choices.
Dutch-British transnational consumer goods company Unilever, which “has been in business since the 1880s” and which claims to have “developed a clear and global approach to nutrition labeling”, in a response to Zed, noted: Gelatin “is used in some of our products to provide a lower fat, lower calorie product with a pleasing texture and consistency…We cannot guarantee if the gelatin is derived from beef or pork”.
Many products of Wrigley, said to be the largest manufacturer and marketer of chewing gum in the world, contain gelatin that is sourced from beef. Gelatin derived from beef is found in the many products of multinational Kellogg’s, which claims to be “world's leading cereal company”.
Gelatin/gelatine is procured from various animal body parts and is usually used as a gelling agent in food. It can be from cows, pigs, fish, chicken, etc.; but there are animal-free and plant-based alternatives to gelatin like seaweed extracts. Gelatin is an ingredient in some cereals, ice creams, candies, yogurts, desserts, marshmallows, aspic, trifles, dips, fruit snacks, sour cream, margarine, frosting, confections, gums, Chinese soup dumplings, puddings, nondairy creamers, cakes, cream cheese, lozenges, etc. It is also used for clarification of vinegar, juices and wine.
FSSAI, headquartered in New Delhi, “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”. Ashish Bahuguna and Pawan Kumar Agarwal are Chairperson and CEO respectively of FSSAI, whose tagline is “Inspiring Trust, Assuring Safe & Nutritious Food”.
Dec 17, 2017
Now, an easy-to-use kit to detect fish contamination
The kit, developed by CIFT, helps in ascertaining chemical contents in fish
The Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), under the Ministry of Agriculture, has developed a rapid detection kit that can be used conveniently by individual buyers to determine formalin and ammonia contents in fish. There are separate kits for formalin and ammonia contamination detection, and they comprise strips of paper and a small bottle of chemical solution that works as a reagent.
To detect contamination, one has to rub the strip over the fish and later apply a drop of the solution on the strip. The result will be known in two minutes. The kit comes with a colour code indicating the level of contamination.
CIFT Director C.N. Ravishankar told the media here on Saturday that the kits had been developed over a period of six months in the wake of reports of rampant use of chemical agents to preserve fish. Some of these chemicals are extremely harmful to humans, while formalin is a cancer-causing aldehyde.
Can cause health problems
Though ammonia is not a cancer-causing chemical, its repeated ingestion can lead to health problems including injury to the mucous membrane, throat, esophagus, and stomach.
Mr. Ravishankar said around 16% of fish samples brought in by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India officials from local markets had been found contaminated. CIFT was also actively encouraged by Fisheries Minister J. Mercykutty Amma, who had repeatedly asked the institute to come out with a test kit to detect chemical contamination of fish.
S.J. Lali and E.R. Priya, the scientists who were directly involved in developing the kit, said easily affordable kits were being made available for the first time.
The kits, when mass-produced, will cost less than ₹5 per test. CIFT will invite an Expression of Interest (EoI) to hand over the right for commercial production of the kit.
The team of scientists from CIFT had conducted detailed tests to ensure the reliability of the kit, said Mr. Ravishankar.
Meanwhile, the first of the fish vending units, designed and developed by CIFT scientists, was inaugurated in West Kochi on Saturday. The unit comprises a refrigerated storage and de-scaling and cutting units run on conventional power supply. The units cost between ₹30,000 and ₹40,000 each.
Caterer booked in food poisoning case
Chafai Mahila Sanstha’s office sealed; school decides to stop serving mid-day meals
An FIR has been filed against the organisation that supplied mid-day meals to a government-aided school in Jogeshwari, where 37 students were hospitalised after eating khichdi on Wednesday.
Meghwadi police said on Saturday that they had registered a case against Chafai Mahila Sanstha, a Bhandup-based women’s self-help group, three days after 37 Class V and Class VII students of Bal Vikas Vidya Mandir suffered from food poisoning. The students were rushed to Kokan Hospital in Jogeshwari for treatment when they began vomiting after having lunch.
Samples sent for tests
Senior Police Inspector Pandurang Patil said, “We have filed a case of endangering life or personal safety of others under the Indian Penal Code against Chafai Mahila Sanstha in connection with the incident. We have sealed the office and kitchen of the organisation in Kanjurmarg.”
Mr. Patil said samples of the khichdi served on Wednesday and samples of other food items prepared at Chafai Mahila Sanstha’s kitchen have been sent for analysis. Action will be taken after reports of the analysis are received on Monday.
Meanwhile, the school authorities decided to discontinue the mid-day meal scheme following a meeting with parents on Saturday. Archana Bhanushali, principal, Bal Vikas Vidya Mandir.
Archana Bhanushali, principal, Bal Vikas Vidya Mandir, said, “The parents and the management reached a unanimous decision to stop serving mid-day meals. We realise that it is mandatory to implement the mid-day meal scheme in all schools, but will do so only in consultation with parents.”
Parents’ consent sought
Sahdev Sawant, vice-chairman of the school’s management board, said, “We still haven’t received a new proposal from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for the mid-day meal scheme. No action will be taken without the involvement of parents.”
Mr. Sawant said inquiries were being conducted to find out how only students of Class V and Class VII suffered from food poisoning while over 600 students were served the same food.
Dec 16, 2017
Inside a mega kitchen
At 55000 sq ft area, this could be the country’s largest commercial kitchen
From the look of it from outside, Voila F9 Gourmet on a two-acre plot in the Financial District of Hyderabad is a white structure with not too much height. Appears to be a well-maintained industrial shed that is probably used as a storehouse. However, step inside and this seemingly unimpressive structure turns out to be a jaw-dropping 55,000 sq ft commercial kitchen with world class facilities. It’s perhaps the largest commercial kitchen in the country.
As many as 50,000 meals can be cooked on a peak day at this facility. Apart from the number, it is the practises and processes involved here that will leave us wondering at the care and caution taken to prepare the food.
Arrival and treatment
Various raw ingredients like fruits, vegetables, pulses and meats are received at different gates throughout the day. “There are specialised zones for receiving, stores, sorting, pre-prep, hot kitchen, confectionery, butchery, quality control, dispatch, temperature controlled refrigeration and also RO and STP / ETP plants. Here most of the raw ingredients are sanitised and stored in temperature-controlled rooms to retain their freshness. Most of the peeling, chopping and grinding are done by machines under supervision. Charts and duty sheets alert the stores about dispatching required amounts of various ingredients for the day,” says Sannjay Bhatija, director, operations.
If the raw green ingredients are treated at the time of arrival the dry ingredients go through a cleaning and sorting process by hand and then passed through magnetic channels to extract any unwanted metallic content.
The powdered spices and flour are sieved and sorted in individual baskets. So in the dry section, the employees are all armed with masks, headnet and gloves.
Cooking for corporates
Home grown Voila with an employee strength of over 850, produces over 25,000 meals everyday for employees of corporate groups like Google, Facebook, Deloitte, Qualcomm, D E Shaw&Co., Arcesium, Uber, Indus School etc. These kitchen employees work in three shifts to cater to breakfast, lunch and dinner. All the meals produced at the central kitchen in Gachibowli are then transported through a fleet of trucks which are also equipped with temperature controlled facilities.
“The kitchen doesn’t only serve the corporates; large-scale events like Sensation, Sunburn also rely on us for their outdoor catering. We as a company follow internationally acclaimed food safety processes like HACCP and ISO 22000:2005 and also run an in-house Microbiology lab to test and monitor every food item that is prepared,” says Vijay Amritraj, CEO.
Inside the kitchen
Inside the hot kitchen, contrary to popular perceptions that a huge kitchen will feel like one big oven with more than 100 cooking stations all working at the same time, the temperature is normal. In one side of the kitchen close to 10 cauldrons are being prepared with marinated meat for a biryani dinner. Six sous chefs upturn and mix the meat with spices in turns as a huge vessels of close to 200 litre capacity of water simmer on the side with potli spices.
Water consumption and garbage
Bigger the facility, the larger the requirement. This facility makes use of close to 2 lakh litres of water, 700 kgs of regular table rice, 1500 kgs of water melon, 7000 eggs, 700 kg of chicken, 500 kg of mutton, 1200 kg of onions, 1100 kg of tomato. The fact that they use close to 200 kg of salt on a daily basis gives an idea of the amount of food that is cooked.
For proper garbage collection and disposal, the facility makes use of garbage collection facilities and some of the water used to clean and wash vegetables is recycled to water the plants and landscape all around. Some of the waste water is also used to clean the outdoor area.
Will appoint food safety commissioner soon, Govt tells High Court
Authorities resorting to dilatory approach, says amicus-curiae
The government on Friday informed the High Court that the food safety commissioner would be appointed shortly after the cabinet clears his name, even as amicus-curiae Bashir Ahmad Bashir pressed for holding the chief secretary responsible for the “government’s failure to implement the court orders.” As soon as the suo-moto public interest litigation against food adulteration came up for hearing before a division bench of Justice Muhammad Yaqoob Mir and Justice Ali Muhammad Magrey, the additional advocate general Muhammad Iqbal Dar informed the bench that the next cabinet meeting scheduled shortly will clear the name of an officer as food safety commissioner.
The amicus-curiae, however, told the court that the government is resorting to a dilatory approach with regard to court directions and the authorities should be held accountable for defying the court orders.
“They (authorities) are resorting to a delaying tactic; otherwise it could not take so long to post an IAS officer as food commissioner. The post has already been created, still there is delay,” he said.
He submitted that the court orders passed from time to time can be implemented only if the chief secretary is asked to give an undertaking that he would implement the orders in a time-bound manner, “failing which, the chief secretary should be made responsible for consequences.”
Advocate Dar told the court that the health and medical education department had earlier submitted a proposal to the finance department—through the general administration department—for creation of posts of commissioner, food safety along with the supportive staff.
“But the department has cleared the proposal only to the extent of creation of post of commissioner, food safety, about which the court was already informed,” he pleaded.
The state counsel said that with regard to supportive staff , a proposal has been re-submitted to the finance department which has convened through a communication its agreement for creation of three posts for the office of commissioner—private secretary, junior assistant, and an orderly.
The finance department, Dar said, has also agreed that other need-based staff shall be considered separately. For driver’s post, he submitted that the department has requisitioned it from State Motor Garages.
“Once it is concluded that an office of independent food commissioner is established, it will pave way for the implementation of the food laws,” the court was told.
With regard to food testing laboratories, the court was informed that the erstwhile forensic laboratory is still operating from the same place despite several communications sent to the police in this regard.
“Once again, the director general, police has been requested but nothing concrete has been done on his part,” the court was told.
The court was informed that in Kashmir division, of 876 samples lifted, 682 have been tested so far and 98 were found in contravention with the provisions of food safety and standards (packaging and labeling) regulations, 2011.
For the staff of food safety appellate tribunals, the government informed the court that the posts are required to be filled up through a proper selection process which has been initiated by the services selection board.
After hearing the arguments, the court said that it will pass orders.
15K unlicensed eateries may have to shut
CHENNAI: Come January, owners of more than half of the city's 32,000 food establishments will be forced to pay a hefty fine or face imprisonment with the government set to penalise those who have failed to obtain licences.
Commissioner of food safety P Amudha has given the go-ahead to crack down on establishments who don't apply for licences on or before December 31.
In March, the food safety department undertook an enumeration and found a total of 32,002 food establishments in Chennai, including pushcart vendors, retailers, provisional stores, bakeries, hostels, restaurants, fruits and vegetable shops and units that engage in making sweets and savouries. Of these, only 14,462 have been certified by the department.
The Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Business) Regulations, 2011, mandates a licence for any food business with an annual turnover in excess of Rs 12 lakh. Those with a lower turnover must register with the state food safety department. After eight extensions, the last deadline set by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for getting licenses expired in August, 2016.
R Kathiravan, designated food safety officer, Chennai, said although the department has been sporadically inspecting illegal units based on complaints, licensing would bring all of them under its scanner. "Before we issue licenses or register them, a team inspects the facility and judges them on various parameters, including quality of the water and raw materials they use for cooking, the hygiene of workers, kitchen and storage places," he said.
A vendor who fails to register or procure a licence is liable to be forced to shut shop, pay fines ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 10 lakh or face imprisonment of up to six months.
Food safety officials said a majority of those who have not registered are retailers. "They comprise 25% of the food business in the city. Many are reluctant as they source provisions from unlicensed manufacturers. This is where the maximum adulteration happens," said an official.
In February, TOI had carried a story on how less than 50% of the total 3,254 government institutions, including fair price shops, TASMAC outlets, Amma canteens and anganwadis, were licensed. Kathiravan maintains that all of them are now certified, except the mid-day meal kitchens in schools.
In the meanwhile, members of trade unions feel several provisions in the Act are too stringent. A M Vikrama Raja, president of Tamil Nadu Federation of Traders' Association, said at least 30% of the norms laid out under the regulation fall under the responsibility of the government. "If the water provided by Metrowater isn't clean, how is it our fault? The same goes with garbage piled close to the units and stagnant sewage," he said, adding that some members also felt the penalties were too harsh
Consumer activists have welcomed the government cranking up the heat, but said awareness on licensing still remain low. "And officials should not limit inspections just to the time licences are issued or when the public raise complains. It should be done on a periodic basis," said consumer activist T Sadagopan.
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