Mar 18, 2020
E.coli lurking in B'luru street food, hotels no better
Cooked food also contaminated; study flags govt apathy
Favourite chicken momos and pani puri are teeming with harmful bacteria, including E.coli.
Indian street food vendors near the holy Ganges river. According to legends, Varanasi city was founded by God Shiva about 5000 years ago.
Bengaluru,
Your favourite chicken momos and pani puri are teeming with harmful bacteria, including E.coli.
As per a study, many popular snacks sold by street vendors in Bengaluru failed to clear safety tests, with lab reports of 50 samples showing the presence of harmful bacteria.
The results highlight the crisis in the unorganised sector that has faced government apathy for decades, while hotels — which are equally unhygienic — have remained impenetrable, thanks to a legal wrangle.
The study was the result of a collaboration between Mount Carmel Autonomous College and Ramaiah Advanced Testing Laboratory which highlighted the need for positive government intervention instead of periodical crackdown.
One sample each was collected as per FSSAI guidelines from 50 vendors spread across Koramangala, Vijayanagar, RT Nagar, Palace Guttahalli, Rajajingar, Wilson Garden, Shanti Nagar, Thippasandra, Vasanthnagar, Vyalikaval, Sudhama Nagar and Indiranagar.
Of the 25 samples of bhel puri, pani puri, masala puri and sukha puri, 14 had E.coli. Even cooked food like chicken was found to be contaminated. Of the six samples of chicken kebab and chicken momo, three had E.coli. The bacteria was also found in three of the five samosa samples.
Jubin Joseph, COO at Ramaiah Lab, said the presence of E.coli indicates water contamination. “The source is likely to be the water supplied to street vendors or the raw materials for the food they prepare, especially vegetables and chicken,” he said.
The public trusts darshinis and star hotels as there is no one testing their food. A senior official in the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said they have not checked the kitchens nor tested food from restaurants ever since the hotel owners’ association managed to get a stay from the court.
Process to register under Food Safety Act is all Greek to vendors
LUDHIANA: Vendors are finding it difficult to get themselves registered under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
It is mandatory for all those who are in food business, including owners of canteens and hotels, to obtain a licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
Ludhiana, March 21
Vendors are finding it difficult to get themselves registered under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The Suvidha Centre, which was to facilitate the vendors, has left them disappointed.
It is mandatory for all those who are in food business, including owners of canteens and hotels, to obtain a licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
Parkash, a migrant from Bihar and a roadside vendor, who has a tikki rehri at Chaura Bazar, said:
“I went to the office and they gave me a form, but I was unable to fill it. The form is lying with me. I will ask somebody to help me fill in the form and then submit it,” he said.
Roshan, who runs a juice corner near the bus stand, said: “I know getting registered is mandatory, but the government should simplify things for those who are unable to understand the complexities of paper work. I only know how to write my name and operating computer is beyond my ability. Nobody at the window is ready to fill in my form and I did not want to waste money on agents. A help desk should be set up at such centres to facilitate people like us,” he lamented.
District Health Officer Dr Abnash Kumar said the facility to help people fill in forms for getting registered under the Act was yet to start at the Suvidha Centre.
About registration
Petty retailers and hawkers with an annual turnover of Rs 12 lakh should get registered by paying the annual fee of Rs 100. Large scale units involved in dairy, vegetable oil processing, meat processing, food processing and exports whose turnover is above Rs 12 lakh should obtain licences. The registration is renewed every year.
Mar 17, 2020
Mar 16, 2020
Complaints against food apps up 100%
NEW DELHI: Complaints over food quality and hygiene standards against online food ordering and delivery platforms look set to double during the current financial year with 1,955 grievances lodged between April 2019 and January 2020, as against 1,053 during the 2018-19 fiscal year.
The consumer affairs ministry said online food ordering and delivery services have increased during the last three years. “Some instances of sale of sub-standard food being delivered through online food delivery service platforms have come to notice of FSSAI. Whenever any [such] instance is received, the same is taken up with the commissioner of food safety of states/UTs. The Food Safety and Standards Act and Rules & Regulations framed thereunder have provisions to ensure food quality and hygiene,” the ministry said.
Most complaints lodged against e-commerce firms, House told
The ministry recently gave the details of complaints in response to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
The complaints were registered through the National Consumer Helpline set up by the government. The details accessed from NCH show that one-fourth of the 5.65 lakh complaints registered till January this year were related to e-commerce. In response to another question in the RS in December last year, the consumer affairs ministry had said that the top five firms against whom the maximum complaints were registered between April and September 2019 included two major ecommerce firms — Flipkart Internet Pvt Ltd and Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd.
The other three companies were from the telecom sector — Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone. NCH data also show that 18% of the complaints against e-commerce firms between April 2019 and January 2020 were related to no refund of paid amount and in 12% cases of wrong goods being delivered. According to a report, the maximum complaints were received from UP (14%), followed by Maharashtra (13%) and Delhi (11%).
Consumer complaints against food apps like Zomato, Swiggy almost double in FY20 so far
Some instances of sale of sub-standard food being delivered through online food delivery service platforms have come to notice of FSSAI," said Consumer Affairs MoS Danve Raosaheb Dadarao.
XConsumer grievances in FY20 are heading towards a 100 per cent increase from FY19.
Even as online food ordering and delivery services sector in India, which has Zomato and Swiggy as the leading players, continues to grow on the back of growing customer base for online players and serving new markets, the customers’ grievances with respect to food hygiene and quality standards are also on the rise. According to the government data, such grievances in FY20 are heading towards a 100 per cent increase from FY19. The number of complaints filed with the National Consumer Helpline has increased from 1,053 in FY19 to 1,955 till January FY20, according to the data shared by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution MoS Danve Raosaheb Dadarao in Rajya Sabha earlier this month. That’s already an 85 per cent increase from FY19.
“Some instances of sale of sub-standard food being delivered through online food delivery service platforms have come to notice of FSSAI. Whenever any instance of sale and supply of substandard food items through such platforms is received, the same is taken up with the concerned Commissioner of Food Safety of States/UTs,” Dadarao said in a written reply.
However, interestingly between April 2019 and September 2019, out of the top five companies against which 34,991 complaints were filed with the National Consumer Helpline, Flipkart Internet and Amazon Seller Services topped the list with 11,028 and 7,203 complaints respectively filed against them. The other three companies were Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone. Most of the complaints were resolved by these companies, data showed. The total number of complaints resolved stood at 34,342.
“Different Regulatory Bodies look into different products such as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is concerned with food products, the Central Drug Controller with medicines/cosmetics to check for counterfeit and sub-standard products in the market on regular basis and if any deficiency is found, manufacturers are penalised as per the provisions in the related Acts,” the minister said.
Mar 14, 2020
Can you get the coronavirus by eating food prepared outside? Here’s what food safety experts say
While some of us would want to stick to our home and not dine at restaurants, it may not be possible for some to give up eating out right now. But, is it safe to dine out in the event of a coronavirus pandemic?
Can you get the coronavirus by eating food prepared outside? Here’s what food safety experts say
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- The COVID-19, which has killed at least 4,923 lives across 116 countries and territories
- Dining out may not be on the menu for many as the fears of contracting the novel coronavirus continue to grow
- Yet, not everyone is ready to give up or avoid eating out just yet. But, is it safe to dine out in the event of a pandemic?
New Delhi: For many people, dining out may not be on the menu for now as the fears of contracting the novel coronavirus continue to grow. Perhaps, now that the COVID-19, which has killed at least 4,923 lives across 116 countries and territories, has been officially classified as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), a lot of people would be hesitant to venture out of their homes.
While some of us would want to stick to our home-cooked meals and not dine at restaurants, it may not be possible for some to give up eating out right now. In fact, not everyone is ready to give up or avoid eating out just yet. But, is it safe to dine out in the event of a pandemic?
Can you get the COVID-19 through food?
Some health experts said that dining out should not be a cause for concern as long as you take precautions and practice good hygiene such as keeping your hands clean with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub, not coming into contact with those who are unwell, etc.
“As things stand today, based on the information we have from the Centers for Disease Control (and Prevention) and information from local and state public health officials, I don’t see any basis for recommendations that people not dine out,” Benjamin Chapman, food safety expert and a professor at North Carolina State University, told the USA Today.
According to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, experience with SARS and MERS suggests that people are not infected with the virus through food. So, it is unlikely the virus is passed on through food, and there is no evidence yet of this happening with the COVID-19 to date.
Craig Hedberg, a University of Minnesota professor and an expert on food-borne illness, added that there’s no evidence that the illness is transmitted through food.
That said, let us be absolutely clear about one thing - the novel coronavirus is a newly identified virus and scientists are still learning about the nature of this virus, including its transmission. The virus is known to spread via respiratory droplets from coughs and sneezes of an infected person. Also, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been detected in the stool of certain patients, noted a report in the Harvard Health Publishing.
So, it would be difficult to rule out the possibility of the infection being spread through food by an infected person who has not washed hands thoroughly or followed hygiene guidelines. And if you’re not sure whether it's safe to dine out at this point of time, you would want to stick to your homemade food. Also, keep yourself updated with the latest information on coronavirus disease from your local or state health authorities. With the virus spreading rapidly across the globe, citizens have been asked to take precautions, including good hygiene and self-quarantining - if you think you may have been exposed to the virus.
Mar 13, 2020
Mar 11, 2020
Trichy hotels told to screen tourists with infrared gun
Trichy: In the wake of Covid-19 threat, food safety and drug administration department has advised major hotels in the city to conduct thermometer gun screening on foreign tourists. It is also planning to put up posters displaying the methods of hand washing in all the restaurants.
Designated officer of food safety and drug administration department Dr R Chithra said advisories have been issued to more than 10 hotels in the city to keep infrared gun for checking the temperature of foreign tourists staying in their hotels. “The practice has been advised for the past one week and all hotels are complying with our instruction. It can be checked by anyone with the gun. In case of escalation of temperature, they should inform the public health department and health officials will conduct proper examination of the person as per protocol,” Dr Chithra told TOI.
She said they have not received any communication from the hotels on any symptomatic patients. The department has also turned its focus on restaurants in the district and prepared a pamphlet with pictorial explanation of hand washing. The restaurants will be asked to display it in full view of customers. Trichy City Corporation had already advised all restaurants to keep either hand washing liquid or soap near the wash room for customers to maintain hand hygiene.
Trichy being a connecting point to several districts because of the presence of international airport with flights to Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Dubai and Sharjah, inbound passengers from foreign countries are being screened from January 28. All passengers have been put through mandatory screening by the team of doctors of public health department and medical officers of the Airports Authority of India. A public health department official said that about 35,000 passengers were screened at Trichy airport till Monday. Of them, about 1,200 passengers had symptoms of fever and cough. Since they were residents of other districts, the public health department of these districts were intimated about their arrival for necessary follow-up for quarantine.
In Trichy district, public health department officials have been monitoring 56 passengers as on Monday. Several passengers who were home-quarantined and tested have recovered during the quarantine period. At the isolation ward in Mahatma Gandhi memorial government hospital (MGMGH), a 35-year-old man who had a travel history for Haj has been admitted following a referral from a private hospital with symptoms like cough and fever. The doctors said he was not showing any symptoms of Covid-19.
Coronavirus does not spread through poultry: FSSAI
New Delhi: Coronavirus does not spread through poultry, said a statement released by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Tuesday amid rumours that consumption of poultry can spread the deadly virus.
“The predominant route or transmission of 2019-nCoV (coronavirus) appears to be human to human as per OIE, though 2019-nCoV may have had an animal source, which requires further investigation. Poultry has not been found to be involved in the transmission of 2019-nCoV to humans so far in any report globally,” the statement read.
No involvement of poultry
It also read: “Outbreaks of Coronavirus in the past (SARS 2002-03, MERS 2012*13) or corona associated common cold had no involvement of poultry or poultry products world over.”
The FSSAI further said that the consumption of poultry and poultry products may be considered safe.
“General principles of hygiene, however, may be followed as per suggestions of WHO/OIE,” it added.
Confirmed coronavirus cases
As per official information, the number of coronavirus affected people in the country has reached 50 so far.
Mar 10, 2020
Fish traders to get lessons on ill-effects of formalin
The recent discovery of several kilograms of formalin-laced and spoiled fishes at Ukkadam Fish Market has put the spotlight on the hygienic standards practised by the fish traders.
Food safety officials inspecting the shops to detect formalin-laced and spoiled fishes at Pollachi on Sunday.
COIMBATORE: The recent discovery of several kilograms of formalin-laced and spoiled fishes at Ukkadam Fish Market has put the spotlight on the hygienic standards practised by the fish traders.
While the traders rule out possibilities of handling chemicals to preserve fishes for longer hours, the officials of the Food Safety Department stated that consuming formalin-laced fish might lead to allergies.
Based on the directions of the Collector K Rajamani, the officials of the Food Safety and Fisheries Department conducted raids at various places to prevent the usages of chemicals. On Sunday, the food safety department seized 20 kg of spoiled fishes from four traders in Pollachi.
The designated officer (food safety department) K Tamil Selvan said that the fish could stay fresh just for three to four days. However, the freshness would stay longer if formalin is used. He said, "The formalin is mixed with ice cubes to preserve the fishes. One could experience a pungent odour from the chemical-laced fishes and if cooked, the gravy emanates chlorine smell."
The department could find the chemical-laced fishes with a rapid detection kit. "A fresh fish will rebound if we press it. We are planning for an awareness meeting to educate the fish traders on health complications when consuming formalin-laced fishes," Tamil Selvan added. Frequent consumption of chemical-laced fishes could finally lead to cancer, he stated.
Recently, the officials seized nearly 70 kg of formalin-laced fish and around 430 kg of spoiled fish from the Ukkadam Fish Market.
On the other hand, the fish traders said that they are concerned about the health conscience of the consumers and claimed they are not using the formalin as a preservative.
President of Coimbatore District Fish Merchants Association H S Bawa said, "We are purchasing fish from various places including Odisha, Calicut, Mangalore, Ramanathapuram, Andhra Pradesh. None of the ice cube factories from the Coimbatore region is using formalin."
He said that they would be taking part in a meeting with the Food Safety and Fisher Department soon. "We are planning to request the officials to provide us with a rapid detection kit to identify the formalin content in the fish or ice cube," Bawa added.
Precautions to be taken before cooking fish
- Wash your fish thoroughly before cooking and discard the water.
- Cook fish thoroughly to 75°C as heat from cooking can also aid the removal of formaldehyde because it is volatile.
- After repeated washing also, if there is any kind of obnoxious smell or texture, report to concerned food safety authorities.
Collector instructs hoteliers to closely watch foreign guests
Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish on Monday instructed hoteliers to keep a close watch on foreign visitors in the wake of spread of COVID-19 in India.
Chairing a second meeting here to review measures being taken by the Department of Public Health, Tirunelveli Corporation and other allied departments to combat the virus in the district, Ms. Shilpa said the infection spread through sneezing and coughing. Hence, the public were being requested to wash their hands with soap at least 15 times a day.
The hoteliers should keep their premises clean as guests from various parts of the world with different travel history, including visits to countries where COVID–19 infection were reported, might come for stay. Besides cleaning the walls, curtains, furniture, doors, windows, door knobs and water taps, they should spray disinfectants on the premises.
Those who visited China and other countries where the viral infection had been reported should go to the nearest government hospital to get appropriate treatment. Moreover, those who had cough, cold, fever and breathing problems should also get proper medical advice, Ms. Shilpa said.
Deputy Director of Public Health Varadharajan, City Health Officer Sathish Kumar, District Food Safety Designated Officer Jegadish and owners of hotels participated in the meeting.
Since the Collectorate attracted a large crowd on Mondays, as the public from various parts of the district came to submit their petitions, the entire premises was disinfected by sanitary workers.
4k kg adulterated paneer seized from Bihar buses
RANCHI: The district administration seized around 4,000kg of adulterated paneer along with 15kg of spurious ghee from five buses coming from Bihar in the early hours of Sunday.
Ranchi's food safety officer S S Kullu said, "We had inputs from various shopkeepers that adulterated food items were being brought to Ranchi in buses, hence we carried out inspections at Booty More. While checking, we found around 4,000 kg of adulterated paneer from five buses coming from Hajipur, Bakhtiyarpur and Patna."
Interestingly, those working in the buses had no idea of the people involved in the scam. They said that they were told to unload the packages at certain locations, Kullu said. "We are trying to trace the culprits. We will take action as per the Food Safety & Standards Act and direction from the administration," Kullu added.
A spike in adulterated food items has been observed during festivals, therefore, the district administration formed a team and carried out inspection at various shops. Under the special drive being carried out from March 4 to 9, the team has visited more than 60 shops in the city and took 16 samples of food items, which have been sent to the state's food testing laboratory in Namkum.
The sub-divisional magistrate of Ranchi, Lokesh Mishra, said, "We are carrying out special drives at bus stops, sweet shops and railways stations to seize adulterated food items."
How illegal meat laundering makes India the largest exporter of beef
One of the biggest rackets in the country is of illegal “cold storages” or “meat processing” factories. In 2019, I went to Belagavi, Karnataka to answer a frantic call for help by residents who had uncovered several cold storages that were allegedly killing thousands of buffaloes illegally.
I took the local politicians and went to these factories. Getting in was a problem as the owners had fled and locked the factories. However, I entered and we found ourselves knee-deep in blood with thousands of flies. The place was like the worst hell one can imagine.
Filthy meat factories
The factory wasn’t exactly a secret. The local police commissioner first denied its existence and then defended the police’s actions. The cows were smuggled in from Goa and then slaughtered in a field. The dead animals were brought into the factory and cut and then the filthy meat packaged and exported. My team and I unearthed a similar racket in Bihar: A locked ‘cold storage’ next to a police chowki. The owner was an exporter from Delhi. He had been exporting the meat for years with impunity. He fled the country.
The meat industry has three distinct components. First, there are slaughterhouses where animals are killed and skinned. Second, there are meat shops where flesh is sold in retail. Third, there are meat processing factories. After animals have been killed and skinned in slaughterhouses, they need to be hacked into pieces, deboned, packaged and refrigerated for export. This work is done in meat processing factories. Cold storages are part of the factories and usually just rooms with filthy ice slabs in sawdust-covered with blood. The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and Rules provide for separate licensing for each of these three activities.
Delhi has only one licensed slaughterhouse which has its meat processing unit at Ghazipur. But numerous meat processing factories have sprung up at Lawrence Road Industrial Area that process carcasses for export. Nobody had bothered to find out where the animals were being slaughtered, till the Delhi State Slaughterhouse Monitoring Committee, set up an inspection. The Delhi government has recently shut down two meat processing units in North Delhi owing to gross illegalities in their operation. The violations were initially reported to the MCD in June 2019 after a probe. The animal husbandry department refused to do anything. The order for cancellation of their licenses could only be done after the chief secretary of the Delhi Government intervened in January 2020.
For years, the ownership of the factories exchanged hands. None of these persons had a real claim in the business, nor did they even work there. This was done to confuse every licencing body so that, if ever a violation was established, the owners who live in Uttar Pradesh could shift the blame to some fictitious person, replace him with some other name and carry on this illegal business.
Rampant violations
A large portion of the meat which gets exported comes not from slaughterhouses complying by Indian rules and regulations, but through meat laundering. This is a new system of slaughtering animals illegally at unlicenced locations, packaging the meat for export, paying a small fine to the local body for flouting the rules and exporting the meat as “regularised”. This is happening across the country and is the main reason why India is becoming the largest exporter of beef in the world.
The new system of slaughtering animals illegally at unlicensed locations, packaging the meat for export, paying a small fine to the local body for flouting the rules and exporting the meat as “regularised” is the reason why India is becoming the largest exporter of beef in the world.
Slaughter and packaging of meat are governed by several regulatory regimes — Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, Factories Licencing laws of the states, Water, Air and Environment Protection Acts implemented by the State Pollution Control Boards and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 among several others. For exports, additional registration with Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is required. Most meat exporters registered with APEDA bypass the Food Safety and pollution authorities either by bribing or taking advantage of the complete lethargy in these departments. Animals are bought illegally by butchers posing as farmers and buying truckloads of buffaloes from ‘farmers markets’ set up to help farmers exchange their animals.
These are then trucked to illegal slaughterhouses and killed in filthy conditions. The inspection of most meat processing factories reveals that they don’t even meet basic infrastructure requirements such as adequate flooring, ceiling, tiling, lighting and ventilation needed to operate a meat factory hygienically. Factory labourers were employed without proper employment records and were paid very little. Food safety laws had been violated at every stage.
Flouting norms
The Food Safety Department is required to regulate food processing businesses but not one case had been booked against the factory owners of the meat processing units in Delhi.
It is important for the health of ordinary Indians that these cartels of meat traders, as big as the heroin/ cocaine/smack and oxytocin mafias, are broken up. Export authorities must step in to stop meat laundering. There are State Slaughterhouse Monitoring Committees appointed by the Supreme Court. None of them work but the apex court must take monthly reports. The State has a duty to ensure that the slaughter of animals is conducted only in places duly licenced by the Food Safety Department, State Pollution Control Board and has a NOC from the local body. Moreover, it should meet the conditions mandated in the Slaughterhouse Rules 2001 promulgated under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
Mar 9, 2020
Food dept team attacked by bakery owner
Jhansi: A team of officials of the food department which had gone to collect samples of eatables from a bakery in the city on Sunday afternoon were allegedly attacked by the bakery owner and his employees. The bakery was later sealed and the officials are in process of lodging a case in this connection.
According to reports, a team of officials of the food safety department had gone to collect samples from a bakery but the the owner resisted.
Following heated arguments between the officials and the bakery owner, the latter along with his workers, allegedly attacked one of the officials. The team immediately informed the police following which city magistrate Salil Kumar Patel and CO (city), Sangram Singh arrived with the force. After hearing both the sides, the police took the CCTV footage for the purpose of investigation.
The city magistrate said, “The officials of the food department have sealed the bakery and are in the process of lodging an FIR”.
Fat-free approach: FSSAI is trying to make India vanaspati free
FSSAI plans to cap TFA at 3% by 2021 and 2% by 2022 in edible fats and oils.
All of us want to lead a healthy life, but there are hurdles in achieving this goal. Inability to avoid cooking oils containing trans-fats or trans fatty acids (TFA) and lack of awareness about our eating habits, are the two prime problems.
It has been scientifically proven, that the use of TFA is fraught with major health issues. Despite this, consumption of oils is high. Besides, cut-throat competition has resulted in large-scale production of vegetable oils using the hydrogenation process, which jacks up the content of TFA. Oil-makers resort to this process as it is cost effective and increases shelf life.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Foods Standards and Safety Authority of India (FSSAI) are working in tandem to eliminate the presence of TFA from industrially produced cooking oils. But the progress towards the elimination of trans fats (which means restricting their presence to 0.2%) has been slow.
To begin with, FSSAI put in place a regulation in 2016 halving the permissible quantum of trans-fats in edible fats and oils from 10% to 5%. On its part, WHO launched a REPLACE campaign in 2018 for global-level elimination of trans-fats in industrially produced edible oils by 2023. The Indian regulator has got more ambitious, setting 2022 as the deadline.
FSSAI plans to cap TFA at 3% by 2021 and 2% by 2022 in edible fats and oils. The resolution is yet to become a regulation.
According to a WHO report, Indian snacks contain 6-30% of TFA, far exceeding the safe limit of 2%. One survey of street food in Delhi and Haryana found that 25% of snacks contained high TFA levels. Snacks such as samosa, gulab jamun and jalebi prepared in vanaspati-a primary dietary source for trans fats prepared by adding hydrogen to the cheap edible oils-reportedly contained 50% of fat in the form of TFA.
Consumption of trans fats beyond the prescribed limit disrupts good and bad cholesterol (HDL and LDL) levels, causing dyslipidemia, heart diseases, diabetes, liver dysfunction, fertility issues, Alzheimer’s disease, depression and some types of cancer. This is also the reason that India has witnessed an escalation in DALYs attributable to NCDs.
Considering all these aspects, FSSAI launched an awareness campaign “Heart attack rewind.” Through another initiative, the authority launched a “Trans Fat Free” logo for voluntary labelling to promote TFA-free products. The label can be used by bakeries, local food outlets and shops for preparations containing TFA not exceeding 0.2 per 100 g/ml. Offering subsidies on edible oils with healthier nutrient profiles could be another approach. Authorities should not promote consumption of saturated fats as part of the trans fat free movement. These are also associated with health hazards.
The need to achieve the goal before the 2022 deadline cannot be over-emphasised, considering the high stakes.
Stale fish destroyed during raids at Pollachi
Officials of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Sunday inspected fish stalls at Pollachi in Coimbatore district to check the use of preservatives like formalin in fish and also sale of stale fish.
They seized 20 kg of stale fish from four fish stalls that were later destroyed.
K. Tamilselvan, Designated Officer of FSSAI in Coimbatore, said that the raids were held as part of instructions from the Commissioner of Food Safety and Coimbatore District Collector.
He said that one fish stall was found using banned plastic carry bag for packing. Officials slapped a fine of ₹2,000 on the stall owner.
Dr. Tamilselvan added that stern action will be taken against stalls if they were found selling fish laced with preservatives and stale fish. On March 5, FSSAI and Fisheries Department had seized 430 kg of stale fish and 70 kg of fish found with traces of formalin from the wholesale and retail fish markets at Ukkadam in Coimbatore.
Mar 8, 2020
Holi festival: VMC sends food samples for testing
Vadodara: Officials of the food safety department of Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) conducted extensive checking of shops selling food items for Holi festivities and collected samples to be sent for examination to the laboratory.
The areas that food safety checking was carried out include Makarpura, Manjalpur, Chhani, Panigate, Khanderao Market, RC Dutt Road, Chokhandi, Gotri Road, Ellora Park, Hathikhana among many other areas of the city.
Items like dates, ‘dhaani’ or popped jowar, ‘sev’, roasted grams and other items were checked during the drive. In all 44 samples were collected by officials who checked 28 shops. Some shops found to be lacking in hygiene were reprimanded by the officials.
Mar 7, 2020
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