Dec 2, 2018
Adulterated jaggery worth Rs 15 lakh seized
Salem: Food safety officials conducted a surprise raid in a jaggery shandy at Kandampatty here on Saturday and seized 40,000kg adulterated jaggery worth Rs 15 lakh.
The team led by district designated food safety officer S Mariappan said they had been conducting raids to keep the adulterated jaggery out of the market in view of Pongal, the three-day harvest festival that falls in January every year.
The team said they conducted raid at the shandy at Kandampatty based on a tip that jaggery manufacturers were adding chemicals such as hydros (sodium hydrogen sulphate), lime (calcium oxide), sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, super phosphate and alum to jaggery. “The jaggery manufacturers also mix sugar to enrich the sweetness of jaggery. This is harmful to people, especially diabetics,” Mariappan said.
He said the sodium hydrogen sulphate, which is used to whiten jaggery, was meant for the textile industry. “It is used as a bleaching agent in the textile industry,” he said, adding, “Jaggery manufacturers are using sodium hydrogen sulphate to bleach jaggery to make it appear white during the production. Sometimes, they also mix sugar to enrich the sweetness.”
The team has collected a few samples from the shandy and they would be sent to the government testing lab in Chennai to confirm whether they contain any chemical. “Strict action will be initiated against the jaggery manufacturers if the test sample confirms adulteration,” the district designated food safety officer said.
The officials also seized 40,000 kg jaggery from the shandy.
FDA suspends licences of 24 eateries in Pune
Hotel Naivedyam near Mitra Mandal chowk in Pune, is one among the 24 eateries whoes license was suspended.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended the licences of 24 restaurants in the city for failing to comply with cleanliness norms, absence of any record on the use of pesticides and storing of edible food materials in unhygienic conditions.
Poor hygiene standards in the kitchen, failure to maintain and display health check-up record of the staff and failure to present record of pest control measures undertaken in the restaurants were among the reasons for suspension of licence.
Prominent restaurants whose licences were suspended included Naivedyam at Mitra Mandal chowk, Hotel Panchami (Satara Road), The Teres Hotel at Kondhwa, Hotel Samrat on Shankarsheth Road, Hotel Kalpana (Sadashiv peth),and Gokul Pure Veg at Sukhsagar nagar.
FDA inspectors found that the reezers used for storing raw materials were extremely dirty. At many restaurants, vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items were kept together.
It was also found that restaurant operators failed to keep waste bins in the kitchen as a result of which there was considerable filth in the kitchen in dirty condition. The kitchen staff was also found to be working without covering their head, food safety officer V V Rupanawar said.
“In the last two months, we carried out raids on a total of 472 restaurants in the city. We had issued notices to 449 restaurants and asked them to take corrective steps within the stipulated time. However, 24 restaurants failed to comply and hence we have taken action against them,” Rupanawar, food safety officer, Pune.
Suresh Deshmukh, joint commissioner (food) said, “We have ordered inspection of every restaurant in the city. Restaurants which fail to comply will have their licences suspended,” he said.
There are a total of 17,049 restaurants in Pune and 8,166 in Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial township.
Rajesh Shetty, owner of Naivedyam restaurant, Swargate, said , “We have been serving Pune for the last 42 years. There has been no case related hygiene of food or food poisoning. It is true that we have failed to respond to the notice on time but now we have submitted all the documents demanded by the FDA officers. So, there is nothing to worry about the hygiene of the restaurant.”
Sale of food items stopped for now
The licences of restaurants were suspended due to poor hygiene standards in the kitchens
THE NORMS
As per the Food Safety and Standards Act, hotels and restaurants must ensure that the kitchen conditions, as well as the cleanliness and hygiene of the chefs should be maintained as prescribed by FDA.
◼ Routine health check-up of the chef and staff is mandatory
◼ A hotel, restaurant or food stall must cook and serve food in clean utensils
◼ The kitchen serving areas must be kept clean
◼ Only potable drinking water must be used for cooking
◼ People handling food must ensure to cover their hair
◼ A record for use of pesticides must be maintained
◼ Food raw materials must be storied under hygiene conditions
472 restaurants in Pune have been raided in the last two months
449 restaurants have been served notices by the food and drug administration officials during the last two months
24 restaurants failed to submit clearance and hence FDA suspended the licences
135 restaurants have fulfilled hygiene and cleanliness norms
THE HOTELS WHOSE LICENCES WERE SUSPENDED INCLUDE
1. Gokul Veg, Sukhsagar Nagar
2. Atlantic Restaurant, Wanawadi
3. The Teres Restaurant and Banquet,Kondhawa
4. Naivedyam Restaurant, Mitra Mandal Chowk Swargate
5. Hotel Panchami, Satara Road
6. Samrat Hotel, ShankarShet Road, Swargate
7. Vighneshwara Pure Veg, Mandai
8. Hotel Kalpana, Sadashiv Peth
9. Hotel Vijayraj, Near city post
10. Hotel New Ambika, Katraj Chowk.
"We are serving food in Pune for the last 42 years and there is no case related to food hygiene or food poisoning at our hotel. It is true that,we have failed to comply with the norms inspite of being given time but now we have submitted all the documents demanded by FDA officers."
RAJESH SHETTY, owner of Naivedyam restaurant, Swargate
As per the Food Safety and Standards Act, hotels and restaurants must ensure that the kitchen conditions, as well as the cleanliness and hygiene of the chefs should be maintained as prescribed by FDA. Routine health check-ups of the chef and staff are mandatory. A hotel, restaurant or food stall must cook and serve food in clean utensils. The kitchen serving areas must be kept clean and only potable drinking water must used for cooking. Those handling food must also be sure to cover their hair.
FDA may act against food delivery apps
Following the footsteps of Food and Drug Administration, Mumbai, the Pune branch of the body is also likely to take strong action against online food delivery aggregators for delivering food from unlicenced shops, said FDA officials.
“We have asked for a list of restaurants from where the online food aggregators collects food and delivers. On Monday, we received list from two online food delivery platforms. There is a possibility of the food delivering aggregators delivering food from unauthorised restaurants. After scrutinising, we will take action in a week’s time,” said AJ Bhujbal, assistant commissioner (food) FDA, Pune.
Earlier in October, FDA had issued ‘stop work’ notices to more than 100 outlets listed on Swiggy, Zomato, Foodpanda and Uber Eats platforms. The action was taken under Food Safety and Standard Act (FSSA) 2006 as the restaurants were found selling food with required permissions.
FDA officers said that online food delivery aggregators were also responsible for the quality of food delivered. In July 2018,Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) issued a directive asking e-commerce sites to delist unlicenced and unregistered restaurants by September 30. Following this, FDA had inspected 347 food outlets in Mumbai where food was prepared. During the investigation, it was revealed that 113 food outlets were working without a license.These outlets were serving food through the food delivery aggregators which is proving hazardous to people.
The hidden killer
The Health Department and the Food Safety wing take a look at the dietary habits of the people and zoom in on checking the trans fat content in food.
You are what you eat.
Unhealthy eating, with excessive intake of processed and fried foods, very less of fresh fruits and vegetables and unhealthy cooking habits at home have been pushing up Kerala’s epidemic of lifestyle diseases and obesity. An estimated 28.5% of men and 32.4% of women are said to be either overweight or obese (NFHS-4, 2015-16). Over 20% of the population has diabetes, while hypertension prevalence has crossed 30%.
Till now, all initiatives launched by the State for the primary prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have focused on screening, early detection and lifestyle changes. For the first time now, the Health Department is looking at the role of dietary interventions in the community as one of the NCD preventive strategies.
Two weeks ago, the Health Department and the Food Safety wing announced that they would launch a joint initiative to rein in the high amount of trans fatty acids (TFA), salt and sugar in foods commercially available in the market.
The State’s initiative has now got a fillip with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) announcing on November 30 a new mass media campaign — Heart Attack Rewind — calling for the elimination of industrially produced TFA in food supply. Heart Attack Rewind warns citizens about the health hazards of consuming trans fat.
The campaign is to support the FSSAI’s global target of eliminating trans fat in India by the year 2022, a year ahead of the global target by the World Health Organization (WHO) for complete elimination of trans fat.
“The mushrooming of eateries, from pricey restaurants to ‘thattukadas’ and the crowds milling around these indicate that eating out as a culture has been growing in the State.
Till now, we have been focussing on preventing food adulteration and in enforcing hygienic norms and standards. But the FSSAI has been increasingly focussing on food quality, nutrition, safe eating and inducing behavioural changes in eating and has launched several nationwide initiatives in this regard. It is time the State stepped in to enforce regulations regarding what constitutes healthy food when it comes to food available in the market,” says K. Anilkumar, Joint Commissioner of Food Safety
With various studies indicating that hypertriglyceridemia (elevated triglycerides in blood) is way too high among Keralites at 45% ,dietary interventions in the community that focus on reducing the consumption of fried and high fat, salt, sugar (HFSS) foods could not have come at a better time..
What are TFAs?
TFAs are naturally found in small amounts in beef, lamb, and full-fat dairy products but it is the artificial TFAs contained in food made using partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (PHVOs) that are the culprit here.
Hydrogenation is a process typically used by the industry to improve the flavour stability and keeping qualities of oil. Partial hydrogenation reduces the amount of saturated fats in oil, which are deemed unhealthy.
By 1990s, various studies said artificial TFAs were worse than saturated fats because while both elevated the bad cholesterol (LDL), TFA also reduced the good cholesterol (HDL).
But the food industry prefers PHVOs as these are inexpensive and renders the desirable taste, texture and long shelf life to food. The typical foods which have a high TFA content are commercially fried foods like chips and baked goods like cakes, biscuits, cookies, puffs and the like.
Reheating of oil above 180 degrees also produces TFAs. Today, the major sources of industrial TFAs in people’s diets come from products which are made using PHVOs and fried food which are prepared in commercial fryers on the street where oil is repeatedly reheated.
Metabolic Syndrome
Reining in in commercially available food — both in organised as well as the unorganised sector — assumes more importance in the Kerala context because TFA has a direct connection to Metabolic Syndrome (MS).
The latest estimates (Harikrishnan. S et al., PLOS One, March 2018) put the prevalence of MS in Kerala between 24% and 33% by various international definitions. The study indicated that one in three or four persons in the State — predominantly women — have this condition. Metabolic Syndrome is a cluster of metabolic abnormalities — increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, abdominal obesity, abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels — that occur together, increasing one’s risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
Literature says that TFA consumption causes metabolic dysfunction. “It adversely affects circulating lipid levels, triggers systemic inflammation, induces endothelial dysfunction... increases visceral adiposity, body weight, and insulin resistance. In fact, TFAs seem to have a unique cardiometabolic imprint that is linked to insulin-resistance and Setabolic Syndrome pathways”.
What regulations say
The WHO recommends that trans fat intake be limited to less than 1% of total energy intake and has called for the total elimination of TFAs in global food supply by 2023.
In 2015, the FSSAI set the maximum TFA limit in foods in the country at 5%. It has now proposed to further limit it to 2% and totally eliminate TFAs from foods by 2022. The FSSAI says that its plan is backed by vanaspathi makers, food companies and bakery associations, who have all supported the move and have pledged to make the necessary changes. However, in the market, even the current upper limit of 5% TFA is not met by many industry players, especially those in the huge network of unorganised food manufacturers, and the enforcement has been pretty lax.
Measuring TFA content
The State Food Safety authorities too admit that measuring the TFA content in food has never been a priority and that the food analysis labs have only recently acquired Gas Chromatography machines that can measure the TFA content in foods.
At a recent consultative workshop on TFA reduction called by the Health Department, it was pointed out that major players in the food industry had already reduced TFA content in their products because they were compelled to follow the labelling declarations. It was the unorganised sector that needed to be educated about the harmful health effects of TFA and the effective alternatives to TFA that they could use .
What consumers need to know about safe food
As the health hazards of trans fats in diet are expounded on, consumers get wary about what foods contain trans fat or how much is too much.
While foods like beef or butter and other dairy products are bound to contain small amount of natural trans fat, it is the industrially generated artificial trans fat that causes health problems. Common sources of artificial trans fat include foods fried in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (PHVOs); margarine and vegetable shortening; prepared foods like pre-fried French fries and doughnuts; and baked goods such as hamburger buns, pizza dough, crackers and pies.
Products made with artificial trans fat will have ‘partially hydrogenated’ oil listed in the ingredients. The WHO recommends that the total fat intake as % of energy should not exceed 30%. The intake of saturated fat as % of energy should not exceed 10% .
For cardiac patients, this is 7% .
Saturated fat
There is evidence that trans fat is worse than saturated fat. When it comes to cooking oil, the healthier options are polyunsaturated fats (vegetable oils) and monounsaturated fats, like olive oil. Sesame oil, which contains both mono and poly unsaturated fats in equal amounts, is also considered healthy. But cooking oils with more saturated fatty acids such as coconut oil are more stable than oils with unsaturated fatty acids.
During deep frying, oil undergoes degradation due to elevated temperatures above 180 degrees which results in changes in the physico-chemical, nutritional and sensory properties of the oil and the release of polar compounds.
Polar compounds
The estimation of Total Polar Compounds (TPC) is an accepted parameter to decide whether the oil is safe for further use. The FSSAI has fixed a limit for TPCs at 25%, beyond which the vegetable oil shall not be used.
Used cooking oil for making biofuel
Now, in what could be a win-win for public health, environment and energy security, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has launched an initiative, Repurpose Used Cooked Oil (RUCO), to recover used cooking oil (UCO) from vendors and food industry, and to use it for the production of biodiesel by the year 2022.
Coordinated action
India has the potential to recover 220 crore litres of used cooking oil for the production of biodiesel by 2022 through a coordinated action, it is believed.
An FSSAI press release said it may also look at introducing regulations to ensure that companies that use large quantities of cooking oil hand it over to registered collecting agencies to convert it into biofuel. It wants businesses using more than 100 litres of oil for frying, to maintain a stock register and ensure that UCO is handed over to only registered collecting agencies.
Talks held
The FSSAI is already in discussions with the Biodiesel Association of India to establish a nation-wide ecosystem for collection of UCO and its conversion to bio-diesel. Under RUCO, 64 companies at 101 locations have been identified to enable collection.
Special drive to educate consumers
Panaji: Consumers will be alerted about the best practices to be followed in food preparation to avoid adulteration and contamination during a month-long awareness drive on consumer rights and responsibilities.
Consumers will be educated about the contents of packaged food and street food by giving special attention to ingredients used. Goa Consumer Action Network’s campaign ‘Consume with care’ will also cover the rights of consumers under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, the Standards of Weights & Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977, the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016.
Special efforts will made to alert consumers purchasing milk, edible oils and packaged drinking water to acquaint themselves with the Packaged Commodities Rules and guidelines of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) with regards to possible labeling violations.
Dec 1, 2018
New rules for food product advertisements
The new regulations are aimed at establishing fairness in claims and advertisements of food products and will make food businesses accountable for their claims in advertisements.
NEW DELHI: India's apex food regulator has finalised norms related to claims and advertisements of food products.
These regulations are aimed at establishing fairness in claims and advertisements of food products and will make food businesses accountable for their claims in advertisements in order to protect consumer interests, read a statement issued by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
The new regulations will come into effect from July 1 next year.
As per these regulations, firms running food businesses cannot use words or phrases such as natural, fresh, original, traditional, authentic, genuine, real on the food labels, barring some exceptions. Such restrictions are primarily aimed at restricting an open-ended use of these words by food businesses on frivolous grounds
These regulations contain several sections detailing definitions; general principles for claims and advertisements; criteria for nutrition claims (including nutrient content or nutrient comparative claims), non-addition claims (including non-addition of sugars and sodium salts), health claims (reduction of disease risk), claims related to dietary guidelines or healthy diets, and conditional claims.
Advertisements of a food product that undermines the importance of healthy lifestyles or portrays the food product as a complete replacement of normal meal are not permitted. Also, food businesses will also be prohibited to advertise or make claim undermining the products of other manufacturer so as to promote their own food products or influence consumer behaviour.
Many claims, listed in various schedules of these regulations with related criteria, are permitted to be made by food business operators without the need for seeking prior approval from the food regulator.
However, other types of claims not standardised under these regulations may require approval from the Food Authority and should be supported with sound scientific basis, the regulator said.
Any person, including a third party, who puts out an advertisement or is a party to the publication of any misleading advertisement, not complying with these regulations, would be penalised with a fine extending up to Rs 10 lakh, as per Section 53 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
FSSAI launches new campaign to eliminate trans fats by 2022
FSSAI’s plan to lower the levels of trans fat in India’s food supply from the present <5 per cent to <2 per cent
Globally, trans fat intake leads to more than 500,000 deaths of people from cardiovascular disease every year.
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 30
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Friday launched a new mass media campaign calling for the elimination of industrially produced trans fat in the food supply.
Called “Heart Attack Rewind”, the 30 second public service announcement (PSA) - the first mass media campaign of its kind – will support FSSAI’s global target of eliminating trans fat in India by the year 2022, a year ahead of the global target by the World Health Organization (WHO) for complete elimination of trans fat, a statement said here.
Globally, trans fat intake leads to more than 500,000 deaths of people from cardiovascular disease every year. Trans fat are made by adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid, and to increase the shelf life of foods. Trans fat are largely present in Vanaspati, margarine and bakery shortenings, and can be found in baked and fried foods.
“FSSAI is committed to reducing the industrially produced trans fatty acids to less than 2% by the year 2022 in a phased manner. This is in line with our objective to get Freedom from ‘Trans Fat: India@75.’ I am hopeful that this media campaign will educate consumers about the harmful effects and its link to cardiovascular diseases,” Pawan Agarwal, FSSAI CEO, said
“Heart Attack Rewind” warns citizens about the health hazards of consuming trans fat and offers strategies to avoid them through healthier alternatives.
In May 2018, WHO launched a comprehensive plan to eliminate industrially-produced trans fat from the global food supply by 2023. REPLACE provides a roadmap about how countries can remove and replace all trans fat from their food supplies with the intention to eradicate it from the globe.
FSSAI’s plan to lower the levels of trans fat in India’s food supply from the present <5 per cent to <2 per cent
“Heart Attack Rewind” will be broadcast in 17 languages for a period of four weeks on major digital platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Hotstar, and Voot. Additionally, the campaign will also be placed on radio channels and outdoor hoardings in Delhi/NCR. A corresponding social media campaign will also highlight the harmful effects of trans fat on people’s health.
FSSAI launches awareness drive on trans fats
Impact of trans fats on human health in India is increasing and awareness about them is vital if they are to be eliminated altogether, says FSSAI head
Frying potatoes in a fast food restaurant.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on November 30 launched a new mass media campaign in order to create awareness about trans fats and eliminate them in India by 2022.
“Heart Attack Rewind”, a 30-second public service announcement, will be broadcast in 17 languages for a period of four weeks on YouTube, Facebook, Hotstar, and Voot. It will also be placed on outdoor hoardings and run on radio stations in Delhi and the National Capital Region. The campaign will warn citizens about the health hazards of consuming trans fats and offer strategies to avoid them through healthier alternatives.
Artificial trans fats are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid. Since they are easy to use, inexpensive to produce and last a long time, and give foods a desirable taste and texture, they are still widely used despite their harmful effects being well-known.
“Studies have recently shown that 60,000 deaths occur every year due to cardiovascular diseases, which in turn arecaused due to high consumption of trans fats,” Pawan Aggarwal, Chief Executive Officer of FSSAI told reporters during during an event to officially launch the campaign.
“Since the impact of trans fats on human health is increasing exponentially, it is very important to create awareness about them. This campaign will concentrate on the demand side (consumers), who in turn, will push the supply side (food manufacturers) to come up with various strategies in order to reduce and later replace trans fats,” he added.
“Heart Attack Rewind” is a follow-up to an earlier campaign called “Eat Right”, which was launched on July 11, 2018. As part of the campaign, edible oil industries took a pledge to reduce trans fat content by 2 per cent by 2022. Later, food companies also took a pledge to reformulate packaged foods with reduced levels of salt, sugar and saturated fat.
Swasth Bharat Yatra, an initiative started under the “Eat Right” campaign which started on October 16 and will end on January 27, 2019, will also seek to create awareness among citizens about trans fats.
Roopa Shivashankar, a senior consultant on cardiovascular health, said that in one research study, it was found that 75 per cent of housewives did not know what trans fats was and that this campaign would be educating them as well as others about their ill-effects. “These women should be aware that use of the same cooking oil continuously in the household also leads to formation of trans fats,” she added.
In May this year, the World Health Organization released a step-by-step guide for the elimination of industrially-produced trans-fatty acids from the global food supply. Since then, a lot of countries have made efforts to reduce the levels of trans fats and in some cases, have completely banned them.
“India is also moving towards same by first reducing the levels from 5 per cent to 2 per cent and then altogether by 2022, said Aggarwal.
A guidance book on trans fats was also released during the event.
FDA shuts down unit for selling adulterated oil
Pune: Officials of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shut down an edible oil branding and repackaging unit at Pisoli late on Thursday night for selling adulterated oil.
The operators blended cheaper versions of rice bran and soybean oils in relatively expensive mustard oil to make quick money. The officials sealed the stock of 50 tonne of edible oil worth Rs 42.92 lakh.
“The unit owner used to purchase cheaper edible oils in bulk and would do the branding, labelling and packaging at his unit located at Dangde Farm in Pisoli (Haveli taluka). When we raided the unit, we found large tanks of cheaper edible oils and mustard oils,” Suresh Deshmukh, joint commissioner (food), FDA, Pune told TOI.
The owner was also found operating the unit without oil testing laboratory, which is mandatory. Besides, the person in-charge of the operation at the unit was not technically qualified. “The edible oil packaging unit needs to test the oil periodically and maintain a record of the same. But there was no laboratory on the premises. We have also drawn samples of the oil and sent them for tests to the government laboratory.” Deshmukh said.
The officials found that the packaging unit was selling adulterated oil when a sample drawn randomly during Diwali showed the adulteration. The officials then raided the unit late on Thursday night. FDA food safety officials Ulhas Ingawale, Santosh Sawant, Anil Gavate carried out the raid under the guidance of state FDA minister Girish Bapat.
Incidentally, the FDA’s vigilance department had raided several oil mills in the past, taken samples and found packets of sunflower, soybean, groundnut oil refilled with cotton seed oil. “There are instances where miscreants removed oil from tins of reputed brands and mixed it with ordinary palm oil or any other cheap variety of oil,” said another official.
According to experts, such impurities are difficult to identify as the blending of cheaper oil like palm oil does not change the physical property or taste of the product. But it changes the chemical property, which affects the consumers’ health.
Nov 30, 2018
Introduce artifical sweetener labelling on beverages sold through vending machines: FSSAI
Regulator seeks views from the industry and other stakeholders
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 29
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is proposing to make amendments in the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011 to introduce labelling of artificial sweetener on beverages sold through vending machines.
Currently, companies need to mandatorily declare the presence of artifical sweetener in every package of food (which is permitted to use artificial sweetener) on its labelling as well as in their advertisements.
Prominent labelling
The FSSAI has proposed that if a beverage product containing artificial sweetener is sold through vending machines, “a display or label” declaring the presence of artificial sweetener “shall be placed on the cups or in the container in which the product is served”.
It is also proposing to make it mandatory for a prominent display or labelling on the vending machine. The regulator has now sought views from the industry and other stakeholders.
Meanwhile, FSSAI is also looking to bring amendments to set maximum permissible limits for presence of metal impurities besides other contaminants such as Aflatoxin in various food products. This is being done through a seperate draft of regulations.
For instance, In the case of milk, FSSAI is proposing to set maximum permissible limits for aflatoxin M1 at 0.5 µg/kg, 6 µg/kg in skimmed milk powder and 4 µg/kg in whole milk powder.
Setting limits
Recently, raw and processed milk samples were tested for presence of aflatoxin among other adulterants and contaminants as part of the National Milk Quality Survey 2018.
In its draft Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations, 2018, it proposes limits for metal contaminants such as lead, chromium, copper, tin, cadmium, and arsenic. These maximum permissible limits of these metal contaminants have been proposed for a wide range of food products such as concentrated soft drinks, edible oils and fats, hard-boiled sugar confectionery, among others.
Visakhapatnam faces dearth of food safety officers, just one for over 40 lakh people
VISAKHAPATNAM: Visakhapatnam district, with a population of over 40 lakh and city population of around 22 lakh has only one food security officer (FSO).
Three other sanitary inspectors from the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation’s (GCMC) health wing have placed under deputation to double up as FSOs, official sources said on Wednesday.
The statistics comes in contrast with the World Health Organisation guidelines according to which every 50,000 population should have one FSO and every one lakh rural population should be placed under one FSO.
Ideally, there should be 44 FSOs for the city and over 20 FSOs for the rural areas of the district.
Among the five southern states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have the lowest number of FSOs. AP has just 32 for its 13 districts and Telangana even less. Despite five sanctioned FSO posts for each district, none of them have been filled up.
The last recruitment exam for FSOs was held in the undivided state over a decade ago. The food safety and inspecting officials do not have an official vehicle and use public transport to carry out raids.
AP does not even have a state food laboratory of its own. The FSOs have to send samples for lab test to the only authorised food safety lab at Nacharam in Hyderabad, that again is severely short-staffed.
T Satyanarayana, the president of AP Hotels Association, Visakhapatnam chapter, said, “We have around 400 hotels and restaurants registered with us. However, there would be another 400-500 unregistered hotels and restaurants in the district — that is at least 1,000 hotels and restaurants.”
Besides, there are thousands of push cart vendors, fast food centres and bandis, which are not registered or counted.
M Srinivasa Rao, the assistant food controller and designated food safety officer (FSO), Visakhapatnam district, said, “The district would roughly have 20,000-25,000 outlets selling some kind of edible item including fruit sellers and small roadside hawkers but till date there has not been any survey done to ascertain the exact number of eateries. Only a small part of them are under registered associations. Working with just one FSO and three sanitary inspectors on deputation, we are doing our best. Recruiting manpower is under process and we hope to get more staff soon.”
Drive to check jaggery adulteration
Thiruvananthapuram: The food safety department has launched a special drive ‘Operation Panela’ to find the source of adulteration of jaggery in the state after it found high level of harmful colouring agents in jaggery.
The decision to intensify the drive was taken after noticing the presence of harmful synthetic colours like tartrazine, rhodamine b and brilliant blue in jaggery. The department has collected 76 samples for testing and analysis.
Food safety joint commissioner (enforcement) A K Mini said Operation Panela was launched after the department noticed presence of harmful colours in 12 samples collected from Kozhikode and Ernakulam.
“Since jaggery is being sourced and distributed by small scale traders and by various cooperative societies, it is difficult to identify the source. The operation was launched to find the source and ban it immediately. The ban will be lifted only after taking corrective actions,” she said.
Of the total 76 samples, 72 are under statutory sampling, which will give power to food safety officials to initiate prosecution charges if synthetic colours are found.
Officials said the drive would continue and decision on further action will be taken after receiving test results. tnn
Erring traders fined Rs 97000 in Ganderbal
NOVEMBER 29: -
The court of Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum- Adjudicating Officer, Ganderbal Naseer Ahmad Wani under the Food Safety Act imposed a fine of Rs 97,000/= on a number of traders for violating the provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act-2006, Rules and Regulations -2011.
Further the Food Business Operators were directed to correct the deficiencies found during the course of Adjudication in the food products which were processed/packed/manufactured and pumped into the market for consumption of general masses by them.
The ADC said that the district administration will be taking stern action against people found involved in adulteration of food, medicines and other important commodities.
Nov 29, 2018
‘City eateries pay no heed to quality, sanitation norms’
Quality goes for a toss: A file picture of enforcement officials raiding a restaurant at NAD Junction in Visakhapatnam.
Notices served on many, but cases are pending in courts, say officials
The recent raids conducted by the officials of vigilance and enforcement, food safety and legal metrology departments on two noted restaurants in the city have found leftover food being stored in refrigerators only to be served to customers again. Samples were collected and notices were served on the proprietors over the poor sanitation on their premises.
This has brought to the fore the question over the quality of food being served at the city hotels. The officials of food safety and vigilance departments observe that many restaurants and food courts are flouting safety norms, putting the public health at stake.
According to them, food courts and restaurants are classified into three categories – star, medium and low class. “Most of the eateries including street food joints and small restaurants that fall in the low class category pay no heed to hygiene on their premises,” they say.
A large number of restaurants fall under the medium category including coffee shops, soup stalls, ice cream parlours, bakeries and a few others.
“Medium category restaurants are mushrooming in the city. Though the external ambience look flashy, the problem lies in their kitchens,” says a food safety official on condition of anonymity. “We have come across a number of cases of food being prepared in unhygienic conditions. Cockroaches were also found in kitchens. The arrangements in place to clean utensils, use of oil, maintenance of RO plants are poor,” he explains.
According to officials, several noted biryani points have been caught flouting norms by using stale meat for cooking. Though many hotels have been served notices, cases are pending in court, they say.
Lack of staff
“Even, several star hotels have cases of food adulteration, using low quality oil pending against them,” the official says.
Asked about the measures in place to put these gangs under check, the officials say that staff crunch force them to limit the number of raids. Though there is a steep rise in the number fast food joints, the food safety department seldom conducts raids to check the quality.
“The food safety wing of the GVMC needs at least eight to 10 Food Safety Officers (FSOs), but we have just five,” points out an official. Admitting that lack of adequate staff has been a problem, Food Safety Officer of Visakhapatnam G. Apparao says the posts have been sanctioned long ago, but recruitments are yet to be done.
Adulterations gangs on the prowl
Vigilance officials also say that many food adulteration gangs are on the prowl. In the past, the officials of Vigilance & Enforcement have nabbed number of gangs at several places. “In the past, we caught gangs red-handed selling expired food products in new packs. They sold expired atta (wheat flour) in new covers with fake expiry date under fake brand names at Sivajipalem, Kancharapalem and Gajuwaka,” Vigilance & Enforcement Inspector Mallikarjuna Rao says.
The officials also seized more than 2,000 litres of adulterated cooking oil and a tanker at HB Colony. The gang would collect used edible oils and mix them with fresh stock and sell it Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, he said.
Doctors say that consumption of the adulterated oil and food prepared in unhygienic conditions can lead to long term diseases including liver cancer, jaundice and many more.
New norms for supplementary food products for 2-3 year olds
NEW DELHI: India's food safety watchdog, for the first time, has notified nutritional guidelines for supplementary food products meant for children between 2-3 years.
So far, the Food Standards and Safety Regulatory Authority Of India had standards in place only for packaged baby food items meant for infants in the age-group of 6 months to 2 years.
Officials in the FSSAI said that while many multi-national giants are already selling food products for children up to 3 years, lack of guidelines meant that there was no minimum or maximum value fixed for nutritional and other components in the products.
"The new guidelines will mean that those who do not follow the guidelines can be treated as defaulters and penalised. This is something that was simply not there before," a senior FSSAI official told this newspaper.
The new guidelines stipulate maximum and minimum values of 29 components, including antioxidants, calcium, zinc, Vitamins, minerals, acidity regulators and added flavours, and also says that there will not be "Energy food" or "Health Food" written on these product packets.
Nutritional and baby food experts however raised concerns at the FSSAI move could help multi-national food giants in a big way and it was akin to giving them license to capture a big market.
"Children above two years can eat just like adults and actually do not need supplementary food products at all," said Arun Gupta of Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India and World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative.
"I suspect that the new guidelines will allow baby food manufacturer to circumvent the Infant Milk Substitute Act that prevents any promotion or advertising of supplementary food products in India and safeguards breastfeeding and feeding of homemade food to young children," he said.
A 2015 study by researchers at Indian Institute Of Public Administration had noted that while baby food sale is expanding very fast in India, in many commercial baby food products, the manufacturers add extra ingredients which affect the quality of the product.
"At best, these extra ingredients are nutritionally empty, and at worst, they are nutritionally dangerous, particularly when consumed by infants. For instance, many commercial baby foods, including organic brands, are high in sodium, sugar, or both," the study said.
Every calorie taken up through these ingredients is a lost opportunity for baby to eat a nutrient-rich food that will facilitate proper growth and development."
Menace of food adulteration a serious challenge: Dulloo
Commissioner Food Safety, Abdul Kabir Dar, Mayor JMC, Chander Mohan Gupta and Controller Drug and Food Control Organization Lotika Khajuria were also present.
Principal Secretary Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo on Wednesday said that the need of the hour is to create awareness about healthy food habits among people, particularly youth to avoid non-communicable diseases.
According to an official spokesperson Dulloo was speaking at a cultural event organised here at Government Women’s College Gandhi Nagar on the theme of ‘Eat Right India’ in connection with the Swasth Bharat Yatra.
The Swasth Bharat Yatra which started from Leh has been organized by Commissionerate Food Safety in collaboration with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and food safety wing of Municipal Corporation Jammu.
Commissioner Food Safety, Abdul Kabir Dar, Mayor JMC, Chander Mohan Gupta and Controller Drug and Food Control Organization Lotika Khajuria were also present.
In his address, Atul Dulloo said that the need of the hour is to create awareness about healthy food habits among people, particularly youth to avoid non-communicable diseases. He said that the purpose of the Yatra is to create awareness among the people regarding Food Safety Act. Message of Yatra ‘eat right, eat healthy, eat fortified’ should be conveyed across every nook and corner of the state as well as country, he added.
Kohima boots five bakeries for lack of hygiene
These photographs stating to show a bakery establishment in the capital town Kohima were issued by Kohima’s health authority, on Wednesday. Five bakeries in the town have been issued with an ‘improvement notice’ for what the administration said were unhygienic conditions and questionable production practices.
Dimapur, Nov. 28 (EMN): The ingestion continues for food establishments in Nagaland. The Kohima administration has issued what it called an “improvement notice” to five bakeries in the capital town. The establishment of the Chief Medical Office of Kohima district issued a press release on Wednesday informing about the enforcement.
The health authority cited unhygienic conditions, use of ingredients that had exceeded the best-before date; storage of finished products in bedrooms; ‘use of newspapers’ etc.
The establishments that have been served with the notice are M/S United Bakery, New Minister Hill, Kohima; M/S JA Bakery, Lerie Chazou, Kohima; M/S Modern Bakery, Middle AG Colony, Kohima; M/S Baby Bakery, AG Colony, Kohima; M/S M Bakery, AG Colony, Kohima.
The health authorities stated: ‘In view of the Hornbill Festival and the coming of the festive season, Food Safety Officer and staff carried out inspection of bakeries.
During the inspection, the stated bakeries were found in unhygienic conditions, using of ingredients which has exceeded best before date, storing of finished products in the bedroom, using of newspaper etc.’
‘Therefore, an Improvement notice under Section 32 of the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006 was served to the proprietors for compliance,’ the press release stated.
Nov 28, 2018
FSSAI writes to IT Ministry on fake social media videos on food quality
Seeks mechanism to track perpetrators of such videos to initiate action against them
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 27
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has written to the Ministry of Electronics & IT expressing concern over the proliferation of fake videos and messages on social media that spread rumours on the safety and quality of food available in the country.
In its communication, it has urged the Ministry to put in a place a mechanism to track such fake videos so that “perpetrators of such mischievous videos could be brought to book and penal action can be initiated against them.”
In the past, FSSAI has had to counter rumours and public fear regarding presence of “plastic rice and plastic eggs” which was triggered by circulation of fake videos on social media.
FSSAI said more recently a “fake video” on the presence of melamine in milk went viral on the social media which “maliciously projected that FSSAI had given permission for use of melamine in milk.”
The food safety authority clarified that under the food safety regulations, the use of melamine as an ingredient or as an additive is not permitted in any food product. It added that it has prescribed maximum limits for melamine in food, including milk, under the regulations only to address the “incidental presence” of melamine as a contaminant.
In a statement, Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI, said, “Such false propaganda is neither good for citizens nor for food businesses. This erodes confidence of the public in the food control system in the country. It also erodes global trust in our food system and food businesses and potentially has far reaching public health, social and trade implications.”
On its part, the Ministry of IT & Electronics has been pushing messaging app Whatsapp to set up a mechanism to clamp down on fake messages and videos on its platform.
Companies face ordeal
FSSAI’s efforts to tackle fake social media posts and videos come at a time when several packaged food companies have also been going through the ordeal of fake and malicious social media posts regarding their food products. Some food companies also have had to take legal measures to counter such posts.
According to the interim report of the National Milk Quality Survey 2018, released earlier this month by FSSAI, less than 10 per cent of the milk samples were found to have contaminants, which were largely due to poor farm practices. The survey findings are based on tests done on over 6,400 samples of raw and processed milk across States, for quality parameters, adulterants as well as contaminants.
FSSAI said it is currently engaging with stakeholders for “root cause analysis” so that appropriate corrective and preventive action could be taken.
Rs 5000 fine for selling stale food at Bali yatra
Over 650 food joints and eateries are under the scanner of the special quads at the fair venue
A fast food kiosk at Bali yatra venue in Cuttack on Monday.
The civic body on Monday decided to impose heavy penalty on eateries at Bali yatra trying to stale and unhygienic food following large scale seizure of stale food over the past three days.
“We have decided to invoke the Food Safety Act and impose a fine of Rs 5,000 on eateries on every instance of seizure of stale and unhygienic food,” city health officer Umesh Panigrahi told The Telegraph on Monday.
Special squads are on job to continuously check the quality of food being served at various food joints at the fair right from 7.30 in the morning till 11 at night.
“We are focusing on the quality of food taking into consideration the heavy turnout of people and the hazards of unchecked consumption of stale and unhygienic food,” Panigrahi said. He said the food safety drive would continue till the end of the fair.
Official sources said the civic body’s food safety wing had so far destroyed more than 6.6 quintals of food following seizure from various eateries and vendors.
Three special squads — one led by a food safety officer and the other two by sanitary inspectors along with ten health workers and supervisors in each 51 had started off with destroying 70kg, followed by 1.4 quintals on Friday and Saturday respectively. More than 3.5 quintals of stale food was seized and destroyed on Sunday alone.
More than 650 food joints and eateries are under the scanner of the special quads at the fair venue.
Cuttack collector Arvind Agarwal and municipal commissioner took stock of the food safety drive on Sunday.
Several hotels across the city that had opened kiosks were found to have brought leftovers of the day from their restaurant to sell at Bali yatra on the first evening.
“During raids, we have detected attempts to sell stale and leftover chicken and rice-based food items and,” the health officer said.
He said huge quantities of milk-based products along with around 500 rasagolas were also seized and destroyed.
The special squads are also keeping an eye on the use of colour in the food items. The civic body has also been making announcements through mikes to create awareness among people to avoid unhealthy food items and lodge complaints at its counter.
“We are receiving numerous complaints from the public,” a health wing official told The Telegraph.
“The civic body has made it mandatory for all food joints to display their food licence in their kiosks. Those food sellers or vendors of Cuttack Municipal Corporation area who do not have food licence have been directed to apply for it at our counter,” the official said.
No food vendor registered with UT health department
CHANDIGARH: If there is typhoid or any food-borne disease on an epidemic scale, then there is no way for the health department in the city to catch the culprits as none of the food vendors are registered with the food safety and standards department in the UT health department. The reason being the municipal corporation here does not give specific address of food vendors that makes it difficult for the health department to locate the defaulters.
Chandigarh has around 9,000 registered street vendors and the MC has been receiving a monthly fee of Rs 40 to Rs 50 lakh. “The street food vendors have slips issued by the MC, which mentions the fee they pay and the sector with regard to their location. But their exact position is not mentioned on it. We have taken this up with our department so that the same can be followed up by the MC,” said an official in the UT health department.
The official said that, “In case there is any complaint of food-borne disease or infection, how can we locate those vendors who are still not registered with us due to this incomplete information.”
On the contrary, the MC officials believe that it’s not the responsibility of their department and it solely lies with the health department. “According to the street vendor act, we are not supposed to specify any business or trade to the vendors. It is with the respective departments to decide and regulate it,” said K K Yadav, MC commissioner, Chandigarh. He said that, “In case the health department requires details of these vendors, the same can be provided any time.”
A health official on the condition of anonymity explained that they often get calls from consumers about contaminated food. But it gets tough to act as there are so many vendors who come with slips issued by the MC, which has licence fee and name of the sector mentioned only. “We want to regulate the food standards and for that all these vendors have to be registered with us too. But with this incomplete information from the MC, we cannot register and keep vigilance on the food quality,” said a senior official in the health department.
Nov 27, 2018
Food samples taken from dhabas, grocery shops
Nawanshahr, November 26
To check adulteration in food products and ensure a hygienic environment at dhabas, two food safety teams comprising Rakhi Vinayak and Sangeeta Sehdev, Food Safety Officers, today conducted raids at various dhabas situated on Chandigarh Road and in Balachaur.
Divulging details, Assistant Food Safety Commissioner Manoj Khosla said following the directions of Kahan Singh Pannu, Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration, Punjab, various dhabas on Chandigarh Road and in Balachaur were checked under the Mission Tandarust Punjab by a team led by him.
He said there were complaints about some dhabas regarding serving of poor quality food products to their customers. The team took five samples (two milk, two mineral water and one of cooked dal) from three dhabas.
The other team took four samples (desi ghee, namkeen, salt, and sauce) from four grocery stores situated in the SBS Nagar. Meanwhile, all nine samples have been sent to the State Food Laboratory for test.
He said if samples fail tests, action would be taken against the guilty as per the Food Safety and Standards Act.
The teams also sensitised them to follow good hygiene and proper manufacturing practices and maintain cleanliness and serve good quality and fresh food to people. Awareness booklets were also distributed among them.
‘Proof against Ministers, police officers available in gutkha case’
Witnesses have given statements on payment of bribe, CBI tells High Court
Not ruling out the possibility of implicating Ministers and top police officials in the State in the illegal gutkha sale case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday told the Madras High Court that it had collected materials to suspect the involvement of politicians as well as police officials in the crime.
In a counter affidavit filed before Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan, who was seized of a bail application filed by one of the accused in the case, the CBI said it had examined as many as 25 witnesses ever since the first Division Bench of the High Court entrusted the probe to it on April 26 this year, and recorded their statements.
Huge network
“The statements have revealed illegal manufacturing and sale of gutkha and other tobacco products, manipulation of documents and bribe paid to officials of Food Safety, Central Excise, Commercial Tax, Tamil Nadu Police department, politicians etc. Further investigation is on with respect to the above facts,” the counter read. Stating that it had conducted searches in 31 places on the strength of warrants issued by the Special Court for CBI cases here and in 11 more places under powers conferred on investigating officers under Section 165 of Code of Criminal Procedure, the CBI claimed to have seized 374 documents and 63 material objects, including laptops, hard disks and pen drives.
Explaining the modus operandi adopted by the accused, the CBI Deputy Superintendent of Police Suresh Kumar said the State government had issued a notification on May 23, 2013 banning manufacture as well as sale of gutkha and pan masala in the State on the ground that the two products contained tobacco and nicotine.
On May 28, 2013, the Commissioner of Food Safety and Drug Administration issued a circular instructing Designated Officers serving under him to implement the prohibitory orders in letter and spirit. However, the present bail petitioner, P. Senthil Murugan, did not take any measures to implement the prohibition, the CBI alleged.
The petitioner had simply issued a warning notice to Jayam Indsutries, owned by the first accused in the case A.V. Madhava Rao, at Red Hills near here through the then Food Safety Officer E. Sivakumar, arrayed as the sixth accused, who, in turn, seized 150 kg of gutkha waste and 45 kg of tobacco waste from the industry on July 15, 2013.
Subsequently, all the six accused in the case entered into a criminal conspiracy and floated a firm titled Annamalai Industries at Red Hills by falsely claiming it to be owned by one S. Vignesh, who was an employee of the first accused Madhava Rao and was paid just ₹ 5,000 a month towards salary at that point of time.
Criminal conspiracy
“The above arrangement was made as a part of the criminal conspiracy so that gutkha can be manufactured continuously, even after the ban was imposed in Tamil Nadu in a covert manner,” the CBI said and accused the petitioner of having issued a licence to the new firm under the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) of 2006.
On June 7, 2014, the Central Crime Branch police raided Annamalai Industries and handed over the seized products to the local Inspector of Police Sampath who handed over 7,500 kg (150 bags X 50 kg) of finished panmasala and 2,500 kg (50 bags X 50 kg) of ground tobacco dust to Sivakumar for initiating action under FSSA.
However, on June 12, 2014, Sivakumar gave back the goods to Annamalai Industries after obtaining a surety bond. He also dishonestly did not send any of those samples for chemical analysis. Instead, samples of cardamom and betel nuts collected from another premises were sent for analysis and a positive report obtained, the CBI claimed.
₹7 lakh in bribe
The court was told that the first three accused — Madhava Rao, Uma Sankar Gupta and P.V. Srinivasa Rao — had paid ₹ 7 lakh to the present bail petitioner between 2013 and 2015 and around ₹ 10,000 to ₹ 25,000 a month to Sivakumar between 2013 and 2016 “for showing the undue favour.” The fifth accused was an official of Central Excise Department. On Monday, the petitioner’s counsel sought an adjournment on the ground that he had prepared a memorandum to be submitted to Chief Justice Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani with a request to list the present bail petition before Justice M. Dhandapani who had dismissed as withdrawn the petitioner’s first bail application on October 22.
K. Srinivasan, Special Public Prosecutor for CBI cases, said he had no objection to get the case listed before any judge. Hence, Mr. Justice Ilanthiraiyan adjourned the matter to December 6 with a strict instruction that he would hear the matter and pass orders on that day if the petitioner was unable to obtain any relief from the Chief Justice by then.
Nov 19, 2018
Trans fat in eatery foods to be reined in
Health, Food Safety wings to collect samples, convince food outlets on need for curbs in trans fatty acids
The Health Department and the Food Safety wing are joining hands to launch an initiative to enforce dietary guidelines, involving the reduction of trans fatty acids (TFAs), salt and sugar in commercially available foods in the State.
The initiative, with technical support from the World Bank, WHO and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), is being launched as unhealthy diet is pushing up metabolic syndrome and premature deaths due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among Keralites.
Latest estimates put the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in Keralabetween 24-33%, indicating that one in three or four persons — predominantly women — have this condition.
Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a cluster of metabolic abnormalities — high blood pressure, high blood sugar, abdominal obesity, abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels — that occur together, raising risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
“A striking factor in Kerala is the high level of hypertriglyceridemia (elevated triglycerides in blood), at 45%, indicative of a dietary pattern high in fats and carbohydrates. We require serious interventions in dietary changes to reduce our burden of NCDs,” said P.S. Indu, Head of Community Medicine, Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College.
Literature says that TFAs have “a unique cardio metabolic imprint that is linked to insulin-resistance and metabolic-syndrome pathways” and that consumption of even small amounts of TFAs is associated with an increase in the incidence of coronary heart disease.
Main contributors
“The high content of industrial TFAs and salt in baked goods, fried chicken, or banana chips joints in the State is contributing to this epidemic of MS in Kerala. Enforcing the current regulation on the content of industrial TFAs in can bring in significant benefits,” Dr. Indu said.
WHO recommends that trans fat intake be limited to less than 1% of total energy intake and has called for the total elimination of TFAs in global food supply by 2023. FSSAI has proposed to limit TFA limit in foods to 2% and eliminate trans fats from foods by 2022.
“Enforcing the current FSSAI legislation limiting TFAs at 5% is the need of the hour. Denmark pioneered trans fat ban in 2003 and in three years, their CVD mortality rates plummeted. From an annual mean death of 441.5 per one lakh it dropped by 14.2 deaths per one lakh per year (ie 750 fewer deaths every year). Food industry players and the unorganised food sector should be persuaded to switch to commercially viable alternatives to TFAs,” Eram S. Rao, Senior Nutrition Specialist, World Bank, who was in the city as part of the technical support team, said.
“We will collect information on the TFA and sodium content in a range of commonly consumed food items in Kerala. This information is vital if we are to convince the industry and the unorganised sector about the need to reduce harmful TFA content in food,” a Health official said.
The State Food Safety wing will now embark on a sample study across the State, collecting at least 300 samples of popular food items from the market and testing the TFA content. We do have gas chromatographs in three of our laboratories and additionally,we have the funds to send samples to any other lab for testing,” K. Anilkumar, Joint Commissioner of Food Safety said.
The Health Department hopes that once it has the baseline information, it can convince the food industry players and the unorganised food sector about the need to keep TFA levels within legal limits. Awareness campaigns targeting the public and advocacy will follow.
FSSAI warns against reheat, reuse use of cooking oil
Ludhiana, November 18
Re-heating and re-using oil for frying is a common practice in most of the Indian households. However, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) warns against the exercise.
In its guidelines issued recently, the FSSAI has stated that one should avoid the repeated use of cooking oil.
Homemakers tend to refill their oil dispensaries with fresh cooking oil while some of the old stock already remains in the dispenser and big companies, involved in the business of frying products, dispose of their used cooking oil (UCO) for industrial purposes such as manufacturing soaps. Discarding the UCO in household becomes problematic because if it is drained off, it leads of choking of sewers and pipes. The FSSAI has notified that the limit of total polar compounds in oil should not be more than 25 per cent as it helps in the safe disposal of the UCO.
The FSSAI recommends that one should avoid the repeated use of cooking oil at household level and oil once used for frying should be filtered and be used for preparing curry to make it economical. Used cooking oil should be consumed in a day or two as the rate of deterioration is higher in it. /The UCO should be disposed of in an environment-friendly way — by providing it to the authorised UCO collection agencies. In order to dispose off small quantities at household level, it should be mixed with absorbent material such as sand or saw dust or used towel or paper towel to avoid spillage and then throw it in the dustbin.
City-based physician Dr Subhash Gupta said when the oil is used frying, its quality deteriorates. “Using the same oil repeatedly for frying leads to change in its physico-chemical nutritional and sensory properties. It leads to the formation of compounds unfit for human consumption beyond certain limits. These compounds have been related to various diseases such as hypertension, liver diseases and Alzheimer,” he said.
Nov 17, 2018
Stay healthy, trade your used cooking oil
Ahmedabad: Can food-loving Gujaratis heave a sigh of relief when they get to know that their much-beloved dalwada, bhajiya and fafda are not harmful even when purchased from a commercial establishment?
Biodiesel Association of India (BDAI) surely feels so as the national agency signed an MoU with the Food and Drug Control Authority (FDCA), Gujarat, on Friday to completely remove used cooking oil (UCO) from Ahmedabad and Vadodara completely within two years.
The Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSAI) amendment points that the total polarized compound (TPC) value in edible oil must be less than 25%. Re-heating the oil multiple times forms trans fat that leads to a number of health complications. The FDCA had started the drive with an equipment that can measure TPC value — indicating over 40% establishments using the same oil multiple times for frying. However, the officials admitted that few got penalized for violation of norms.
HG Koshia, commissioner, FDCA, Gujarat, said that the initiative aims at introducing healthy habits among citizens and establishments alike. “It is not just about commercial establishments - the application launched (Repurposed Used Cooking Oil (RUCO)) will also be available to citizens. With the establishment of ground-level network, it would be easy to deposit the UCO so that it can be converted into bio-diesel,” he said. Sandeep Chaturvedi, president of BDAI, said that total national oil consumption is about 22.7 million tons annually out of which about 30% is being used by the western India including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Thus, if we can change the habit in this region, we can do it anywhere. The project is happening for the first time anywhere in the world and we are aware of the challenges ahead. We however are hopeful,” he said. The launch event also saw participation of Poonamchand Parmar, ACS (health), and Kuldeep Arya, deputy municipal commissioner, AMC. The gropu also launched Swasth Bharat Yatra which would start fro Dandi on November 18 and culminate at Palanpur on December 12 during its Gujarat run.
Are imported pulses dangerous for you and your family?
Food safety regulator FSSAI Thursday said imported pulses and beans are safe for consumption as tests conducted in the last one month found no residue of glyphosate in these commodities.
Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide which is used to kill weeds, especially annual broadleaf weeds and grasses that compete with crops.
Food safety regulator FSSAI Thursday said imported pulses and beans are safe for consumption as tests conducted in the last one month found no residue of glyphosate in these commodities. Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide which is used to kill weeds, especially annual broadleaf weeds and grasses that compete with crops.
Last month, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had instructed its import offices at ports to start monitoring for presence of glyphosate in pulses and beans.
"Pulses and beans imported into India are safe. ...This is based on results of testing of these products over the past one month," the regulator said in a statement.
The monthly data pertaining to Glyphosate level in pulses received from ports directly handled by the FSSAI was analyzed and it has been observed that of the 319 consignments tested, glyphosate residues were found in only 7 consignments and that too were within the prescribed MRLs, it said.
So, there is no concern of any kind as the FSSAI authorized officers at ports are regularly monitoring the presence of Glyphosate in pulses at the time of import before their clearances, it added. However, FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal said the monitoring of pulses for glyphosate will continue for some more time.
The FSSAI prescribes Maximum Residue Level (MRL) of 1.0 mg/kg for the presence of Glyphosate in Tea. There are no prescribed MRLs for "Glyphosate" for pulses.
Agarwal also mentioned that that FSSAI's order dated 12 October 2018 to monitor imported pulses was "misreported" by certain sections of media which creates a scare among public at large about safety of pulses.
Nov 16, 2018
Imported pulses safe : FSSAI
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 15
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Thursday said that imported pulses and beans are safe and that based on tests conducted in the past one month it has found no reason for concern regarding the presence of glyphosate in these commodities.
Earlier, FSSAI had instructed its import offices at ports to start monitoring the presence of glyphosate in pulses and beans as these are mainly imported through Mumbai, Chennai and Tuticorin ports.
“After the order dated 12.10.18, monthly data pertaining to glyphosate level in pulses received from ports directly handled by FSSAI was analysed and it has been observed that of the 319 consignments tested, glyphosate residues were found in only 7 consignments and that too were within the prescribed Maximum Residue Levels,” FSSAI it added.
Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI said the food safety regulator will continue monitoring imported pulses for some time till “it is established for sure that there are no residues of glyphosate in imported pulses.”
FSSAI had also directed testing of glyphosate levels in imported pulses as per Codex standards as India does not have its own standards for residue levels in pulses.
Imported pulses are safe: FSSAI
New Delhi, Nov 15 () Food safety regulator FSSAI Thursday said imported pulses and beans are safe for consumption as tests conducted in the last one month found no residue of glyphosate in these commodities.
Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide which is used to kill weeds, especially annual broadleaf weeds and grasses that compete with crops.
Last month, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had instructed its import offices at ports to start monitoring for presence of glyphosate in pulses and beans.
"Pulses and beans imported into India are safe. ...This is based on results of testing of these products over the past one month," the regulator said in a statement.
The monthly data pertaining to Glyphosate level in pulses received from ports directly handled by the FSSAI was analyzed and it has been observed that of the 319 consignments tested, glyphosate residues were found in only 7 consignments and that too were within the prescribed MRLs, it said.
So, there is no concern of any kind as the FSSAI authorized officers at ports are regularly monitoring the presence of Glyphosate in pulses at the time of import before their clearances, it added.
However, FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal said the monitoring of pulses for glyphosate will continue for some more time.
The FSSAI prescribes Maximum Residue Level (MRL) of 1.0 mg/kg for the presence of Glyphosate in Tea. There are no prescribed MRLs for "Glyphosate" for pulses.Agarwal also mentioned that that FSSAI's order dated 12 October 2018 to monitor imported pulses was "misreported" by certain sections of media which creates a scare among public at large about safety of pulses.
Nov 15, 2018
Nov 14, 2018
Food safety team disposes of 25-kg peeled onions
Jalandhar, November 13
The food safety team carried out an inspection drive at various business food operators and collected 11 samples of food products including cheese, curd, pulses, oil, biscuits besides others, here today.
The team, headed by District Health Officer (DHO), Balwinder Singh and Food Safety Officer (FSO), Rashu Mahajan, inspected establishments at Ram Nagar, Gandhi Camp and near BMC Chowk.
The DHO said the inspection was the part of sampling drive started under ‘Tandarust Punjab’ mission.
He said during the inspection at a restaurant, the team found 25-kg peeled onions stored in an unhygienic manner which was disposed off.
Dr Singh informed that all samples had been sent to the State Food Lab and action would be taken accordingly.
Now, packaged foods industry will have to be true to its words
FSSAI to notify claims and advertisement regulations soon
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 13
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will soon notify its final regulations on claims and advertisements for the packaged foods industry. This is aimed at making companies more accountable for their health and nutritional claims to protect consumer interest.
The regulator, on Tuesday, also released the interim findings of its milk survey. Less than 10 per cent of the 6,432 samples tested were found to have contaminants such as residues of pesticides (1.2 per cent), antibiotics, aflatoxin and ammonium sulphate.
Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI, said: “We will soon notify the regulations on claims and advertisements, which have got the final approvals from the Health Ministry.”
Through these regulations, FSSAI aims to put restrictions on the use of certain words on food labels — such as natural, fresh, original, traditional, premium, finest, best, authentic, genuine, and real — unless the products meet specific conditions.
With the implementation of these regulations, packaged food companies will need to ensure that any claims regarding nutritional or health attributes about their products are scientifically substantiated.
In addition, they will need to ensure that product advertisements do not suggest that their products were a complete meal replacement, or undermine the importance of healthy lifestyles.
The regulations will define norms for nutrient-content claims and those regarding non-addition of salt and sugar, besides specifying standardised statements for health claims for food companies.
Milk survey
Meanwhile, the food safety regulator released interim finding of the National Milk Quality Survey 2018, which stated that only 12 of the 6,432 samples collected were found to have adulterants such as detergents urea and hydrogen peroxide that affect the safety of milk.
Milk samples were also tested for 18 pesticides, 93 antibiotics and veterinary drugs, aflatoxin M1 and ammonium sulphate. “Less than 10 per cent (638 out of 6,432 samples) had contaminants that make milk unsafe for consumption. In all these cases, milk is getting contaminated due to poor quality of feed, poor farm practices, and irresponsible use of antibiotics… But it is restricted to a few pockets and in some States, and these can be addressed through targeted awareness-building initiatives,” FSSAI stated.
Agarwal, however, added that currently there are no regulations for ammonium sulphate in milk, and that FSSAI will consider if tolerance limits needed to be set.
The survey findings also raise concerns regarding quality parameters of milk. “About 19.6 per cent (1,261) samples did not meet the set limits for SNF. In another 3.4 per cent (218 samples) of the total samples, sugar and maltodextrin was found to be added,” it stated.
Agarwal said that quality issues were higher in raw milk compared to processed milk, and may depend on the breed of cattle, dilution through water, or rearing practices. “But we were surprised to find non-compliance of quality parameters in processed milk also. We will take this up with the processed milk companies and look at setting up a robust monitoring mechanism,” he added.
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