Feb 14, 2013

Deadline for seeking licence under food safety Act extended

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Germ-free kitchens a rarity in city: Survey


Chennai: A kitchen that appears clean is not necessarily free of germs, say doctors of the Indian Medical Academy (IMA). A survey conducted in 1,400 homes across Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune has revealed that most of those surveyed don’t clean their kitchens regularly with disinfectants.
    This might lead to gastro-intestinal infections such as diarrhoea, abdominal pain, fever, loss of appetite nausea and vomiting, the doctors said at an awareness programme on Wednesday about maintaining hygiene in the kitchen.

    None of the women surveyed in Chennai cleaned their kitchen daily or even bi-weekly, just 1% cleaned it weekly, 8% fortnightly and 14% on a monthly basis. More than 69% of the women said they were not aware that the kitchen was a possible source of infection, said
the doctors. Those interviewed said they used detergent powders, bars, liquids and plain water to clean utensils, sinks, slabs, towels and clothes.
    Dr Preetaish Kaul, medical advisor of the IMA, said a visually clean kitchen was generally regarded as
free from bacteria, but most people were unaware that only a sanitized and properly disinfected kitchen was free of disease-causing germs.
    About 18% of the Chennai women surveyed said an unclean kitchen could be as dirty as the bathroom and 30% were aware that kitchen slabs, towels and chopping boards could be possible sources of infection.
    Most of the respondents attributed food-borne diseases to be a result of consuming food sold in public places but doctors said most cases of contamination of food occurred in the kitchen, which is the largest cause of infection after contaminated water and unclean hands.

RECIPE FOR DISEASE

E coli | Found in contaminated food and water, undercooked meat, eggs, vegetables, unpasteurised milk
Symptoms | Diarrhoea, vomiting, fever, abdominal cramps, dehydration and weight loss
Norovirus, Rotavirus | Found in dirty food and water
Symptoms | Nausea, vomiting, watery diarrhoea, abdominal pain, headache, fever
Giardia Lambia | Spreads through contaminated food and water
Symptoms | Bloating, fatigue,diarrhoea, stomach ache