Dinamalar & Dinakaran

FDA plans to set up its own food testing lab in Mungsara near Nashik

NASHIK: The Food and Drug Administration is planning to set up its own lab for food testing and analysis in Mungsara near Nashik.
Speaking to TOI, Joint commissioner of FDA, Nashik division, Chandrakant Pawar, joint commissioner, FDA (Food), Nashik division said, "We have identified two acres at Mungsara and will start working on the project once we get grant from the state government."
ce sends its food samples to the state government's District Health Lab in the Civil Hospital's campus. The Hospital had started testing food samples from June 2012.
"At times, we have had to get tests conducted done in our lab in Pune. Once our own lab is operational here, we will get reports of food samples faster," said Pawar.
Meanwhile, the FDA's Nashik division has recorded a 75.37 per cent rise in business registrations and a 25.90 per cent decline in licences issued during 2012-13 as compared to previous fiscal year.
As per the new Food Safety Act, a licence is compulsory for businesses with a turn over more than Rs 12 lakh, while businesses with a turn over of less than Rs 12 lakh only require to get registered. and do not need a licence.
Businesses can be registered for a yearly fee of Rs 100, while a licence costs Rs 2,000 per year.
The FDA registered 21,076 businesses in the 2012-13 fiscal, as opposed to 12,018 registrations during the previous year 2011-12 in the Nashik division, with a 75.37 per cent rise comparatively.
Licences were issued to 6,307 businesses in the fiscal year 2012-13, against 8,512 licences during 2011-12, with a 25.90 per cent decline. The FDA earned Rs 3.59 crore in revenue during 2012-13 through registrations and licences.

Ice-makers plan lockdown as 4 more plants asked to shut

The ice manufacturers’ association, representing 460 ice plants across the State, has announceda lockdown from May 2.

Trace of formalin, ammonium found in ice samples

Even as the Kerala State Ice Manufacturers Association has called for an indefinite lockdown of ice plants from May 2 to protest the forced closure of several units by the Food Safety authorities, the Ernakulam district food safety officer on Tuesday ordered closure of four more.
Three ice plants at Pallippuram and one at Njarackal, which supplied ice blocks mainly to fishing boats, were ordered to be closed by the food safety officer, K. Ajith Kumar, on Tuesday. So far, ten ice plants catering to the fishing industry have been ordered shut.
Mr. Ajith Kumar told The Hindu that samples collected from these plants had traces of formalin and ammonium. The plants were shut down by invoking the emergency prohibition powers under the Food Safety and Standards Act, he said. Samples from 24 ice plants had been collected and so far lab test results of ten were received. All of them tested positive for formalin and ammonium, indicating that use of these harmful chemicals was a pretty common practice. This was a serious threat to public health.
The ice manufacturers’ association, representing the interests of 460 ice plants across the State, has announced a lockdown from May 2 to protest what they call the ‘illegal and dictatorial’ closure of their plants. General Secretary of the association K Uthaman told The Hindu that nearly 20 ice plants in the State had been force-closed. Of these, ten were in Ernakulam district which was home to the largest number of ice plants in the State —roughly 100, of which 72 were in the Munambam-Vypeen area, the fishing hub of the central Kerala.
Mr. Uthaman denied that formalin (which is normally used for preserving dead bodies) was being used by ice makers. He asked why the Food Safety officers had not shown the ice-makers the test results of the samples collected from their plants. He also claimed that the ice made by the association members was not a ‘food item’ but an industrial product used as a preservative by the fishing industry. “We are selling our ice to the sea-going fishing boats and not to the fruit juice shops or bars,” Mr. Uthaman said. “If anybody is using our ice for a purpose other than as a preservative, it is not our fault.”
Mr. Ajith Kumar, rubbishing the association claim, said the harmful chemicals used in the ice to increase the shelf life of fish naturally got into the fish flesh and passed on to humans who ate the fish. Use of formalin and ammonium in ice was illegal, he said.
Food Safety Commissioner will review the closure decision after receiving the re-test results of the samples from the National Accreditation Body of Laboratories-certified labs.
Charles George, a fishing union leader, said it was common knowledge in the fishing sector that ice makers used formalin and ammonium, but the fish workers were helpless about it. Since Malayalis were ‘addicted to fish,’ and the chemicals used were highly harmful, he said, the fishing unions fully supported the measures taken by the authorities. He called for harsh steps to check chemical contamination of fish. Mr. George warned that if the intentional use of formalin and ammonium continued, fish exports from Kerala to Europe would come to nought. He said that last year Kerala exported seafood worth Rs. 2,900 crore.

Acid carriers supplying water?

KOCHI: The water crisis in the city is turning out to be a full-fledged war on the streets with local residents along with CPM workers blocking two tanker trucks at Aluva water treatment plant, alleging that the tankers had earlier transported hazardous chemical waste.
Following a shortage of tankers, the district administration had sought the help of local contractors who in turn brought tankers, including a few bearing Maharashtra registration numbers, a few days ago.

"According to prevailing norms, water tankers should be painted blue and white. But these two trucks are white. We have also seized permits issued to them to transport hazardous chemical waste," said CPM Aluva local secretary C M Saheer.
The charges were repeated by the Ernakulam District Drinking Water Transporters Welfare Association (EDDWTWA). "From last Tuesday, 11 trucks bearing Maharashtra registration numbers have been transporting water from the Aluva plant. All these trucks were transporting acid from HIL, Eloor. Trucks transporting acid cannot be used for carrying drinking water," alleged EDDWTWA president V A Sakkir Hussain.
According to district administration, the present crisis was a conspiracy following stringent action taken by authorities against those supplying unsafe drinking water. "We had taken strict action against two suppliers who had continuously failed to comply with norms. They were supplying drinking water directly from River Periyar at Eloor without purifying it. Moreover, they didn't have permits to draw water from Periyar. We had closed their units down earlier as well. But they reopened it illegally," said district collector P I Sheik Pareeth.
According to Pareeth, these two suppliers together own around 100 tanker trucks. "The Maharashtra registration tankers are clean enough to transport drinking water. Since there was a shortage, we had to press these vehicles into service urgently. So, they didn't have time to paint it with prescribed colours," he said.
Though the police reached the spot, they didn't take any action.
The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) officials said that these trucks had permits to transport drinking water. So, no action can be taken against owners, police said.
Agitators were also assured that food safety department officials would inspect these vehicles before they are used for transporting drinking water on Tuesday.

Factory supplying RO water raided

Sirsa, May 1
A team of the State Vigilance Bureau (SVB) today raided a factory supplying “clean drinking RO water” to people in containers and unearthed a big fraud of playing with the health of residents.
The team went to a unit situated on the Dabwali road in Sirsa along with a Duty Magistrate appointed by the Deputy Commissioner, Dr J Ganesan, and Food Safety Officer Mahabir Singh.
The factory owner decamped after noticing the team.
The team noticed that the factory did not have a filter to clear the water of impurities.
The factory had no reverse osmosis system to purify the water before its supply to the users.
Instead, the factory owner had been supplying plain tap water to people.
On testing, the total dissolved solids (TDS) in the water supplied by the factory was found to be 400, while in the bottled mineral water purchased from the market, it was found to be 35.
It was found that while the factory was supplying water to the shops and offices in Sirsa town, the owner had no licence to run his business.
The Food Safety Officer has taken samples of drinking water. Mahabir Singh said the samples of water would be sent to laboratory.

Four more ice factories closed down

Four more ice factories were closed down in Njarakkal and Pallippuram as per the order of the Food Safety officials on Tuesday after the samples collected from them revealed the presence of chemicals.
K Ajithkumar, Food Safety officer, said that the samples of ice collected in the first week of April was tested at the Regional Analytical Laboratory in Kakkanad.
Like the results of the earlier inspections, those held in the four ice plants also showed that the water was mixed with chemicals such as formalin and ammonia to make ice. “We will send the samples to Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) for further tests. Strict measures will be initiated against the violators,” he said.
Formalin and ammonia which is used to preserve fish has been mixed in the water to make ice. “The use of ammonia in ice will make the fish look fresh. However, he said that though the samples revealed the presence of chemicals, its sources could not be traced any where inside the plant. “We are still clueless about how they mixed the chemicals in the manufacture of ice as we could not find any trace of the substance during our thorough search,” he said.
The Food Safety officials had to face stiff resistance from the ice factory owners on Tuesday. The latter alleged that the officials had not given them notice before closing down the factories. Besides, the closure will also hit the fishing sector.
Weeks ago, the Food Safety officials already closed down four ice plants in Thoppumpady, Kochi Harbour and Perumbavoor after the units were found using chemically contaminated water for making ice. The ice factory owners have called for an indefinite strike from May 2 onwards.   The inspections were held in Kochi as part of the drive against the use of contaminated ice.