Dec 1, 2015

Six booked for selling adulterated products

MEERUT: The additional district magistrate (city) has filed a case against six persons as food samples collected from their shops by the Food Safety and Drugs Administration (FSDA) were found to be substandard. The results of the tests, conducted at a Lucknow-based laboratory, were received on Monday.
Giving information, chief food safety officer JP Singh, said, "During the festive season, samples of various foods were collected by the FSDA department over the last three months. Out of the total samples sent, as many as six were found to be substandard. Based on it, we've filed a case against them under relevant sections of the Food Safety and Standard Act (FSSA)."
The case has been filed against Modi Salts Pvt. Limited from Rajasthan (for substandard salt), Shiv Kumar Agarwal - owner of Vikas trading company from Madhavpuram (for substandard mustard oil), Ashu Singhal - owner of Bhagat Ji Sweets from Baghpat Road (for adulteration of starch in khoya sweets), Vineet and Jagannath - owners of different sweet shops in Nanglamal (for substandard khoya) and Ranveer - a sweet shop owner is Kastla (for substandard khoya).
Meanwhile, a three-member team of FSDA department also collected samples of milk from shop owners on Meerut's Garh road and Hapur road.
"We took as many as four samples from Ram Kumar of Kinangar village, Zahiruddin from Ghosipur village, Bhure from Hajipur village and Imran from Kudhla village," added the food safety officer.
The samples have been sent to the laboratory in Lucknow. The reports are likely to be out received in 20 days.

KFC is clean - State Food Lab of Hyderabad

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) collected food samples from Kentucky Fried Chicken (GHMC) outlets to test whether there are any inedible items mixed along with the Chicken. Earlier a complaint was lodged on the KFC as there are some inedible found.
A case was filed by RTI activist Bakka Judson. He has mentioned in his statement that the food is not safe in KFC and it is something inedible. He also added that this will definitely spoil the health. He also requested the food safety department to take action.
We hear from reports that 42 KFC samples were collected and they were sent to surveillance samples for bacteriological analysis purpose. All 42 samples are collected from various outlets in the city.
Now it has been said that the food in KFC is safe. The result was made clear under the provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The analysis also showed that the mixture contains edible items and it is difficult to impose a ban when everything is clear and clean.

DINAMALAR NEWS



Two held with gutkha

Palghar, Nov 30 (PTI) Police today seized gutkha worth Rs 6.62 lakh from a vehicle and arrested two persons for allegedly transporting the contraband.
A joint team of police and Food and Drug Administration officials intercepted the pick-up truck on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway in wee hours toady and arrested two persons, said Manor station Assistant Sub-Inspector C N Gaikwad.
The goods, including gutkha, flavoured tobacco and paan masala whose manufacture, sale and transport was banned in the state, worth Rs 6.62 lakh.
The duo were identified as Prabhusingh Dahia and Nizaram Chaudhari.
They have been booked under various sections of Food safety and Regulation (Prohibition) Act.

Truckers’ strike: 300 truckloads of potato rot

Bhubaneswar, Oct 7: Vegetable markets in the city are feeling the pinch of the transporters’ strike which was called off after five days Monday. Reports suggest 300 truckloads of potato are rotting at Jamsola the key entry to the city. The trucks were stranded near the northern entry.
Sudhakar Panda, the secretary of Orissa Byabasayee Maha Sangam, told Orissa POST that wholesalers were unable to find buyers even when they were willing “to sell these vegetables at a rate of `2 a kilo”.
Meanwhile, the food safety department is on an alert as hotels in the city are likely to buy such potatoes, posing a health hazard.
“We have directed food inspectors to conduct regular inspections at the market and hotels to maintain food safety standards,” Babaji Charan Das, the commissioner of food safety, said.

Better not to drink the stuff at all

Last month a municipal gaushala in Patiala fed its cows the normal green fodder. 39 died within a few hours. A mob gathered and the gaushala workers who had no hand in getting the feed which was supplied by a commissioned contractor fled. The issue was taken up by communal elements and they took over the gaushala on the excuse that they could look after the cows better. Two days later 27 more died. Only then did the local administration start looking at the source of the contractor’s feed. Till today neither he nor his suppliers have been arrested.
In September scientists at the government Central Food Toxicology Research detected cancer-causing fungal toxins exceeding safety limits in samples of ultra-high-temperature processed milk- milk considered to be extremely sterile and pure. This is a problem that has been highlighted by scientists for the last ten years without having any action taken.
The poisonous compound is called aflatoxin M1 and it was found in 20 per cent of the samples of UHT (Ultra High Temperature processed) milk they examined. Earlier studies in India over the past decade have identified aflatoxins in raw and pasteurised milk but this is the first report of aflatoxins in UHT milk.
UHT milk is usually sold in tetrapacks as a shelf-stable product that needs no refrigeration until opened. Scientists at the CFTRI selected 45 samples of UHT milk from brands sold across the country. They found aflatoxin M1 levels exceeding limits imposed by India’s Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSA) in 10 out of the 45 samples of UHT milk, in six out of 45 samples of raw milk and in three out of seven samples of pasteurised milk. The raw and pasteurised milk was collected from milk suppliers across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Their findings have appeared in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology.
High levels of aflatoxins in livestock feed such as maize residue and peanut cake seem to be the reason for the toxins in milk. This is not the first time that warnings have been given to the livestock sector. In north-west India in 1974, thousands of cattle died after eating mouldy maize with extremely high aflatoxin levels (ranging from 6250 to 15,600 mg/kg). More than forty years later, the dairy industry in India – that relies on milk supplies from livestock – does not test samples for aflatoxin before they pool the milk for industry-level processing. Since the late 1990s, reports of aflatoxins in milk have emerged from Thrissur in Kerala and Anand in Gujarat. Biochemists at the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), Lucknow had detected very high aflatoxin levels in samples of infant milk food, milk-based weaning cereals and liquid milk in 2004.
Aflatoxin-producing members of Aspergillus are common and widespread in nature. They can colonize and contaminate grain before harvest or during storage. Host crops, which include maize, sorghum, and groundnuts, are particularly susceptible to infection by Aspergillus following prolonged exposure to a high-humidity environment, or damage from stressful conditions such as drought. Humidity, moisture, and poor storage conditions contribute to the growth of fungi and aflatoxins in livestock feed. Researchers have reported high values “up to 3,300 micrograms per kg” of the fungal toxin aflatoxin B1 in livestock feed. Aflatoxin B1 is metabolised by animals and converted into aflatoxin M1, which is secreted in milk. Aflatoxins are also sometimes found in eggs and meat when animals are fed contaminated grains.
Since studies show that these aflatoxins are resistant to heat treatment, the object should be to reduce their intake. But while most developed countries have set maximum permissible limits for aflatoxin levels in livestock feed, no such mandatory limits exist for livestock fodder in India. The limit for aflatoxins in milk set by the European Commission is “0.05 microgram per kg.” 90 per cent of our milk is higher than this. In 2006 FSSAI imposed 0.5 microgram per kg limit on milk in India - 10 times higher than the EC limit. Even that is lower than what is currently found. Recent studies conducted by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in South India revealed that aflatoxin levels were as high as 40 times the permissible limit. In a study published in the journal Food Control, researchers found that over 90% of the milk samples used in the study contained aflatoxin M1 levels. In these studies, contamination of milk was found to be high in both rural and urban areas, across a cross section of the population. Children were found to be most susceptible to the adverse health effects of these toxins.
At least 14 different types of aflatoxin are produced in nature. Aflatoxin B1 is considered the most toxic and is produced by fungi called Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. These are among the most potent of carcinogens that cause more than 90,000 cases of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer each year. Consumption of aflatoxins can also lead to vomiting, abdominal pain, liver damage, convulsions, kidney, liver and heart disease, and in extreme cases, coma and death. Long-term aflatoxin poisoning in cattle leads to decrease in growth rate, lowered milk production and immune suppression. Some experiments have also shown high incidence of hepatitis B infection where dietary exposure to aflatoxins was prevalent.
Aflatoxins are strongly associated with stunting and immune suppression in children. In a 2015 study published by the Mitigating Aflatoxin Consumption for Improving Child Growth, researchers established a relationship between aflatoxin exposure and linear child growth. The study focused on children in the last trimester of gestation to age two (the primary period of growth faltering), and studied 1829 pregnant women who were enrolled from 2013 to 2014. Initial data collection found aflatoxin in the blood of all participants. The researchers reduced aflatoxin exposure by 50% in all participants and found that the reduction led to improved growth in the children tested.
Feed refusal, reduced growth rate, and decreased feed efficiency are the predominant signs of chronic aflatoxin poisoning in animals. In addition, listlessness, weight loss, rough hair coat, and mild diarrhoea may be seen. Anaemia along with bruises and subcutaneous haemorrhages are also frequent symptoms of aflatoxicosis. Increased susceptibility to other diseases, increased abortions and rectal prolapse are also signs. But in our country where vets are like hair on a near balding head, who is interpreting these symptoms?
How many of you know what food is being fed to the animals that give you milk? There are no pastures left in this country and cows/buffalos graze on the roadsides and on dirty human trodden grass. All green fodder grown for animals is grown with pesticides. Remember that if UHT milk, which means milk that has been pasteurized at very high temperatures, cannot remove the fungus, it is better not to drink the stuff at all.