Feb 18, 2016

FSSAI to formulate new policies for food safety

In a bid to have international standards, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has come up with a new scheme. Now, the FSSAI will engage reputed professionals and individual consultants to formulate new policies.

In a bid to have international standards, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has come up with a new scheme. Now, the FSSAI will engage reputed professionals and individual consultants to formulate new policies.
The FSSAI will empanel expert resources that will develop international technical standards to be implemented for food safety.
"We are looking at strengthening the FSSAI activities. We are going to engage experts to contribute to the development of international technical standards for food sanitary and phtyosanitary standards. We have to focus on collecting and collating data regarding food consumption incidence and prevalence of biological risks, contaminants in food, residues of various contaminants in food products, identification of emerging risks and introduction of rapid alert system," said a senior FSSAI official.
"We aim at creating an information network across the country so that the public, consumers and panchayats receive rapid reliable and objective information about food safety and issues of concern. We want to provide training programmes for persons who are involved or intend to get involved in food businesses," the official said. Food safety remains an important issue in India. According to a study done by the Department of Home Science, Institute of Home Economics, University of Delhi, in India, there have been hardly any studies to evaluate the food hygiene and safety implementation in the catering organisation.
The study published in the recent issue of International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology states that there is also a serious threat of microbial contamination of food due to poor food hygiene and safety knowledge of food handlers. In India it is envisaged that in the future there would be a serious focus on risk assessment, early warning/rapid alert situations as the exporters of agro products and processed food have been facing the stringent food safety standards in the developed country markets.
The scientific reports on the outbreak of foodborne diseases in India in 1980-2009 indicated that a total of 37 outbreaks, involving 3,485 persons, were due to food poisoning. The FSSAI had also floated a scheme to engage central, state government agencies, consumers' organisations, NGOs, etc, working in the area of food safety for undertaking Information, Education and Communication activities.

Scented tobacco, gutka worth Rs 10.27 lakh seized in Nashik

A joint team of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials and police seized scented tobacco and gutka worth Rs 10.27 lakh in raids at Shindegaon village near Nashik Road area.Acting on a tip-off, a team of FDA officials and police raided two godowns of Ramvilas Lohiya and Radheshyam Lohiya near Shindegaon yesterday and seized packets of Miraj tobacco worth Rs three lakh 
In another raid on their residence Lohiya Sadan in Lokmanya Nagar area, the FDA officials seized tobacco packets and gutka worth Rs 7.27 lakh. The seized scented tobacco and gutka was collectively worth Rs 10.27 lakh, police said.An FDA official then registered a case under sections of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 at the Nashik Road police station against the duo, sources added.



MNCs fast becoming municipal food safety targets

FSSAI has to play right regulatory role for consumers, industry
Swiss firm Nestle's Maggi noodles may be back on retailers' racks across the country, following national testing labs and Bombay high court clearances, but it now appears to be the turn of other MNCs to face Maggi-manipulated muddle with the Uttar Pradesh government's food safety department reportedly coming down heavily on similar products by much bigger MNCs such as Unilever and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). UP's Barabanki district food safety officer Sanjay Singh found noodle samples of Knorr Soupy, Horlicks Foodles and Ching's Hot Garlic variety carrying 'ash content' well beyond the prescribed limits after they were tested positive in the government's food analysis lab in Lucknow. The companies may face the same fate as Nestle in the coming months if similar inspections and raids are also conducted in other parts of the country. Adversely, if these raids and tests end up in a fiasco, they will bring bad name to the food safety regulator and impact the Modi government's 'Make-in-India' drive.
These MNC noodle brands are not market leaders. Almost 75 per cent of the country's noodle market is controlled by small local bulk manufacturer-suppliers under little known brands. They are available everywhere - from road side stalls to large restaurants. Few are worried about their quality in the government or among the end consumers. The regulator, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), needs to be more watchful and cautious about raids and tests, especially at a time when the organized sector food processing industry is planning big investment, creating new market for their products and riding high on large market potential. Large domestic players such as Britannia and Mother Dairy have already announced big investments in new projects.
The industry appreciates the government and the regulator's concern about food safety even though the society, in general, cares little about the quality of foods and beverages it consumes. Spurious and subs-standard foods are taking away thousands of lives in the country in the presence of careless and dishonest food and sanitary inspectors. It is possible that some MNCs in food and beverage business too 'think local and act local' to compromise on their product quality to prosper in the highly competitive business dominated by small producers. But, the issue of food safety appears to be more complicated than one would think. The food business is too vast and spread out, operating under multiple authorities under state and central governments. And, health and hygiene are yet to become primary concern of average Indian consumers. 
What can really the government and FSSAI do to ensure a healthy growth of the roughly Rs.17,00,000 crore (US$260 billion) food and beverage industry, the country's largest, and make sure it supplies quality products to consumers? Educating citizens of food safety, everywhere and at all levels, would appear to be a primary task of the society. The function of regulatory authorities will be easier and appreciated if the society largely recognizes the concept of food safety. Unfortunately, food safety in India is being perceived more as an elitist concern. Few care for what the common man and underprivileged consume and how poor quality and adulterated food and beverages frequently cause disease, disability and death among them.
The diversified nature of the sector, dominated by unorganized and small-scale operators, and its huge reach provides the biggest challenge to any food safety and standard initiative at the state and national levels. It has been one of India's fastest growing industries. The sector comes under multiple municipal, state and central administrations and laws. The complexities of incorporation and operational rules, inspection and control make the job of the regulator, at the apex level, quite demanding. The regulator comes under the union health ministry although it addresses concerns of the ministries of consumer affairs, food processing, industry and commerce among others. The sector is also one of India's major export revenue earners.
Though few will disagree that the food sector needs to be properly regulated, a general consensus needs to be evolved at all levels as to how this could be achieved in the interest of both consumers and industry. FSSAI may be a good idea. But, the comparatively young regulator at the apex level seems to be saddled with an ocean of problems generated by multiple regulatory and inspection regimes at state and municipal levels, all trying to come to the fore to attract attention by taking actions against some select brands.
Is FSSAI adequately armed to address consumers' concerns after the apex court first quashed FSSAI's 2013 advisory that all new products must be approved by the authority before they are launched? The parties were Vital Nutraceuticals and IDMA. In July, 2014, a high court ruled that FSSAI did not have the power to issue guidelines to existing manufacturers, requiring them to take approval for existing products in the market. The court orders, supposedly based on the existing laws, seek to regulate the regulatory authority's function. They give rise to a major confusion on such vital issue as to the need for food companies to take prior permission before launching new products in the market. The court may be right. The regulator's role needs to be regulated.
Does the country need to amend the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and change some of the rules in 2011 based on the act? There is opposition in the government to amend the act immediately. FSSAI is aware of that. The regulator has been periodically updating the horizontal guidelines after placing them in the public domain for comments since last year. Going forward, FSSAI would probably do well by being a body in charge of all product approvals. The question is: what should be the ideal regulatory role of FSSAI in this context? The regulator's attempt to reintroduce the advisory regime has once again upset food companies. At least one of them, Vital, has moved the court again. Considering the importance of food safety and standards (which are recognized by all advanced countries), the government should ultimately aim at such practices as prevalent in more rigid environments in Europe, the US and Japan. After all, food concerns all.

Food safety officials raid fruit market

Staff of Institute of Preventive Medicine, Hyderabad, seizing the fruits being riped with carbide, at Kedareswarapeta Wholesale Fruit Market, in Vijayawada on Monday.

Officials destroy Rs. 5 lakh worth papaya fruits after finding calcium carbide contents in them
Officials of Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM), Hyderabad, along with Food Controllers and Food Safety Officers conducted raids on Kedareswararaopet Wholesale Fruit Market to check the use of calcium carbide in ripening fruits.
The team headed by IPM Director P. Manjiri inspected banana, papaya and other fruit stock points in the market and verified the process being followed by the merchants to ripe different varieties of fruits.
“Following the directions of Commissioner of Food Safety of Andhra Pradesh, K.V. Satyanarayana, the raids were carried out and the teams collected 20 samples of different fruits. The samples have been sent to laboratory for examination,” said Krishna District Food Safety Officer T. Shekar Reddy.
Officials found calcium carbide contents in papaya fruits stored in a fruit stall, and stocks worth about Rs. 5 lakh were seized. The papayas were immediately destroyed, Assistant Food Controllers N. Purnachandra Rao and R. Nageswaraiah, who participated in the raids said.
Raids on sweet shops
Later, the teams conducted surprise raids on nine sweet shops at various places in the city. They collected samples to check harmful chemicals and the substandard quality sweets.
Dr. Manjiri said traders who are booked on charges are liable for imprisonment up to six months, besides Rs. 5 lakh penalty. If the sweet shop owners are preparing the dishes with substandard ingredients, the District Joint Collector can impose Rs. 3 lakh penalty, she said.
“The samples collected from the sweet stalls have been sent to laboratory and action would be taken once we get the report,” said Eluru Food Safety Officer A. Malakonda Reddy.

Organic': Take that tag with a pinch of salt

Kochi: Don't get carried away next time when you see vegetables that have been tagged as organic. Food safety officials and agricultural experts say they have found pesticide residues in vegetables branded as organic and sold through shops.
"We have found that chillies, coriander, mint, amaranthus (red spinach), cauliflower and long beans have pesticide residues, be in open market or in the organic shops," says Thomas Biju Mathew, professor and head, pesticide residue lab, Kerala Agricultural University .
But instead of pushing for punitive action they have resorted to pressure them to come clean. "There is already a qualitative difference," said Thomas.
"We identified a lot of brands and warned them. They were told that they were pricing it high, labelling the product organic when it had pes ticide residues. The warnings seem to have helped and the residue levels have come down," said Thomas who is also principal investigator of Safe to Eat Vegetable Scheme of the Government of Kerala.
Out of the 65 types of fruits and vegetables that the state consumes only 20 are cultivated here, making the task of monitoring difficult. "For example, chillies, both green and red are not grown here on a commercial basis,"said Thomas.
Food safety officials say that they can only check the product for pesticide residues. "There is no product identified as organic under the Food Safety Act. We will seize a product if it crosses permissible residue levels,"" said T V Anupama, food safety commissioner.
As of now, there is regular monitoring of vegetable samples from Kasaragod as it has been declared organic district. In other districts the monitoring is random.

Fortified Mid Day Meals to fight malnutrition


In a concerted effort to tackle under-nutrition in the country, the goverment is planning to provide fortified food products like wheat, rice, salt, and milk in schools' midday meal and the supplementary nutrition scheme under Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). In India malnutrition levels continue to be shockingly high.
A committee of secretaries set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to recommend changes in the social sector, will be piloting the programme. "The recommendation that staple foods like milk, wheat, rice, edible oils and salt will be fortified and provided to schools and anganwadis was cleared by the PM," a source said.
The secretaries will meet food manufacturers next week to encourage large scale fortification. "Food products like wheat and rice are already being fortified in 10 states.We need to broaden it to all states," the source said.
States like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka are already using some of the fortified products. Sources said that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been asked to revise norms for these products which will be fortified with iron, vitamin A and D. The target is to ensure complete coverage in the next two years.
There are 84 countries in the world that are already using fortified products to counter the problem of under-nutrition. According to health experts, more than 50% of child mortality under five years of age can be attributed to malnutrition.