HC seeks personal appearance of Comm FS

Court takes serious note of food adulteration
Srinagar, Apr 21: The State High Court today took strong note of food adulteration which is causing life threatening diseases in the State and sought information from the authorities regarding infrastructure, manpower particulars of companies and unit holders who are processing food items in the entire State. It also sought personal appearance of the Commissioner / Secretary Food Safety.
These directions have been passed after the amicus curie to the suo-moto proceedings of the High Court, Senior Advocate Bashir Ahmad Bashir, brought to the notice of the Court that food adulteration in the State is at alarming situation and people due to their innocence are taking the sub-standard foods resulting into multiple diseases among people, including cancer whose rate had doubled in the Valley in the past less than a decade.
It has also been brought to the notice of the court by the amicus that food testing laboratory in the Valley lacks equipment, infrastructure and manpower to check the adulterated consumption of food and there is no mechanism in place to check the purity of eatables in Kashmir.
It is after these submissions that court directed the authorities to provide the information regarding number of testing laboratories and their location, which are available in the State. Court deferred the hearing of the matter till April 25 with the observation that “before proceeding further in this petition, it is appropriate to seek following information from the State Government”.
The Division Bench of Justice MH Attar and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey also sought information with regard to man power in the concerned department. “Number of officers/officials, who are required to be posted in terms of FSS Act 2006 and how many such officers are in place”.
DB also sought information with full particulars of all those persons/companies/ corporations, who are manufacturing and processing any food product in the State adding the information of those who have been convicted and sentenced under the Food Safety Act.
“How many convictions have been recorded by the court of law on the complaints filed under Food Safety and Standard Act of 2006.Full particulars of persons who are convicted and sentenced by the court of law be also provided”, DB further added.
Court granted time to the authorities till April 25 for the information at the request of counsel representing State advocate N A Beigh (Sr. AAG) and on that day court will hear the matter for its further proceedings and Commissioner Food Safety has been directed to remain present in the Court on April 25.
The suo-moto proceedings with regard to issue of food adulteration have been taken by the High Court with regard to media reports asserting that consumption of adulterated and carcinogenic food items in the Valley are at alarming proportion.
Meantime amicus, Advocate Bashir Ahmad Bashir, filed his suggestions as he was asked by the court so as to curb the menace of food adulteration and those suggestions are on record.
In its suggestion Advocate Bashir seeks arraying Chief Secretary of the State as respondent with Commissioner / Secretary H&ME Department, Secretary Health and Family Welfare Government of India, Director Health Services of both divisions of the State, Commissioners of Municipal Corporations of both divisions, Drug Controller of the State, All Deputy Commissioners of the State and all recognized Food Testing Laboratories in the State.
Amicus curie in his suggestions said that the PIL involved security and protection of precious lives of lakhs of people who are consuming different food items which are allegedly contaminated and carcinogenic causing terminal diseases.
It was further stated in the suggestions that situation is aggravated by lack of scientific facilities for checking and testing the contaminated food items like food testing laboratories, equipments, man power (both technical & non-technical) as also the supervisory staff.
Advocate Bashir also submitted that the Food Safety & Standards Act is applicable to whole country and the State of J&K so it must have scientific committee or pane of advisory committees at Central level and to execute the provision of laws of the said Act.
It was reported in various press reports that food testing laboratory in the Valley lacks equipment, infrastructure and manpower to check the adulterated consumption of food in Valley. It is said that the adulterated food is leading to multiple diseases among people, including cancer whose rate had doubled in the Valley in the past less than a decade.
The lone Food Testing Laboratory (FTL) of the Valley situated in Srinagar is said to be having ancient and outdated equipments while old methods are put into practice to test samples of foods.
About the food items like oils, milk etc consumed by general masses according to the reports are contaminated and such kind of adulteration have flooded the markets of the Valley as there is no mechanism in place to check the purity of eatables.

Adulteration: HC seeks details of food manufacturers, testing labs

The bench directed the government to furnish details about the number of officials required to be posted in terms of the Act and number of officials who are in place.

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Thursday directed the government to furnish details about the food manufacturing companies, food testing laboratories officials required to be posted in keeping with Food Safety and Standard Act 2006.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation against food adulteration, a division bench comprising Justice MuzaffarHussain Attar and Justice Ali Muhammad Magarey also sought details about the persons convicted and sentenced by the court in the complaints filed under Food Safety and Standard Act.
Underscoring that the PIL is of considerable importance, the bench observed, “Before proceeding in the matter it is appropriate to seek information about the number of testing laboratories and their location in the state.”
The bench directed the government to furnish details about the number of officials required to be posted in terms of the Act and number of officials who are in place.
The court also sought full particulars of all the persons, companies or corporations manufacturing or processing any food products in the state.
The directions came after Senior Advocate and Amicus Curie in the case told court that ground realities with regard to curbing food adulteration in the state is a sorry state of affairs.
“Implementation of Food Safety and Standard Act 2006 stands implemented nowhere in the state as there are no food analysis laboratories and manpower required to be there in accordance with the Act,” Advocate Bashir Ahmad Bashir pleaded.
He said the government has been lifting food samples and number of samples lifted always exceeds the samples that are sent for laboratory analysis. “It speaks volumes about the sincerity of the concerned department to curb food adulteration. Food sampling has now turned into a goldmine,” he said.
The High Court has already taken suo-moto cognizance of news reports on food adulteration and rising cancer incidence, published in Greater Kashmir, and has treated these as a Public Interest Litigation.
Greater Kashmir stories highlighted that there was no scientific mechanism in place to test foods in Kashmir markets, including oil and milk. Some of these news stories referred to lack of facilities for cancer patients in Kashmir hospitals—including the facilities like PET-CT Scan—which is forcing many of them to go outside the state for treatment.
The reports highlighted lack of infrastructure and manpower at the Valley’s lone Food Testing Laboratory in Srinagar, and also the acute lack of treatment and diagnostic facilities for cancer patients, especially at the SK Institute of Medical Sciences and GMC associated hospitals.
The court adjourned the case and listed it for further hearing on April 25 after Senior Additional Advocate General, N ABeigh, requested for time to provide the information.

Crime branch raids gutkha unit, hides news

Aurangabad: Commissioner of police Amitesh Kumar is probing an alleged incident in which the crime branch intentionally suppressed the fact that they had conducted a raid on a gutkha manufacturing unit under the jurisdiction of Jinsi police station.
The information about a gutkha manufacturing unit at a posh bungalow close to the police IP mess and the official residence of the superintendent of police was passed on by a journalist. Kumar soon tasked inspector Avinash Aghav of the crime branch and an assistant inspector to conduct a raid on the unit, along special branch sleuths and the Food and Drugs Authority. But, information about the successful raid was suppressed for reasons best known to those who are privy to the development.
A senior officer said, "Even for minor detections and action by the crime branch, a press note is sent across Whatsapp groups, besides emailing it to all reporters. But, the successful raid on a gutkha manufacturing unit not coming out, leaves scope for suspicion."
Soon after learning about the act by the crime branch, Kumar summoned the inspector sought his explanation.
Kumar said, "I am probing the act of suppressing the news. Henceforth it will be ensured that utmost transparency is maintained in raids and seizures made by the city police.
The crime branch is also accused of showing the cost of seized gutkha as a meagre Rs 15,000, raising serious suspicions.
When contacted, Aghav said that he "forgot" to inform the authorities about the raid.
Sources said the owner of the gutkha unit is a key player in the region's illicit gutkha manufacturing circle and is known for his influence across the departments.
A senior police officer said, "The reason for the existence of a gutkha manufacturing unit under the nose of the city police is that the owner greases the authorities' palms much beyond their expectations."

Food For Thought

Almighty Allah (SWT), while creating this world stuffed it with all its requirements including the food for all the creations which were to inhabit the planet from its creation to doom. The guarantee for food for all has been there from none other than the Creator. The food in nature, in its purest form is abundant for all creations, and barring humans, every other creature takes it in its original and purest form provided by Allah (SWT). The man is blessed with the sense of tang and taste, and hence has learnt innovative ways to make his food delectable, luscious and sumptuous.
However the insatiable human greed has takes over all the moral sensibilities and, in a wild pursuit of getting incessant material profits, humans have been indulging in adulterating, polluting and contaminating this natural bounty without the slightest remorse or concern for fellow humans’ health and life.
Food adulteration in an unpardonable act of intentionally debasing the quality of food offered for sale either by mixture or substitution of inferior substances or by the removal of some valuable ingredient.
We in Kashmir have been facing this menace not only in the food items imported, but also in the eatables made indigenously. The instances of lethal adulterations in spices, pre-prepared food articles and milk, to name a few have been quite often reported in the valley.
Recently a popular milk brand was banned for alleged adulteration with detergents which shook the whole valley. The valley has been consuming around 50000 litres of this milk daily for so many years, along with other related products like curds and cheese, etc. Imagine the myriad damage to the health of the masses this reported adulteration might have caused. Will the alleged perpetuators have some compunction?
Another recent case of food adulteration that took the country and Kashmir by storm was adulteration of a famous brand of noodles which was found to contain higher than permissible levels of lead and manganese. The adulterants are reportedly carcinogenic in nature.
Consequently, we have all become, and genuinely though, very incredulous of the purity and quality standards of the food we consume on daily basis. Adulterants in the garb of food colours, chemicals and additives often creep up not just in our local produce, but even in packaged products which flood our markets, and which we are habituated to consume as a matter of keeping along with the changing trends. Mixing milk with water to add volume, starch in cheese to make it thicker and fluffier, hydrogenated oils and vanaspati in ghee, cow dung in spices etc., are just a few examples. Stories like these often shake us up and make us vary of what we eat.
The technical definition of food adulteration according to the Food and Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is, “The addition or subtraction of any substance to or from food, so that the natural composition and quality of food substance is affected.” Food adulteration can be intentional when done to add volume, texture, taste or stability to the items in raw form or prepared form, which may result in the loss of actual quality of food item. These substances may be other available food items or non-food items. The Adulterated food is thus impure, unwholesome and unsafe for human consumption.
"Adulteration" in legal term means that a food product fails to meet standards set by the concerned authorities. Adulteration is an addition of another substance to a food item in order to increase the quantity, look and/or the taste of the food item. Generally, if a food contains a poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to health, it is considered to be adulterated.
The adulteration can also be due to carelessness or poor maintenance of the facility and logistics on part of the food manufacturer or distributor. The natural consequence of this adulteration is serious long term damage to the public health.
Data reveals that some of the most common adulterated foods are milk and milk products, flour, edible oils, cereals, condiments, pulses, coffee, tea, confectionery, baking powder, vinegar, besan and curry powder, packaged drinks, almost everything which we use as food or a part of the food on daily basis. Most of the time looking at the food won't giveaway whether it's been adulterated or not.
Contamination is generally done by mixing superfluous and extraneous material including even objectionable substances in foods, such as glass, metal, plastic, wood, stones, sand, cigarette butts, undesirable parts of the raw plant material such as stems and roots and even harmful chemical and biological substances. In Kashmir reports of adulteration of spices with cow dung has also been reported. In a lot of cases, food additives and chemicals hide behind their scientific pseudo names.
With the changing times, Kashmiris also took to the new trend of eating outside, though we carry and continue the tradition of running a full-fledged kitchen in our homes. The growing fashion of eating outside has resulted in mushroom growth of restaurants, food courts, road side eateries, fast food outlets and street food vendors etc. In most of these places, with few exceptions, food safety measures are never adhered to and maintaining hygiene is one of the least concerns. Resorting to adulteration to enhance taste and look is a routine matter. Here in Kashmir we have all the relevant food laws in place. But following or respecting a law is thought to be an insult in Kashmir and enforcing it is an opportunity for raising an extra buck.
Eating out of home is generally for fun, pleasure, partying and fashion. Earlier this was not the case with our society. People would by large have the home-made food, even carry it to their work places. The hygiene was always ensured and adulteration never a concern. This is why our earlier generation lived a much healthier life, and we would not find the clinics and hospitals overcrowded with people as is the case nowadays.
The trend of eating out of home and enormous consumption of readymade handy eatables has opened up golden opportunities for those involved in food adulteration and contamination. What is pathetic is that people despite being regularly informed through various media seem to be least bothered about the menace and their own health. Ironically they are happily ready to settle for lifelong health issues rather than avoiding the fun eating in the hotels and restaurants.
The hazards of food adulteration are compounded by the fact that most of the natural raw foods, like vegetables, pulses and even fruits are routinely grown against the natural processes. This is one of the reasons why the seasonality of vegetables and the fruits has become irrelevant. It has been reported many times that the fruits and vegetables are treated with lethal chemicals to ensure premature ripening and over sizing. The addition of newer manures and fertilizers has not only taken the health benefits off the natural edibles but has made them more injurious than beneficial.
Manufacturing and sale of adulterated food is a grave human rights and legal violation. The law has its own shortcomings, and perpetuators routinely slip through loopholes, and escape punishments. The lack of moral values and human sensibilities have unfortunately taken a back seat and have been replaced by insatiable greed to amass more and more material wealth. The people perusing such crimes are not only depriving the humanity of purity and originality of the food provided by the Nature, but also feeding them poisonous things and thus playing with their lives.
In our society, most of the people dealing with food business are our own Muslim brethren. Islam in unequivocal terms condemns the act and strongly admonishes those indulged in food adulteration.
The Holy Prophet (pbuh) said, “One who sells adulterated goods to Muslims is not from us. He will be raised with the Jews on the Day of Qiamah, because an adulterator is not a Muslim.”
On another occasion, The Revered Prophet (pbuh) said,
“One who gives us adulterated goods is not from us.”
He repeated this sentence thrice then said,
“And Allah will remove barakat from the livelihood of such Muslim. (Allah) will destroy his economy and leave him upon his own condition.”
Earning the wrath of Almighty and displeasure of beloved Prophet (SAW) for worldly gains is surly not a profitable business but an eternal loss.

Patanjali's mustard oil ad in hot water

Edible oil industry body SEA is approaching FSSAI, ASCI against the brand's 'false and misleading' oil
Edible oil industry body SEA is approaching food safety regulator FSSAI as well as advertising industry watchdog ASCI against yoga guru Ramdev promoted Patanjali alleging that its ads for mustard oil are "false and misleading".
Stating that it doesn't "appreciate derogatory remark for other edible oils", Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) claims that Patanjali's advertisement of its 'kacchi ghani mustard oil' is "not in good taste".
Patanjali, however, insisted that its present commercial was "based on facts, findings and research. We do not intend or mislead any one".
The company's advertisement had claimed that kacchi ghani mustard oil of other brands are "adulterated".
SEA has taken exception to such claims.
"Recent advertisement on Kacchi Ghani Mustard oil published by Patanjali Ayurved Ltd is not in good taste. In this advertisement, there are misleading and false statements about the solvent extracted oils," Mumbai-based SEA said in a statement.
SEA has sent a detailed memorandum with documentary evidence to Patanjali drawing its attention and requested to withdraw the misleading statement made in the advertisement against solvent extracted oils, it said.
"Unfortunately, Patanjali continued the advertisement both in print and electronic media and therefore the Association has decided to approach Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) as well as Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) to direct the Patanjali to withdraw the said advertisement with misleading facts," SEA added.
The association also asked its members producing 'kacchi ghani mustard oil' to register their complain with FSSAI as well as ASCI on this issue.
When contacted, Patanjali Ayurved spokesman said, "Our present commercial is based on facts and research. We do not intend or mislead any one. We believe in educating the mass and promote quality products."
The company has been working in 'Kacchi Ghani mustard oil' from over four years. The response of the consumer is very good and the people are now getting aware of the health benefit of the mustard oil, hence it is on the pace of fast growth, the official adde