Jun 30, 2017
With lax enforcement, gutkha sale continues silently
Despite prompt bans and reports of seizures, banned tobacco and other addictive products continue to be widely available
The Tamil Nadu government banned the sale of gutkha and pan masala as early as in 2001, but the measure was bogged down in litigation.
Then invoking the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, the Commissioner of Food Safety of the State of Tamil Nadu issued orders prohibiting the manufacture, storage, distribution or sale of gutkha and and pan masala and any other food products containing tobacco or nicotine as ingredients, by whatsoever name it is available in the market, in the whole of the State of Tamil Nadu for one year.
Since then, the ban has been extended through notifications time and again.
Even as enforcement agencies have been cracking down on hubs in the city, the sale is continuing without any interruption.
Here, there, everywhere
A quick survey by The Hindu showed that the banned tobacco products are available across the counter in petty shops all over Chennai.
Gutkha sachets can be bought like candy from shops just outside the Police Commissioner’s office, the Madras High Court, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Egmore and campuses of government offices.
From Neelangarai up to Tiruvanmiyur, street vendors and petty shops proudly display the array of sachets selling banned tobacco products. A shopkeeper in Tiruvallur Salai, Tiruvanmiyur, said, “There is a huge demand for these products because of the increase in migrant labourers. We receive supply from north Chennai and are getting substantial profits from the sale.”
Near educational institutions
Things are not different near educational institutions. For instance, tobacco products are on sale near the entrance of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Multiple raids have not deterred traders from stocking such banned tobacco products in the city.
Reports of arrests
On Thursday, a police press release, listing that day’s developments, said a special team under Pallikaranai Inspector arrested Neeraj Shukla, 21, of Nanmangalam for possessing banned products — ‘mava’ weighing 2kg. Vepery police nabbed a person who was selling Hans near a school on Bricklin Road, besides seizing banned products. Vignesh was caught with ‘mava’ in Koyambedu and Madhan Kumar of Jafferkhanpet was arrested with 20 packs of Hans. T.P. Chatram police held three persons who were in possession of 10 kg of mava.
A senior police officer on condition of anonymity said in most cases, manufacturers and stockists were let off with a fine and a few days in jail. The banned products are either locally produced or transported from other States. Sowcarpet and other adjoining areas are the hubs for the products. Police also received information some time ago that products were being smuggled into the city through container lorries and then distributed.
To Eat Or Not To Eat
Government is on safe track as long as its actions conform to the country’s Constitution framework. The amendments made during the many governments of the land so far to its text reflect its inadequacy in setting the track initially. Issues relating to food of the country‘s population, given its diversity on various counts including and apart from traditions as well as customs of different sections of society, don’t seem to have figured in the script explicitly, specially issues of their food preferences. In that context, the recent episodes of intervention by the top brass in the Union Government as well as some State governments into the tricky area of food habits of people has generated only heat in the land, a fallout that could have been prevented by deft handling of the matter. Foremost factor that let the genie out of the bottle as it were was to bring the controversy into the open, forgetting that one person’s food is another’s poison, although ‘poison’ is not to be taken literally.
Both carnivores (meat eaters) and herbivores (vegetarians) are conditioned in their choice of food by many obvious factors, most importantly a) accessibility and b) affordability. Only after these conditions get fulfilled, the remaining factors such as preference, traditions, customs, constraints, fascination, taste, suitability to health, desire, craze, compulsions and so on rule the roost. Thus, food, like love, is many-splendoured and, therefore, the issues relating to food deserve to be handled with care and maturity.
Knowledge on food concerning its every conceivable aspect generated to this day is too vast to permit anybody to claim its comprehensive understanding flawlessly. Even the term balanced diet, like the army uniform, fits all in general (on an average) but no one in particular. The mark of intelligence, unarguably, is one’s ability to formulate a diet not only for delighting one-self but also to sustain one’s health. It is incongruous, therefore, for any authority in the government, to snatch the freedom of individuals to decide for themselves, both carnivores and herbivores, what they eat or don’t eat. The crux of the currently raging controversy hurting that freedom is that some sections of the herbivores cannot stomach the food habits of the carnivores, specially their choice of animals as the source of meat.
In short, the current scenario of food habits of the land’s diaspora has witnessed turbulence due to emotion and sentiment stumping the spirit of accommodation and mutual acceptance of people in deciding what to eat or not to eat. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), a statutory body under FSS Act, has discreetly stayed aloof from the turbulence, in addition to facing the public perception of the Act remaining only on paper, as per a Mysuru-based report published in a section of the press this week.
MRP, other info of products sold online mandatory from 2018
Products sold on e-commerce platforms and medical devices declared as drugs like stents will now have to mandatorily carry retail prices and other essential information from next year as per the government's new labelling rules.
Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has approved amendments to the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, that will come into effect from January 1, 2018.
These rules were framed to regulate the pre-packaged commodities, which have to comply with certain mandatory lebelling requirements.
"Products on e-commerce platforms to display declarations required under the amended rules. Medical devices declared as drugs brought under the rules," an official statement said.
The government said that the rules have been amended to enhance consumer protection, but at the same time balancing with the requirement of ease of doing business.
The amended rules also prohibit dual MRPs on products, saying that "no person shall declare different MRPs (dual MRP) on an identical pre-packaged commodity, unless allowed under any law".
The government said that this will benefit consumers at large as there are complaints regarding dual MRP for items sold at public places like cinema hall, airport, malls etc.
With growing online trade, the new rules has brought products sold on e-commerce platform under its ambit.
"Goods displayed by the seller on e-commerce platform should contain declarations required under the rules like name & address of the manufacturer, packer and importer, name of the commodity, net content, retail sale price, consumer care complaint, dimension etc," the statement said.
Among other key changes, the government has increased the fontsize of letters and numerals for making declaration so that consumers can easily read the same. The net quantity checking is made more scientific, with introduction of e- coding. Bar Code/QR Coding is allowed on voluntary basis.
On medical devices like stent, valve, orthopaedic implants, syringe and tools for operations etc, the government said, "consumers were facing difficulty as prices of devices were sold according to the paying capacity of the consumer. Even after capping MRP, many companies were not displaying."
"Also, there are important declarations other than MRP that need to be displayed, are brought into the purview of declarations to be made under the rules," it said.
The definition of institutional consumer has been changed to prevent any scope for commercial transactions/retail sale of commodities sourced by the institution for their own use.
The provisions regarding declarations on Food Products have been harmonized with labelling regulations under the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006.
Central team finds J&K food labs ‘partially’ fit
The inspection happened after the High Court directed the government to ascertain whether food safety measures were being taken in the state.
A two-member team of experts from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) inspected the two Food Testing Laboratories in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday for assessing their facilities and the quality of food testing.
The inspection happened after the High Court directed the government to ascertain whether food safety measures were being taken in the state.
An official, who witnessed the inspection at the Srinagar lab, told Greater Kashmir on the condition of anonymity that food safety standards were being met partially in the state because the labs lacked microbiological testing facilities.
“The team also pointed out shortcomings in sample storage and the legal issues involved,” he said.
The team comprised Lalitha R Gowda, member scientific committee FSSAI, and Shailendra Kumar, assistant director Quality Assurance at FSSAI’s central division, who also is in charge of empanelment and accreditation of food testing laboratories.
Controller Food and Drugs (J&K) Lotika Khajuria said the inspection report will be submitted by the team to the High Court soon.
“The team will share a sealed report with the High Court only. We do not know the results of inspection ourselves,” she said.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation, the High Court had directed the chief executive officer of the FSSAI to depute a qualified team for inspecting the two food labs in J&K and whether they met the criteria laid out in the Food Safety and Standard Act 2006.
In March last year, after Greater Kashmir published a series of reports about food safety in Kashmir, the High Court took suo moto cognisance of the issue.
A two-member team of experts from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) inspected the two Food Testing Laboratories in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday for assessing their facilities and the quality of food testing.
The inspection happened after the High Court directed the government to ascertain whether food safety measures were being taken in the state.
An official, who witnessed the inspection at the Srinagar lab, told Greater Kashmir on the condition of anonymity that food safety standards were being met partially in the state because the labs lacked microbiological testing facilities.
“The team also pointed out shortcomings in sample storage and the legal issues involved,” he said.
The team comprised Lalitha R Gowda, member scientific committee FSSAI, and Shailendra Kumar, assistant director Quality Assurance at FSSAI’s central division, who also is in charge of empanelment and accreditation of food testing laboratories.
Controller Food and Drugs (J&K) Lotika Khajuria said the inspection report will be submitted by the team to the High Court soon.
“The team will share a sealed report with the High Court only. We do not know the results of inspection ourselves,” she said.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation, the High Court had directed the chief executive officer of the FSSAI to depute a qualified team for inspecting the two food labs in J&K and whether they met the criteria laid out in the Food Safety and Standard Act 2006.
In March last year, after Greater Kashmir published a series of reports about food safety in Kashmir, the High Court took suo moto cognisance of the issue.
'Dope-laced nutritional supplements a cause of worry'
New Delhi, Jun 29 (PTI) Sports Minister Vijay Goel today said that the import and sale of dope-laced nutritional supplements was a cause to worry for his ministry as it sought to re-confirm its commitment to take tough anti-doping measures against drug offenders.
Inaugurating a conclave on 'Nutritional Supplements for Sports' here to work out a doping free model, Goel said time has now come to provide safe and quality nutrition to the athletes in the wake of increasing international competition and high incidences of dope.
Goel said tackling the causes of doping was a priority for his ministry.
"The import and sale of sub-standard and dope-laced nutritional supplement was a cause of worry as an unsuspected athlete gets banned under the Anti-Doping Code because of use of these supplements," Goel said in a ministry release.
"Supplements laced with prohibited substances have been found to be a major cause of doping in India. NADA has taken up the matter with Food Safety and Standards Authority due to which an advisory stand issued by them to the Food Safety Commissioners," said the minister.
He said to protect the clean athletes and meet their requirement for quality supplements, the convergence of various regulatory authorities to work out a dope-free model for nutritional products was a good initiative and a welcome step.
"A collaboration of NADA with FSSAI and other agencies will have far reaching impact in improving physical fitness standards in the country and help athletes in making informed choices," he said.
Goel called upon the stakeholders to create mass awareness about doping and its vicious effects on the career of athletes. He said he will personally understand the level of awareness among athletes by meeting them in different states and training camps during his visits there.
The minister further stated that while collaboration with Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority has enabled India to adopt international practices in dope testing, resulting in a high detection rate, there was also a need for strengthening preventive aspects to reduce the incidence of doping in the country.
He said the deliberations during the conclave will provide a road map of regulatory mechanism for dope free nutritional supplements which can be consumed by athletes without fear of inadvertent doping.
Pawan Kumar Aggarwal, the chief executive officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, eminent scientists, nutritionists, sportspersons, office bearers of sports federations, laboratory directors and regulatory authorities from various parts of the country attended the day-long conclave.
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