Random sampling to check mid-day meal quality

ALLAHABAD: In order to ensure quality mid-day meal (MDM) to children of more 3,500 school, the education department has decided to collect random samples of the meal served to children under the scheme. These samples would be sent for laboratory tests. District magistrate, Allahabad, Raj Shekhar said "principals and gram pradhans are responsible for the quality of food to be served to children under the scheme." He added that both principals and gram pradhans would supervise the preparation of meals and taste it before being served to children.

He further said that gram pradhans and principals would ensure that the meal was prepared in hygienic conditions and encourage students to wash their hands before eating the meal. Claiming that these exercises were initiated to strengthen mid-day meal's management in schools, he said that the set norms had to be complied with under all circumstances. Basic Shikla Adhikari has already fixed the role and responsibilities of gram pradhans, corporators, principals and quota holders.

Besides, block development officer (BDO) and block education officer (BEO) have been asked to inspect at least five and 10 schools on weekly basis. The MDM scheme was currently available in over 3,500 schools of the district and stress was being laid on regulating the procurement of food grains and other materials. The food has to be tested by at least a teacher and a member of the school management committee dominated by parents. Officials made it clear that efforts were underway to ensure social auditing of the scheme. Basic shiksha adhikari, Allahabad, PK Sharma said "though no complaint has been received, efforts are being made to check the food quality." He added "we plan to collect food samples for laboratory tests to ascertain the quality of food being served to children".

Meanwhile, insiders said "it is not an easy task to collect sample and send it for laboratory test to Lucknow or Varanasi. Authorities concerned are consulting officials of FDA (Food & Drug Administration) regarding the checking of food quality." Meanwhile, grams pradhans have been asked to get 'A' grade rice and high quality wheat from the quota holders and ensure that beneficiaries were served quality food. Gram pradhans have been asked to procure fresh vegetables, sealed edible oil, pulses and Agmark spices and iodized salt. Besides, the food should be prepared on LPG.

More importantly, principals have been asked to maintain MDM register and enroll entries like number of children present, quantity of articles used for preparing mid-day meal etc on daily basis.

School authorities have also been asked to keep the area clean and maintain quality and safety of food. Schools would have to maintain monthly report card of every student's health status and weight. Children should be offered meal as per the menu. Block development officer or officer concerned has to be informed if mid-day meal is not served to children due to some reasons.

Khesari dal consumed as gravy is safe: Study

HYDERABAD: Khesari dal consumed as gravy in small quantities is safe. Consuming large quantities, however, may result in lathyrism.

Lathyrism is a neurological condition in which victims suffer paralysis in the lower limbs.

With a demand being raised to lift the ban on cultivation of Khesari dal in the country, the Planning Commission got an epidemiological study done. The study sponsored by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India was carried out by the National Institute of Nutrition-Indian Council of Medical Research (NIN-ICMR) based in Hyderabad.

A pilot study to assess the impact of consumption of Khesari dal on human health was conducted in Gondia district of Maharashtra. The principal investigator of the study, Dr Arjun L Khandare, scientist 'E', Food and Drug Toxicology Research Centre (FDRTC), NIN told The Times of India that the consumption of Khesari dal was found to be minimal and it was primarily in the form of gravy which showed minimal exposure of ODAP/day.

"The nutrition status of the people residing in the area was good without any major health problems. There were no recent cases of lathyrism except two old cases in the area which were correlated with consumption of Khesari dal as a staple food," Dr Arjun Khandare said.

It may be mentioned here that due to the presence of a neuro-excitatory amino acid referred to as ODAP, a crippling disease called Neurolathyrism occurs when the legume is consumed. This was the reason why Khesari dal was banned in the country in 1955. However, there is no ban on sale of Khesari dal in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

Despite a ban, the legume is being cultivated in small quantities in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Since Khesari dal (Lathyrus sativus) is a high-yielding and drought resistant legume, there has been a demand to lift the ban on its sale. International studies have shown that Khesari dal contains 31 per cent protein, 41 per cent carbohydrate, 17 per cent total dietary fibre, two per cent fat and two per cent ash, on a dry matter basis.

It may be mentioned here that NIN had earlier done a study on animals feeding goats with Khesari dal. The findings of the study only confirmed that consumption of Khesari dal does result in lathyrism.

However, following the Planning Commission's recommendation, a study was taken up to assess the status of Khesari dal production, its consumption and to identify cases of lathyrism in two blocks of Gondia district (Tiroda and Gondia) in Maharashtra. In the two cases of lathyrism that were detected, they were found to be old cases in which the victims had consumed considerably large quantities of Khesari dal during critical situations.

It was found in the study that 61 per cent of the population was consuming Khesari dal and the average consumption was 12-20 gm in the form of gravy and no health effects were observed.

‘Warehoused pepper lots, a clear case of adulteration’

The food safety commissioner of Kerala Biju Prabhakar, who has ordered to destroy close to 900 tonnes of black pepper, says the warehoused pepper lots were adulterated and unfit for human consumption.

“It is a clear case of adulteration,” Prabhakar told Business Line. “The black pepper, adulterated with mineral oil, is a health hazard to the consumers and needs to be destroyed.” He noted that according to the Food Safety and Standards Regulations 2011 black pepper should be free from traces of mineral oil, which was Group B carcinogenic stuff.

He said that the rest of the pepper, currently lying in six warehouses which had been sealed by the food safety authority, was at various stages of checking and analysis. If tested positive, they risked destruction.

Prabhakar, however, said the adulteration did not seem to be done ‘for profit.’ The mineral oil was used as a fungicide and polishing agent. Such practice had been in place for long but had not been detected or reported.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India had been tipped off that over 6,000 tonnes of black pepper – stored in NCDEX-accredited warehouses – were adulterated with mineral oil. The food safety officials in Kerala tested five samples and found they were all adulterated and sealed all the warehouses in December.

The order to destroy such large quantities of pepper is expected to impact the market prices.

Ecolab's Sustainability Report for 2012 highlights role in food market

Ecolab recently released its 2012 Sustainability Report, which highlights how the company helps customers in the food, healthcare, hospitality, energy and industrial markets reduce environmental impacts, operate efficiently and improve safety.

It also details the global hygiene services provider's performance in line with its operating principles, which encompass economic progress, environmental stewardship, safety and social responsibility.

“Sustainability is core to Ecolab’s purpose to make the world cleaner, safer and healthier. Our true impact is realised by helping customers meet sustainability goals at more than one million locations worldwide,” said Douglas M Baker, Jr, chairman and chief executive officer, Ecolab.

“Our team of more than 25,000 sales and service representatives deliver sustainable solutions that provide clean water, safe food, abundant energy and healthy environments on a global scale,” he added.

The report features several case studies describing how Ecolab has helped customers achieve
sustainability and performance goals, including providing technology that allowed one electric utility to reduce its withdrawal of freshwater by 290 million gallons per year.

Another case study illustrates how Ecolab helped a global dairy company save 193 million gallons of water, 175 million kW of energy and 665 cu m of raw material in 2012 alone.

“Our 2012 Sustainability Report focusses on the measurable results we deliver to customers through our industry-leading services, solutions and expertise,” said Emilio Tenuta, vice-president, corporate sustainability, Ecolab.

“Ecolab’s positive impact is grounded in a holistic, science-based approach to helping customers achieve their goals while using fewer resources,” he added.

The report and detailed appendix also provide an overview of Ecolab’s sustainability performance.

Highlights include reducing water use by 70 million gallons across the company’s manufacturing facilities, and donating $8 million to communities through the Ecolab Foundation, in-kind donations for disaster relief and volunteer hours.

Barcoding for packaging : global compliance

On 26th June 1974 a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum became the first product to be scanned with a GS1 (known earlier as EAN) barcode. This was a momentous time in the history, 40 years ago, marked within supply chain automation. A massive impact we see all over today, and now readying to respond to the increasing call for product traceability which far exceeds a simple product identification process.

Historically, GS1 bar codes are the first component of the total supply chain system adopted, primarily so retailers can scan trade items through the Point-of-Sale (POS). Some of the initial benefits retailers gained were the elimination of item price marking, the automatic real time identification of items sold thus real time sales figures and auto-triggers for replenishment to minimise risk of stock outs. Further the benefits of GS1 bar codes to manufacturer and retailers that forge way beyond the POS application and provide a basis of using GS1 bar codes in conjunction with other technologies and GS1 standards, to achieve far reaching benefits. This really justifies the presence of these iconic symbols of modern trade.

Barcoding is a method of encoding information into a machine-readable pattern of predefined bar and space patterns that can be quickly and accurately read by a scanner and a computer. Order numbers, lot numbers, ingredient codes or any other information can be encoded into a barcode. The basic operation used in barcoding is simple. A barcode containing product data is printed on, or adhered to, a food product for example. That barcode symbol is read by a scanner with a photodiode that can record the light patterns. The scanner then produces an electronic signal that exactly matches the printed barcode pattern and sends the barcoded information to a computer where the data is decoded and recorded just as if it had been entered by hand.

The natural benefits of barcode based operations are obvious,

• Reduced paperwork
• Shorter lead times
• Fewer out of stocks
• Faster shelf replenishment
• Instant response to product recalls
• Increased order accuracy
• Improved inventory control
• Easy inclusion into legacy software systems
• Low cost to get implemented and automate with
• Standardised templates exist globally, for modern trade to communicate across its trading partners seamlessly

Where does the food your family eats, sourced from? How did it get to your supermarket? What route did it take to get there? The label says “organic”, but is it really? Does it contain anything your daughter is allergic to? Is it grown and harvested in an eco-friendly, sustainable way? The ability to answer these questions lies in traceability applications and systems.

Identification and traceability
In order to work, traceability systems need to know everything that happens, at every step of the way, from the farm to your kitchen table. But with the increase in extended and highly global supply chains and the growing use of contract manufacturing, tracing food products from end of end has become more difficult.

GS1 standards make traceability systems possible, on a global scale – no matter how many companies are involved or how many borders are crossed as food and food ingredients travel from one end of the supply chain all the way to the consumer.

Traceability is especially important if something goes wrong and food products must be recalled. Recent legislation in many Countries obliges manufacturers to inform authorities and consumers of any potential risk to consumers from their products. Many other countries are reviewing their own legislation on this same theme. Individual growers, producers and manufacturers, eager to protect their brands from the harm done by tainted materials or poorly-managed recalls, are boosting their own internal recall policies and methodologies.

The GS1 standard today is the most widely used identification system enabling over 2 million companies to scan barcodes, identify products capture and store information across 150 countries as they engage in trade both domestic and international. Every pack today by default is almost expected to carry a barcode so that it can be identified and tracked efficiently. It is no co-incidence that barcodes really started on food products. Food and Pharma and FMCG companies have really understood the value that barcode technology can bring to their business operations and efficient traceability requirements. The key thing here is efficiently in scanning. So while standardized barcoding systems are more than four decades in existence it is important to realize especially in an Indian context barcode quality and scanning efficiency. We all as consumers, experience while shopping, the number of times as we wait at the point of sale check-out counter, while the operator attempts to scan a product and is not successful ! Finally resorting to a key-board entry to get the data he needs. Bad barcodes definitely destroy the very purpose they are to serve on the product pack which also causes loss of efficiency, wasted time and increased costs to wholesalers and the retailers.

Most countries are expecting stringent traceability norms for safe product consumption by consumers. In light of this it is all the more important that barcodes perform the way they are supposed to.

Getting it right
Some of the key aspects that brand owners, manufacturers, printing and packaging companies need to focus on what include:

1. Correct symbology selection and design: It is possible today to generate, sitting at a PC, almost any type of barcode. But what is important is to ensure scanability. Using the right GTIN representation, appropriate encodation and product number allocation. Once past this step the designer needs to use the right software tools to create the barcode image that must be suited for the desired print process.
2. Care during printing: With the right control during making of the Cylinder or Plate, the printer then needs to assume the right control during the print process for the barcode symbol apart from the graphics and text that he is printing.
3. Final packaging configuration: The final proof really of the entire process is at the final retail or logistic-pack level, as it is to be sent out into the supply chain. Ensuring compliance here is paramount of the brand owner so that he does not encounter complaints of non-scannability, or poor print quality and so on, from his trading partners and more so from retailers.

Need for the Judge
As India moves more actively into the modern retail and with an increasing number of scanning stores, the role of scanning speed and scanning efficiency comes more into focus. Historically the debate between FMCG manufacturer and the global retailers have been put to rest with the evolution of defined barcode quality standards ( ANSI, CEN and ISO standards ). This means that there is now a level playing field for all stake holders in the supply chain to be able to clearly define if a barcode is good or not. So those who are responsible for designing, printing, of barcodes in whatever format they may be, do carry this responsibility of ensuring perfect scanability, and fit-for-use of these machine readable symbol.

The device that will give them a quick assessment as a neutral ‘judge’, as to whether the product barcode will scan under any scanning environment, using any type of optical barcode reader, is known as a BARCODE VERIFIER. This device gives immediately ability to assess, interpret and control quality. To increase the level of compliance to defined parameters of quality. The symbols will then be fit for use and the digital identification of product packs riding all these symbols and will be well sustained through its journey here on. This process will not only verify the quality of the printed barcode, but will also provide essential validation on many aspects of the barcode – It’s all very well if a barcode is printed to an acceptable quality but what good is this if the data is encoded incorrectly, if the best before date has already passed, the quantity is incorrect or if the number encoded does not match the goods inside, and so on.

Conclusion
Bear in mind that barcodes are not just identification tools any longer, they are the basis for product traceability with increasing regulation globally on product safety and right to recall. With its presence of 4 decades now, it is time we get the right controls in place, that will make sure that these symbols, which are line of sight based, are easily identified and scanned the first time each time. After all it costs exactly the same to get a bad barcode, as a good one !

(The writer is Executive Director,
Sandilyam Automation Systems Pvt Limited, Bangalore)

UAS to host Urban Krishi Mela to promote fruit and veg terrace gardens

The University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bengaluru, is now going all out to encourage the concept of setting up terrace gardens to grow fruit and vegetables. The novel aspects of utilising rain-water harvesting and vermi-compost would be some of the highlights of the event.

In this regard, the university is organising a three-day Urban Krishi Mela between November 3 and 5, 2013 on its campus in Bengaluru to persuade people in the urban areas to grow horticultural crops in their houses using such techniques as rooftop gardening.

The terrace gardens, or home gardening, would prompt people to grow vegetable and fruit-bearing plants. The objective is manifold as it would allow easy access to fresh and safe fruit and vegetables.

“The model of home gardening on the ground or on terraces is not just to cultivate gardening as a hobby, but also to maximise home-grown horticultural produce in the wake of agricultural land shortage,” Narayana Gowda, vice-chancellor, UAS-B, said at a press conclave.

On the occasion, a seminar on urban horticulture and a roof gardening is to be held. B N Vishwanath, agricultural expert and proponent of terrace gardening, said the that the aim was to give a fillip to urban horticulture, which includes terrace gardening from a holistic perspective.

“We do not want people to use the Cauvery drinking water to take care of their plants. We are promoting the concept of rain-water harvesting to take care of the plants. Similarly, we want to people to convert their kitchen waste into vermi-compost. Using kitchen waste to grow plants would help keep the city clean by reducing the pressure on garbage disposal,” said Vishwanath.

He called upon the Bengaluru Mahanagar Bruhat Palike (BBMP), the city corporation, and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) to give a helping hand to urban horticulture initiatives.

According to Vishwanath, “Bengaluru is home to 500 to 1,000 terrace gardens, and there was further scope to grow more vegetables.”

B N Satyanaryana, head, department of horticulture, UAS, said, “It is possible to grow most vegetables required by a family. All it needs is a small garden area or a terrace space, which is available in houses built on plots measuring 30ft by 40ft. Vegetables like drumstick, bitter gourd, tomatoes and beans have been grown in pots.

“Further, plans are underway to promote the horticulture in farm-lands, and UAS plans to organise a global innovative farmers’ meet in February 2014, in which over 3,000 farmers were expected to participate,” informed Gowda.

Maharashtra's FDA asks Centre to impose life ban on smokeless products

Mahesh Zagade, food commissioner, Food and Drug Administration (FDA ) Maharashtra, wrote a letter urging the Centre to impose a life ban on smokeless products, which would be in the best interests of the health of 120 crore Indians.

He said, “Maharashtra and many other states banned the manufacture, sale and consumption of smokeless tobacco products – including tobacco, paan masala and scented products (barring scented supari) in 2012.

Zagade added that the state amended the notification to prohibit scented supari and all other smokeless products, and was the leading state in implementing the ban by seizing and destroying smokeless products worth Rs 21 crore last year.

“However, no such ban was imposed in other states. In a few cases, it was not implemented properly and as a result, gutkha continues to be sold illegally,” he added, informing that gutkha and other scented products worth Rs 56 lakh has been seized in Maharashtra since July 2013.

“When the provision for a ban on gutkha, tobacco and paan masala was made in the year 2012, manufacturers used to add separate flavours in the supari and tobacco, which was also injurious for health. This made it contrary to the provision,” Zagade said.

“So we, as the state's food regulator, amended the provisions by banning all the smokeless products, thus making it difficult for the manufacturers, wholesalers and paan stalls to continue running their businesses,” he added.

Zagade added, “Many big tobacco manufacturers went to the High Court. But they failed to get the stay from the High Court. Now some of them have moved the Supreme Court, but since the ban has come into effect, the manufacturers will not get the stay.”

“Earlier, manufacturers manufactured smokeless products, and would attract consumers by resorting to various marketing gimmicks, which consumers were not aware of. But now, after the complete ban, manufacturers will no longer be able to play with the health of 11 crore people of Maharashtra,” he added.

Zagade informed that he wrote to the food commissioners of all states of the country, urging them to implement it strictly in their states, and asked the railway authorities, municipal commissioners and police authorities to cooperate with the FDA officials for the proper implementation of the ban.