Mineral oil-free pepper to be released soon

KOCHI: The food safety department will soon release pepper confiscated under suspicion that it has been contaminated with mineral oil.
Laboratory tests confirmed that 8% of the confiscated 4,400 tonnes of pepper were not contaminated and could be consumed. The uncontaminated pepper would be released.
The confiscated pepper has been stored in six warehouses. The sampling of the spice had started in May and the result of all, except of those stored at a warehouse in Vazhakkulam in Ernakulam district, has been received.
Food safety officials said samples from the Vazhakkulam warehouse were sent to the laboratory only a week ago.
"Pepper, which is fit for human consumption, will be released as soon as stakeholders approach us," said Biju Prabhakar, state food safety commissioner.
The samples were collected in the presence of Spices Board and National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) representatives, and they were tested in laboratories accredited by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.
The state food safety department sealed the godowns in 2012 after receiving complaints that 6,000 tonnes of black gold stored in the six NCDEX-accredited warehouses were contaminated.
Meanwhile, a case has been pending before the high court of Kerala, challenging the food safety commissioner’s order to destroy the contaminated pepper. The petition was by traders from outside the state, who had bought the spice.

Food Safety Act takes effect in Northern Tamil Nadu

Samples can be taken from food joints even without a complaint

To ensure consumers in this region had access to safe food products, the Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department (Food Safety Wing) has ordered its officials in northern districts to immediately begin taking samples from all shops selling food and related products on a regular basis.

The Department directed the Designated Officers of the Food Safety Wing to initiate legal action against shops found selling sub-standard food products.

High Court order

Official sources told The Hindu here on Wednesday that the order came after the Madras High Court recently vacated its stay imposed on certain regulations of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, from taking effect in the northern districts that come under its jurisdiction (including districts in Western Tamil Nadu). The stay order had prevented the Food Safety Officials from taking samples.

A similar stay for the southern districts was vacated by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court a few months ago.

However, the case against these provisions was still pending. The orders were issued during a review meeting held in Chennai on December 20.

A senior official here said that the order would pave the way for the full fledged implementation of Food Safety Act. Hitherto, the Food Safety Wing only performed surveillance and issued licences besides registering food traders. Samples were lifted only based on specific complaints.

Now, the Food Safety Officials could take samples and conduct microbiological and chemical tests to ascertain its standards, even without receipt of a complaint.

If the testing results found the food to be unsafe, it will attract, depending upon the case, both a fine and imprisonment. If it was sub-standard/ misbranded, a heavy penalty would be levied.

Officials said that the Food Safety Wing in Coimbatore had a Designated Officer and 31 Food Safety Officers to enforce the Food Safety Act.

Coimbatore has one of the six food analysis laboratories in Tamil Nadu that are approved under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The others were in Chennai, Salem, Thanjavur, Tirunelveli and Madurai.

Sources said that so far, 2,500 licences and 6,500 registrations have been done for restaurants, eateries, bakeries and wholesale dealers of food products in Coimbatore. All food and food product enterprises must mandatorily register or get licences by February 4, 2014. A total of 22,500 licences and registrations were expected to be done in Coimbatore.

Milk Adulteration: Recommended and Existing Penalties

Milk is very important due to its special nutritive value and important role for human and animal health. Adulteration is practiced either to substitute cheaper ingredients in milk in order to earn more profit or to impress the buyer to think the product is more valuable or of better quality. Adulteration is a process, in which quality of the milk is deteriorated by adding water or any other supplement into it. A Glass of 250ml of unadulterated milk encompasses 146 kcals; 8gms of fat and protein alongside 257mg of calcium. Calcium and other supplementary vitamins and minerals in milk make it a vital portion of a healthful diet for people of all ages.

According to reports of Indian Council of Medical Research, “milk adulterants have hazardous health effects. The detergent in milk causes food poisoning and other gastrointestinal complications. Its high alkaline level can also damage body tissue and destroy proteins.”

Milk is most commonly diluted with water – this not only reduces its nutritional value, but contaminated water can also cause additional health problems. Other synthetic adulterants used are mainly starch, sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), sugar, urea, hydrated lime, sodium carbonate, formalin, and ammonium sulfate, and these adulterants may causes impairment, heart problem, cancer or even death. While the immediate effect of drinking milk adulterated with urea, caustic soda and formalin is gastroenteritis, the long-term effects are far more serious and are discussed in coming text.

Urea can lead to vomiting, nausea and gastritis; it is particularly harmful for the kidneys. Formalin can cause more severe damage to the body like liver damage. Caustic soda harms the mucosa of the food pipe, especially in kids. The chemicals which contain sodium can act as slow poison and prove dangerous for those people who are suffering from hypertension and heart ailments. Impact of drinking milk adulterated with these chemicals is worse for the health of children.

Existing laws regarding food adulteration

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in January 2011, collected samples from different cities throughout country, which revealed a shocking truth that; out of total 1,791 random samples taken 1,226 samples, were found not fit for human consumption. It means on national level 68.4 percent of milk samples were found adulterated. In states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh 88% of milk samples were found adulterated. The above mentioned study clearly indicated presence of adulterants like fat, ‘solid not fat (SNF)’, sugar, starch, urea, detergents, formalin etc. in milk samples.

Section 272 of the Indian Penal Code states: “Whoever adulterates any article of food or drink, so as to make such article noxious, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.”

While section 16(g) of  Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 if anyone found guilty of adulteration shall be punished with imprisonment which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to three years, and with fine which shall not be less than one thousand rupees; in addition to penalty under section 6.

Recommendation of Supreme Court

In a PIL filed by a group of citizens, led by Swami Achyutanand Tirth of Uttarakhand, a bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia recommended the Centre and the state governments of states to amend the sentence from six months to life imprisonment and also sought framing of a comprehensive policy on the production, supply and sale of healthy, hygienic and natural milk. Amongst all Indian states, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Odisha had already made adulteration punishable by life imprisonment.

Rajasthan claims that, it contributes almost 12.5% of the total milk produced in the country; and state punish imprisonment of upto six years along with a heavy fine upto Rs 6 lakh. There are also provisions for life imprisonment in case, if someone dies due to adulteration in food products.

Orders of apex court for increasing the punishment for milk adulteration from maximum three years to life imprisonment, and the amendment in the production and supply of the milk products, are appreciable and should be considered seriously by states throughout country. Suggested amendment will help in decreasing adulteration in milk for sure.

POSTS OF FOOD INSPECTOR

Scrap recruitment test, demand Cong, CPI
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 25
The Congress and the CPI today urged the state government to scrap the examination conducted to recruit food inspectors in view of the ongoing controversy.

It was reported today that all candidates who appeared in a particular centre had been declared successful whereas from other centres only eight to 10 candidates have cleared the test.

PPCC spokesman Sukhpal Singh Khaira said the examination was conducted in a haphazard manner denying opportunity to thousands of candidates who failed to appear because of traffic jams.

He said the SAD-BJP government which had made tall promises such as unemployment allowance before the assembly elections should at least conduct recruitments in a fair and transparent manner.

Without realising that how such a large number of candidates would arrive in Chandigarh from places like Ferozepur, Fazilka, Dera Baba Nanak etc for the test, the Punjab Government went ahead with the test which was reportedly rigged at certain centres.

CPI leader Dr Joginder Dayal said irregularities in the test had been proved. He said the state government, which collected about Rs 10 crore from candidates as application fee should first refund the money and reconduct the test without charging anything from them.

On behalf of the state government, Panjab University had conducted the test to recruit 461 food inspectors on December 15. Of the 1.92 lakh candidates, only 1.20 lakh could appear in the test because many were caught in traffic jams. The result of the test was declared yesterday.

Tobacco products seized

A consignment of Hans chewable tobacco, a banned product in Tamil Nadu, despatched from Bangalore in a private bus was seized by Erode police on Tuesday.

On information, a team led by Erode DSP Periaiah scrutinised a parcel in the bus and found the consignment containing the tobacco without the address of any consignee. “This is the first time we have found tobacco sent in a consignment without address. So far, we had only seized tobacco products from godowns,” the DSP said. According to G. Karunanidhi, District Officer for Food Safety and Drug Control, the value of consignment of the seized tobacco was close to Rs. 1.9 lakh. “We will wait for a month and if there are no claimants, the seized tobacco would be destroyed.”

Agri minister challenges farmers’ unions to run ailing sugar factories

At the recent annual general body meeting of Pune’s Vasantdada Sugar Institute, agriculture and food processing minister Sharad Pawar urged the farmers’ unions, who were demanding that the sugar factories pay them Rs 3,000-Rs 3,500 per tonne of sugarcane instead of Rs 2,600 per tonne (the price currently being offered), to run the ailing factories.

Differences have arisen between the cooperative factories and farmers because the former are claiming that their incomes are low as the market price of sugar has reduced, while the latter are demanding more money for their produce.

Speaking to FnB News via telephone on the condition of anonymity, a source from the ministry of agriculture and food processing industries confirmed that Pawar challenged the farmers’ unions, and added that the ministry would like to know if they would be able to pay Rs 3,000-Rs 3,500 per tonne of sugarcane.

He added, “The Centre has also proposed a loan of Rs 7,200 crore for cooperative sugar factories in Maharashtra to deal with the financial problems they are grappling with and pay the farmers. It is also taking a number of steps to sort out the problems between the farmers and the industry. He loan would have to be repaid to the Centre within a period of five years.”

Tariq Anwar, minister of state for agriculture and food processing industries, said, “Measures should be taken by the sugar factories and the bodies that are dealing with the sugar industries to educate the farmers and general public about the crisis. There are many unions farmers who are presenting a wrong picture of the sugar crises in the states and in the other parts of the country.”

“The managements of the sugar factories should reach out to the people and inform them about the problems and strengths of their sector. This will help mitigate the sugar crisis. We also aim to export nearly 40 lakh tonne of sugar, which will help generate more revenue for the government,” he added.

“The export would also reduce the stock of sugar available in the country, which will ultimately benefit the farmers in getting better prices for their commodities,” Anwar said.

Ferrero Rocher introduces chocolate gift packs for Christmas, New Year

Ferrero Rocher, the praline chocolate brand packed in a gold wrapper, has launched gift packages and promotions for Christmas and the New Year.

The packages will be available at leading traditional trade outlets and select modern trade outlets in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kerala.

A limited-edition range of X-mas tree-shaped standing units have also been planned at some modern trade outlets this year.

Dancing Turkeys enters Indian meat space with range of turkey products

Dancing Turkeys, a brand of turkey and turkey meat products, recently forayed into the Indian market by launching a varied palette of turkey products meat lovers. Turkey meat is one of the largest consumed nutritious meats in United States, the European Union (EU) and the Europe, the Middle-East and Africa (EMEA) regions.

However, due to various reasons like size, taste, availability and demand, this meat did not really gain traction in the Indian market. With the festive season approaching, Dancing Turkeys will roll out an array of products. It is among the first brands to introduce turkey products in the Indian and South Asian markets.

Dan Turk Farms and Services Pvt Ltd (DTFS), which owns the Dancing Turkeys brand, is a leading farmstead focussed completely on providing nutritional food to the Indian masses. While the brand is currently focussing on turkey meat, DTFS soon plans to enter into other new categories that India has not seen before.

This makes the company an innovation hub in the food processing space and an enabler to expand the food consumption basket, which is skewed towards health foods. Sharing his vision on transforming the brand into a food processing powerhouse, Sameer Mathur, managing director and chief executive officer, Dancing Turkeys, said, “With a distinct change in the lifestyles of Indian consumers, there is a huge surge in nutritional demand of foods, and Dancing Turkeys fills this gap perfectly here.”

“We are planning to make Dancing Turkeys one of the strongest brands in its category outside the United States. Turkey consumption today makes it a festive food, but we would like to change that perception, and make it as much a staple diet as possible. We believe that Dancing Turkeys shall bring about healthier citizens, which, in turn, shall build a healthier India. We would like to usher a small change in the eating habits, and drop the misnomer that a non-vegetarian diet is bad for health,” he added.

Dancing Turkeys has tied up with leading chefs to create turkey recipes for the Indian masses, largely to enable trials and garner interest. Speaking at the launch, Mathur added that to keep up with the vision of being the best, the company has stitched supply chains to become robust and flexible, yet conforming to benchmarked systems and processes in India.

The company sees a huge potential in the Indian market. With nutritional organic food consumption growing at approximately 20 per cent each year, DTFS plans to invest close to $20 million in building the infrastructure and play a dominant role in the Indian marketplace.

It also plans to cater to the Middle-East and African markets, and is targeting a turnover of Rs 200 crore in the next couple of years. In the next few months, they plan to focus on addressing the needs of the $117.7-billion-hotel and tourism industry, and those of other sectors like healthcare, defence, education, institutional, fine dining, quick service restaurants (QSR) and retail.

Madhur Sugar now available in ‘Superfine Sugar Sachets’

Madhur Sugar, which is made using a sulphur-free process and untouched by hand at every stage, is now available in the form of Superfine sugar sachets. A carton, comprising 100 sachets, is priced at Rs 100.

Being made from superior-quality sugarcane, it is naturally sweet, and the crystals are of a consistent quality. They are refined, white in colour, moisture-free and easy to dissolve. It is manufactured in a state-of-the-art refinery.

The sachets have a premium look, are easy to tear and are packed in a durable outer carton. They are available at retail and modern trade outlets across the country.

Gutka worth Rs 56,000 seized from Lohegaon

PUNE: The Pune police have recently seized banned Gutka and Paan Masala worth Rs 56,200 from Lohegaon. The police have arrested a 32-year-old person in this regard.

The suspect has been identified as Raju Umaram Prajapati, a resident of Dhanori. He has been charged under relevant sections of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. The Airport police team led by sub-inspector S S Chavan made the arrest.

Food Safety Officer Sachin Adhav (34) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has lodged a complaint in this regard.

Chavan said that the police had received a tip-off that Prajapati had stored Gutka and Paan Masala at his shop in Kutwal colony in Lohegaon. "We raided the godown and seized 140 packets of Gutka and 211 packets of Paan Masala and 305 packets of tobacco," Chavan said.

It may be noted that recently Bund Garden police had recovered Gutka worth Rs 1.78 lakh from Prakash Lakshmichand Kawediya (48) and Ajay Shrirammurti Yadav (31), both residents of Tadiwala Road. While, Sub-inspector of Pimpri police station Ansar Shaikh had seized export quality Gutka worth Rs four lakh from a 46-year-old Ashok Arjandas Ramnani in Pimpri Camp. The police investigations have revealed that Ramnani was about to send the Gutka to Dubai.