Food security in Near-East caused by structural constraints & conflict

The worsening of the food security situation in the Near-East is not only caused by the structural constraints the region faces in producing enough food and an increasing dependence on food imports, but also by conflict, the flow of refugees and migration.

José Graziano da Silva, director general, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said this while inaugurating the two-day ministerial segment of the United Nations’ agency’s regional conference for the Near-East, which commenced on Friday.

He added that these issues were not contained by national borders, but affected the region as a whole and had repercussions far beyond as well. “We know there are intrinsic links between peace and food security, and between hunger and conflict,” da Silva stated.

“We have seen how dispute for food and over resources such as land and water have triggered conflict. Peace is fundamental to food security, and food security is fundamental for keeping peace,” he added.

MDG hunger target
“The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target is still within reach at the global scale and in the Near-East and North Africa, but a final push in the last 672 days before the deadline is needed,” da Silva told the conference.

Algeria, Djibouti, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco and Turkmenistan are among countries that have already met the first MDG target to reduce by half the proportion of hungry people between 1990 and 2015.

In addition, Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates already had under-nourishment levels below five per cent in 1990, the baseline for the MDG.

FAO regional initiatives
Da Silva called on countries to support the implementation of the three regional initiatives launched by FAO for the Near-East and North Africa in response to priorities identified by member states - the Regional Initiative on Water Scarcity; the Regional Initiative on Building Resilience to Enhance Food Security and Nutrition, and the Regional Initiative on Small-scale Agriculture and Inclusive Rural Development.

Noting that 2014 is the International Year of Family Farming, he encouraged countries to increase support to family farmers in the region by ensuring access to adequate technologies, financial services, markets and natural resources such as land and water.

He also encouraged countries to participate in discussions on the Committee on World Food Security’s proposed Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investments, which would help to ensure that investments contribute to the development of family farmers.

Funding major constraint
“During the period 2012-2013, $100 million was mobilised to support FAO’s work at national level, in particular in countries affected by conflict and emergencies,” FAO’s director general said..

“However, funding still remains a major constraint to scaling up FAO’s work at country level in the region,” he added, calling on higher-income countries in the region to step up their support.

Da Silva said he hoped other countries would follow the good example of regional cooperation set by the government of Iraq, whose contribution will help kick-start a Regional Solidarity Trust Fund.

“A region-wide strategy and funding to support food security in Yemen is of particular importance,” he said.

Bengaluru to host 2014 edition of Hotelier Summit India from April 3-5

The second essay of the (annual) Hotelier Summit India will take place in Bengaluru between April 3 and 5, 2014. The event, supported by the International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IH&RA), aims at overcoming the hurdles in the design and procurement arena for hotels.

The event would be held in conjunction with the Second Annual Hospitality Leaders’ Golf Challenge (slated to take place at Bengaluru’s Prestige Golf Shire on April 5, 2014) and a golf clinic.

It would bring together over 200 decision makers from the hospitality industry for interactions, live product demonstrations, vital knowledge-sharing and establishing powerful connections.

IDE, one of the leaders in B2B sales and marketing, has developed its DSI pre-scheduled meeting model, wherein each of the pre-qualified projects participating in the event would be represented by a decision-maker (hotel owner/developer/operator), a specifier (architect/interior designer) and an influencer (contractor/consultant).

Casimir Platzer, president, IH&RA, said, “Such events  are an  opportunity to network. The association is the  only international trade body exclusively promoting and defending the interests of the hotel and restaurant industry worldwide.”

“Officially recognised by the United Nations, IH&RA monitors and lobbies all international agencies on behalf of this industry,” he added. One of the highlights of the summit is ‘the UnConference’.

“India’s hospitality sector has a large number of procurement and design centric decision makers, but these groups require more platforms to be connected more frequently for ideas to translate into action,” said Ganesh Babu, director, IDE.

“This necessitates a need to increase the ‘Collision Frequency’. When this is plugged in with our unique one-to-one meeting model, it translates into hope for accelerating the delivery of projects by perfectly match-making the buyer’s requirements with solution providers,” he added. 

As output declines by 20-30% in summer, egg prices rising across India

The prices of eggs are rising in many states of the country due to a nationwide drop in production in the country. According to an industry estimate a 20 to 30 per cent decline in production is expected in this summer. Although the consumption of eggs usually go down between March and May, this time the drop in production is pushing up the prices of eggs and it ranges between Rs 360 and Rs 385 for 100 units in major producing states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra.

However, the production of eggs is expected to rise from current 7,500 crore to 9,000 crore eggs by 2015.

V R Sainath, zonal chairman, Bangalore zone, National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) said, “Usually in summer the consumption of egg reduces and the reason the prices of eggs decline. Consumption of the eggs depends upon the metropolitan cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai and they only decide the pricing. Bangalore don't play any roles in fixing the egg prices but we depends upon the metropolitan cities. But now the prices of eggs have increased in Bangalore and it is attributed to low production of eggs in initial months of this year. Vegetables rates are also quite low so the consumption of eggs have reduced. We are the fourth largest producer of egg in the world and our production will increase more till 2015. But from January and February month the production have gone down by 20-30 per cent.”

“The prices of eggs are increasing and the present cost of eggs in Nagpur is Rs 360-370 for 100 eggs. But due to the cheap rate of vegetables people are not consuming eggs. In Nagpur 2kg of tomatoes is available at Rs 10 that so why people go for tomatoes instead of eggs. The low prices of vegetables have effected the prices of eggs by 30-40 per cent in Nagpur,” informed Suresh R Walde, market surveyor, NECC, Nagpur.

Sanjeev Chintawar, senior manager, NECC, Hyderabad said, “Andhra Pradesh is the number one state in production of eggs and it produces 2800 crore eggs every year, and it accounts for the highest share of over 30-40 per cent in the total egg production across the country. The prices of eggs are increasing due to low production but some day it decline due to less prices of vegetables. So the rates of eggs keep on fluctuating due to various factors. In Andhra Pradesh, the prices of eggs fall by 5-12 per cent and it is attributable to the fall in the prices of vegetables and a marginal increase in their supply.”

He added, “The farmers in every winters reap good returns on the back of increased consumption and strong demand from other states. But after winter, the prices start declining due to less consumption.”

Harshad Sharma, regional officer, Ahmedabad Zonal Committee, NECC, said, “The average monthly price of eggs, which was high in January 2014, witnessed a sharp decline till 18th February 2014 and now again the prices of eggs have increased due to less production of eggs.”

“And the sudden fall in the prices of vegetables in the last few months could have prompted people to consume vegetables, and this could have partly contributed to a fall in the prices of eggs,” he added.

Sharma stated, “Between March and June, the prices exhibit volatility due to a demand oscillation of 20 per cent. For farmers to break even, prices have to stay well above Rs 300 (for every 100 units).”

M Subramanyam, regional officer, Chittoor, NECC, said, “Many farmers were attracted by good returns in the last three months, and with the extended winter in North India, many farmers opted against culling the birds for chicken in February. This led to a 10 per cent increase in supply.”

“No new players are entering the Indian egg sector due to falling margins and high feed costs. Even after the fixation of the minimum support prices (MSP) for soybean and maize at Rs 2,500 and Rs 1,300 per quintal, they are available at Rs 3,500 and 1,600 per quintal respectively,” he added.

Atul Mahajan, managing director, papaak.com (poultry price monitor), informed, “The predominantly-unorganised poultry sector could easily be subjected to price volatility by a bunch of traders and wholesalers.”

He added, “Due to the lack of cold storage facilities and short shelf life of eggs, farmers from many states incurred losses every year.”

“The price of eggs comes under pressure and the demand falls in March and April, recovers slightly in May, and post-June, they begin to stabilise,” Mahajan stated.

Arun Kumar Das, incharge, NECC, West Bengal said, “In West Bengal the prices of eggs depend upon the demand and suppy of it. Presently the prices of eggs in Bengal is quite high and 100 eggs are costing Rs 375.”

Australia warns India over food exports

One of key reasons for rejections has been new food labeling law and policy in Australia
Barely six months after Russia lifted a ban on import of rice and peanut from India on grounds of contamination, Australia has warned India of violation of laws governing processed food exports to the country.
An advisory by the department of agriculture, Australia, has been issued and circulated through APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority), that Indian exporters involved in the exports of processed food products especially, containing milk, have not been following the relevant regulation of imports into Australia, after detection of cases violating the import regulations.
In tandem, India's food exports to Australia fell by 17% in value (from Rs 556 crore to Rs 458 crore) and nearly 12% quantity (from 57,877 MT to 5,1077 MT) in one year's time between April and November2012-13 and 2013-14, according to data from APEDA. Last year, India exported 460 metric tonne of dairy products to Australia (between April-November2012-13), which came down to 327 MT to same period this year.
One of the key reasons for rejections has been the new food labeling law and policy in Australia. In 2011, the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council together with the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) commissioned an independent review of Food Labelling Law and Policy. The review made 61 recommendations covering a wide range of food labeling issues.
"Rejection Australia has upgraded its import norms for foodproducts, and thus most of the rejections are on account of issues like packaging," said P C Sunish, partner, Arul Appalam Depot, a processed food exporter to Australia.
Notably, last year, much of the food exports to Australia were driven by guar gum boom, but the slump this year in guar gum had been largely compensated by higher Basmati rice exports from India. This apart, non-adherence to safety standards, especially labeling, has been one of key reasons for largenumber of refusals for Indian products in other markets as well.
For example, Indian food products are in the top of refusal lists at the US FDA (Food & Drug administration),mostly on the ground of being adulterated and misbranded. In the month of January alone, India faced the highest number of rejections, about 236, according to the monthly refusal list issued by the Operational and Administrative System for Import Support (OASIS), of the US FDA. A large number of products in the list are either processed food, followed by pharmaceutical products.

What are High Risk Foods? What food articles are covered under High Risk foods as per FSSR?

High Risk Foods are those ready-to-eat food articles which may invite the growth of the harmful bacterial organisms. Such foods are in the ready to be consumed state and does not require any further processing except in some ready to be made food products, where minimum processing is further required before consumption. High Risk Foods are responsible for breeding pathogenic bacteria and could lead to food poisoning incidents.

The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 has declared that special considerations will be needed for specific varieties of foods i.e. High Risk Foods. Food business Operators are to follow the instructions & guidelines defined under FSS Regulations while treating with such food articles to avoid contamination.

HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) approach need to be implemented in order to serve the safe food to the people. FSS regulations have separately provided a list of food articles which require special attention.

For products like cut fruits/salads, fresh juices and beverages, where storage is allowed for a short time period in case of cut fruits/salads and fresh juices must be checked on regular basis and only potable water should be used for ice & cleaning containers.

It is recommended that Meat, Poultry and fish products should be stored under the specified temperature and should be cooked separately.

Confectionery products should be kept in the airtight containers and date of expiry should be mentioned for the finished products.

While delivering ready to eat food, the temperature should be maintained at 74 degree Celsius while in transportation and the food must be consumed within 4 hrs of reheating.

If any ingredient is being used after cooking, it should be properly cleaned/washed and the food must be consumed immediately on post cooked mixing.

There are instructions given to deal with the following categories of High Risk Foods and we will discuss them all in the upcoming articles.

* Cut fruits/ salads, fresh juices and beverages

* Confectionery Products

* Meat, Poultry and fish products

* Water Waste Chutneys, sauces etc.

* Foods transported to point of sale from the point of cooking

* Foods with Gravy

* Fried Foods

* Adding ingredients after cooking

* Thawing of Frozen Products

Designated safe street food zones to be set up shortly in Delhi

Good hygiene’s in good taste

The plan to develop eight safe street food zones in Delhi is a boon for food lovers and street food vendors alike. Delhi, like many other cities in the country, can boast of a rich street food culture. Representing an eclectic range of delectable dishes, street food exemplifies the rich traditions of Indian cuisine that is affordable and readily available. In fact, Indian street food is one of the many attractions for foreign tourists visiting India. But street food outlets and push carts have been often found wanting in hygiene standards. This is precisely why creating safe street food zones to ensure minimum standards is a good idea.

In this initiative, the National Association of Street Vendors of India (Nasvi) will train vendors in the safe zones to follow basic hygiene practices such as wearing aprons and gloves, and handling food properly. Once the vendors pass the training, their outlets will be eligible to receive a safety stamp from Nasvi. It’s in the interest of street vendors themselves to obtain a safety certificate, as this would automatically result in positive advertisement for their outlets and draw in more customers.

Designated street food zones would also help regulate food-borne diseases through focussed inspections. Further, these would enable municipal bodies to provide better services to vendors such as clean drinking water, sanitation etc. There are lessons here to be learnt from Taiwan’s famous night markets. The latter helped put Taiwanese cuisine on the world map, with thousands of tourists visiting the small East Asian nation just to sample its food culture. Apart from delicious dishes, Taiwan’s night markets also curb food adulteration and other unscrupulous practices through collective responsibility. There’s no reason why this model cannot be replicated here, with eight safe street food zones soon rising to 80, 800, 8,000 and so on.

COUNTERVIEW

Stop harassing vendors

Sanjiv Shankaran

Delhi’s attempt to carve out ‘safe zones’ for street food needs to be seen in the context of an ongoing attempt to enforce standards of hygiene and sourcing on food served across all commercial establishments in India. This attempt is misguided. The bone of contention is not that there should be no standards, but a one-size-fits-all approach to regulation is impractical. It is reminiscent of other well-intentioned but ill-conceived regulations such as those concerning labour, which ended up being counterproductive.

Estimates suggest there may be 10 million street food vendors in urban India who cater to millions more. From a functional standpoint, the most important aspect of street food is cost. It meets the needs of consumers on a tight budget as capital costs for street food vendors are low. Any attempt to regulate street food needs to consider trade-offs. Enhanced standards of hygiene in the form of gloves and bottled water would translate into an increase in price of food. This development, in turn, would reduce access to inexpensive food for some consumers. The trade-off here is between enhanced hygiene and access to food. When seen in this context, ‘safe zones’ and regulatory directives on hygiene to street food vendors rest on a weak foundation.

It is inaccurate to portray street food vendors as impervious to change. Across urban India, some street food vendors have enhanced hygiene standards in response to pressure from customers. In parts of Delhi, it is common to come across street food vendors using gloves even without a regulatory directive. Increasing public awareness and higher incomes will usher in better standards. A premature move here will only make street food vendors vulnerable to harassment at the hands of petty bureaucracy and the food unaffordable for some consumers.

Food Act changes good but inspectors pay bad

5-member panel to discuss pay uniformity

Structural inequality among cadre of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is holding back officers from doing their job. Step-motherly attitude of the state government towards the Food Safety Officers (FSO) underplay their importance for a healthy society, discussed FSOs from all across the state here at an annual convention.
“To do away with ‘Inspector Raj’, state has brought in new Food Safety and Standards Act 2006; the Act is progressive, but the government has failed to provide adequate infrastructure and staff,” said Secretary General of FSO Cadre Association of India VK Rathi.
As the Act came into force, the role of Food Inspector has been changed from a regulator to a facilitator.
The FSOs in the state are being paid class-IV employee wages. “Our salary is Rs 16,000 to Rs 17,000, whereas those in other states are being paid Rs 40,000 – Rs 50,000. Our grade pay is Rs 2,100 against Rs 4,200 to FSOs in other states,” said Manish Swami, a senior FSO.
“Promotion opportunities are bleak. FSOs end up in the same post till their retirement. We had sent a list of recommendations to the pay commission and the state government, but none have been accepted,” said Swami.
A five-member committee has been constituted at the annual convention with food commissioners from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Goa and Maharashtra states to discuss uniformed pay structure of the officers across India, irrespective of the state cadre they belong to.
Given the amount of arable land in our country, food security is a big challenge and at the same time providing quality food to people is equally important, said an officer.

32 food samples fail purity tests Tobacco sample found containing nicotine

Bathinda, February 24
Thirty-two food samples that were collected in the district under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have failed the purity tests. Of the samples collected, the health authorities have lodged complaint regarding 19 samples collected by the authorities.

Nodal Officer Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa said the sample of gutka, which was collected during a raid conducted at Maur on June 26, 2013, was found to contain nicotine. “The sale of tobacco is banned if sold under the name of gutka. Lab results have shown that the samples collected from Maur had nicotine in them, which is unsafe for human consumption,” he said. The case now lies pending with the local court.

The Maur police have arrested one and booked two others for selling fake and sub-standard tobacco products. The accused Sikandar Singh was arrested and 80 quintals of tobacco was recovered from his possession.

The remaining 18 cases were filed with the Adjudicating Officer, ADC Rajiv Prashar. Of these, six have been decided including five penalised cases and the rest of the 12 cases are pending.

Only those cases are filed with the Adjudicating Officer in which the lab results show food samples to be sub-standard and not unfit for human consumption.

The ADC had imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on sub-standard milk-seller and a fine of Rs 40,000, Rs 20,000 and Rs 35,000 in cases of selling sub-standard mustard oil. The seller of over-ripened bananas was let off after being served a warning.

The collected food samples are first tested at the Public Analyst, State Food, Drugs and Excise Lab of the Government of Punjab at Chandigarh. If tested negative, the accused is given an opportunity to get the sample tested from Food Research and Standardisation Laboratory, Ghaziabad. It’s the accused who bears the expenses of getting the sample tested for the second time from Ghaziabad lab. Four such cases have been sent from Bathinda so far seeking a second test of the samples collected.

The health authorities encouraged food business operators to get enrolled under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to avoid any kind of future problems.

With the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India being implemented throughout the country, it is slowly becoming mandatory to display one’s Food Safety and Standards Authority of India licence or registration number before making any deals in the food business.

The ones who enroll earlier would be saved from future problems, added Dr Randhawa. 

Govt sanctions prosecution of Kanwal, Khyber, AVON

SMC to file charge sheet today

Srinagar, Feb 23: State Government has accorded sanction for the prosecution of the leading Food Processing Companies whose products were found adulterated with carcinogenic chemicals.
Drug Controller of the State, Satish Gupta, told Excelsior that Government has accorded sanction for the prosecution of AVON Agro Industries Pvt Ltd Delhi, Khyber Agro Farms and M/s Kanwal Agro Food Industries Anantnag whose food products were found adulterated by the Central Food Laboratory Kolkata.
Health Officer Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), Dr Shafaqat Khan told Excelsior that he has got sanction from the Commissioner Food Safety Jammu and Kashmir, Ganzafar Ali,for the prosecution of M/s Kanwal Agro Food Industries Anantnag whose Sounf powder was found adulterated and that of a Punjab based Food processing company whose Karela and Jamun juice were found adulterated.
Dr Shafaqat said that he will produce charge-sheet against these two companies tomorrow before the Municipal Magistrate Srinagar under Food Safety Standards Act 2006. “There was no delay on my part for prosecution but I was waiting for the government sanction”, he added.
The Food Safety Officer, Budgam, Shugufta, told Excelsior that she has not received any sanction for the prosecution of Khyber Agro Farms whose toned milk has been found adulterated. “Once the sanction is accorded, we will go through legal process”, she added.
The turmeric powder of AVON Agro Industries Pvt Ltd Delhi, toned Milk of Khyber Agro Farms and Sounf powder of M/s Kanwal Agro Food Industries Anantnag was found adulterated by the Central Food Laboratory Kolkata whose reports came in November and December last year.
The Central Food Laboratory Kolkata report about turmeric powder manufactured by AVON Agro Industries Pvt Ltd Delhi said that it contained Tartrazine adulteration.
The Central Food Laboratory Kolkata report about the Khyber Milk states that besides containing detergent, the sample has failed to conform to various other standards stipulated under laws and regulations.
The Central Food Laboratory Kolkata about Saunf powder manufactured by M/s Kanwal Agro Food Industries Anantnag found it unsafe and misbranded, containing added colouring matter – Carmoisine and Tartrazine.
Sources said that these companies are facing serious charges as the Director SKIMS, Shoukat Ahmad Zagar, in its report has said that the colouring agents and other material found in the spices and the toned milk are carcinogenic, can damage various body organs and cause heart diseases.
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has already penalized these companies and asked them to deposit Rs 60 crore with the Director SKIMS for damaging the health of people.

Food Act changes good but inspectors pay bad

5-member panel to discuss pay uniformity

Structural inequality among cadre of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is holding back officers from doing their job. Step-motherly attitude of the state government towards the Food Safety Officers (FSO) underplay their importance for a healthy society, discussed FSOs from all across the state here at an annual convention.

“To do away with ‘Inspector Raj’, state has brought in new Food Safety and Standards Act 2006; the Act is progressive, but the government has failed to provide adequate infrastructure and staff,” said Secretary General of FSO Cadre Association of India VK Rathi.

As the Act came into force, the role of Food Inspector has been changed from a regulator to a facilitator.

The FSOs in the state are being paid class-IV employee wages. “Our salary is Rs 16,000 to Rs 17,000, whereas those in other states are being paid Rs 40,000 - Rs 50,000. Our grade pay is Rs 2,100 against Rs 4,200 to FSOs in other states,” said Manish Swami, a senior FSO.

“Promotion opportunities are bleak. FSOs end up in the same post till their retirement. We had sent a list of recommendations to the pay commission and the state government, but none have been accepted,” said Swami.

A five-member committee has been constituted at the annual convention with food commissioners from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Goa and Maharashtra states to discuss uniformed pay structure of the officers across India, irrespective of the state cadre they belong to.

Given the amount of arable land in our country, food security is a big challenge and at the same time providing quality food to people is equally important, said an officer.

Check illegal vendors

As per provisions contained in Food Safety and Standards Act, all food vendors, including restaurants, roadside eateries, tea shops, juice shop, fruit and vegetable vendors, fish and meat stalls should register them and obtain a licence from Food Supplies Department, failing which a fine or imprisonment should be awarded.

Further the owners may have to shut down their shops. But it is seen that half of city’s food outlets have not yet been enrolled by the authorities and therefore continue as illegal vendors. In addition, many mobile vendors from the suburban areas continue their business in the city by means of their cycles and sell their products within 2-3 hours and return back.

Further, some meat and fish sellers also come to city during morning hours and sell their products in and around the city and leave the place before noon, but they do not possess any licence. They also do not keep the area clean. In such cases, the authorities should create an awareness programme and force them to register with their names for licence.