WHO, Mumbai dabbawallahs join hands to eradicate vector-borne diseases

In order to eradicate vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue and kala-azar, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has joined hands with Mumbai’s dabbawallahs to spread awareness about the ill-effects of these ailments through lunch-boxes.

On the occasion of World Health Day (April 7, 2014), WHO, the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers’ Charity Trust (NMTBSCT) and the Maharashtra government would kick-start this awareness programme, which is aimed at the prevention and control of vector-borne diseases in the state.

Addressing a press conference, Dr Nata Menabde, WHO’s India representative, said, “Owing to the poor health system in India, the burden and risk of vector-born diseases is massive. The country’s regulations are weak. That is also a reason for these types of diseases.”

“One of the reasons for the rise in vector-borne diseases in the country is the weak collaboration between agencies, sectors and levels of government, including the regulatory mechanism,” she added.

“The budget allotted to the health sector in Maharashtra is not up to the mark. We need to come up with many more innovative campaigns if we want to see no vector borne diseases in the country,” Dr Menabde stated.

State public health secretary Sujata Saunik, said, “The government of Maharashtra are coming up with various initiatives in association with many non-governmental organisations (NGO) in the state to eradicate this dangerous diseases like malaria and dengue.”

“Many hospitals also provide free medicines. The association with Mumbai dabbawallahs and WHO would help us further to bring down the number of the vector-borne diseases. We would always be open to associations for the benefits of the people,” she added.

Raghunath Medge, president, NMTBSCT, informed that the association with the World Health Organisation would benefit many people in Mumbai.

“We would be reaching out to a large number of Mumbaikars, and this certainly would have a multiplier effect on spreading the message on prevention measures, especially sanitisation. We are very happy to join hands with WHO for a good cause,” he added.

Get ISI-mark products tested for quality

The next time you are worried about whether it is safe to drink packaged water of a particular brand or if the newly purchased electronic iron box is durable, you could actually get it tested for quality.

The Bureau of Indian Standards, Southern Regional Office, has launched a facility for consumers to get samples of various products affixed with the ISI mark tested. From thermometers, electric home appliances including water heaters and toasters to iodised salt and milk powder, consumers can get any ISI-certified product tested.

Until now, BIS had been testing the samples either at the manufacturing point to provide licences or conducting surprise checks to detect any misuse of the ISI mark.

Several people and consumer activists welcomed the move. “I am glad that I can now get a home appliance tested. This will help choose branded products better. BIS should also guide us on further steps to get them replaced,” said S.Bhuvana, a resident of Ashok Nagar.

Officials of BIS said that there are over 19,000 standards for various products. Of these, BIS has made ISI certification mandatory for 90 products. Consumers may submit the products on working days and get them tested at the BIS office on CIT campus, Fourth Cross Road, Taramani.

They can contact 22541442/22542519 or mail sro@bis.org.in for any clarification.

The charges and time needed for the results will vary according to the products. For instance, the charges to test certain parameters of packaged drinking water or a pressure cooker would be around Rs. 2,000. If the sample is found to be faulty, the charges would be reimbursed, officials said.

R. Desikan of Consumer Association of India said BIS must charge reasonably and provide the results faster to encourage more consumers to use the facility.

HC put stay on FSSAI amendment to increase the level of caffiene in energy drinks

The Bombay High Court granted the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) a three-week deadline to reply to its notification after the country’s apex food regulator amended the existing regulations to permit companies manufacturing energy drinks, such as Red Bull, to increase their caffeine content beyond the stipulated limit. There were two hearings of a public interest litigation to this effect in the High Court recently, and as FSSAI failed to reply to its notification, the amendment was stayed.

Petitioner Yajurvedi Rao filed a right to information (RTI) application seeking information about the increased caffeine content in Red Bull. As per the information he obtained, samples of the energy drink were seized in 2009 by officials of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Maharashtra, and these were found to contain over 200mg caffeine per litre, which was higher than the prescribed limit. Moreover, it stated that Alibaug judicial magistrate had ordered that the seized samples be destroyed.
 
Anjali Purav, Rao’s advocate, said, “When FSSAI amended the existing regulations to permit energy drink makers, such as Red Bull, to add caffeine beyond the prescribed limits, Rao filed an PIL against the regulator, pointing out that they did so without evaluating the risk to consumers’ health. While the existing regulations stipulated that the prescribed caffeine limit in energy drinks was 145mg per litre, the amended regulations stipulate that caffeinated beverages should contain not less than 145mg caffeine per litre and not more than 320mg per litre.”

“Through the new amendments the authority proposed to make caffeinated beverages an additional category to those provided in the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006. It also undertook the said exercise for the purpose of permitting companies to sell beverages containing caffeine. The most prominent of these was Red Bull,” she added. This information was given to the bench comprising Justices V M Kanade and G S Kulkarni. Purav urged them to restrain the regulator from doing so.

Purav warned that the consumption of caffeine in excess of the prescribed limit could be dangerous. The advocate stated, “Caffeine, being a stimulant, could have an adverse effect on all parts of the body. And that is the reason the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India should refrain from permitting companies manufacturing caffeinated beverages to increase it beyond the stipulated limit. Moreover, in India, there is no supervision to keep the sale and consumption of these beverages in check.” 

Now online for , apply food licence or registration

Food business operators will no longer have to visit the civil surgeon's office to apply for registration or licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, as now it can be done with just a click of the mouse.
The health department has launched an online licensing and registration system at www.foodlicensing.fssai.gov.in, where besides placing an application, users can also track the status of the application through an application reference number provided by the system during the submission of application.
The food business operators could also know the status of their application through mobile phone or email as the information would be sent to the registered email address and mobile number.
District health officer (DHO) Dr Abnash Kumar said, "Now the registration and licence process has been made online. It would be convenient for food operators as now they need not rush to civil surgeon's office."
District food safety officer Ravinder Garg said, "The food safety officers were provided training by the head office regarding the online process of registration and licensing. For those who don't have access to computers, like people running rehri-pharis, it has been proposed that they could get themselves registered through suvidha centres of the respective districts."
The licensing and registration process has found very takers in Ludhiana. Despite several deadlines to apply having passed by, only 1,604 food operators applied for licence and 1,05,000 applied for registration.
As per the Food Safety and Standards Act, if the turnover is above `30 crore, the licence is issued by the Central Licensing Authority, and if it is below `30 crore, then the State Licensing Authority issues it.
It's mandatory to get licence if turnover is above `12 lakh, while food operators earning below `12 lakh need to get themselves registered.
Know the act
The Food Safety and Standards Act consolidates various acts and orders that have hitherto handled food-related issues in various departments. Various central acts like Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954; Fruit Product Order, 1955; Meat Food Products Order 1973; Vegetable Oil Products Order 1974; Edible Oils Packaging Order 1988; solvent Extracted Oil, De-Oiled Meal and Edible Flour Order 1967; and Milk and Milk Products Order 1992 were repealed after commencement of the Food Safety and Standards Act.
This act made monitoring easy and the rules and regulations were framed scientifically by one body, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.
All food service providers, including restaurants, boarding houses, clubs, canteens of schools, colleges, office, institutions, caterers, banquet halls with food catering arrangements, and food vendors like dhabas or any other food business operator falls under the act.

Almost 3 out of 4 Indian packaged foods fail to display salt levels: study

Apr 02, 2014

The study is part of a larger project which is gathering the evidence to initiate a national salt reduction program in India.

New Delhi: Large numbers of packaged food products available in Indian stores fail to display nutritional data relating to the amount of sodium present thus preventing consumers from making informed food choices, reveals   a survey conducted by The George Institute for Global Health India.

The survey conducted on 7,124 products available for purchase in Indian supermarkets  revealed that only 26 per cent of packaged food displayed sodium content on the label, thus non-compliant with the minimum labelling requirements of Codex – the international body governing food labelling.

“The preliminary findings of the study are a matter of great concern as consumers are eating progressively more processed foods generally containing higher levels of salt. This is not good for people in a country which is already projected to have an even larger NCD burden in the coming future, ’’ says.Dr.  Vivekanand    Jha Executive Director, The George Institute for Global Health-India.

The project assumes significance in the light of the fact that the World Action on Salt and Health (WASH) has dedicated World Salt Awareness Week for the year 2014 from March 10 to 16  to the need for better nutrition labelling in countries across the globe and has given the call for “Switch the Salt’’. With people in India likely to consume much more packaged food over the coming years, and with only 26 per cent labelling sodium, there is an urgent need for full and effective food labelling.

The ongoing project, being run by The George Institute for Global Health in collaboration with the Centre for Chronic Disease Control , will gather information on dietary salt intake levels among a sample of people in North and South India as well as collect nutrient information on packaged and outside food available for purchase. In addition, the investigators will undertake a stakeholder survey with key representatives from the food industry and the central government as well as hold focus groups with consumers. The investigators aim to put together enough evidence to develop a national salt reduction program for India, tailored to the specific needs of the country.

The implementation of this programme will involve three main elements: working with the food industry to reformulate foods and meals, campaigns to change consumer behaviour and efforts to change the food environment working in settings such as schools, hospitals and the work place. The foods to focus on and population groups to be targeted will be informed by the evidence gathered in this study.

Welcoming the fact that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has now put in place regulation defining minimum requirements for the labelling of the nutritional content of packaged foods, Dr. Jha said “Comprehensive nutritional labelling on packaged foods is just one of the steps that needs to be taken in order to make progress towards lowering death and disability caused by high dietary salt intake. Other key areas are community awarenesss as well as  building a strong national advisory committee to take the program forward.’’

For her part, Claire Johnson, Research Associate, The George Institute for Global Health, says : “The project aims to generate evidence to ensure that steps such as sodium content being displayed on packaged food products becomes legally enforceable and also to provide the evidence required to formulate a national salt reduction programme in collaboration with key stakeholders.,’’

Based on the findings of this study, The George Institute for Global Health India argues that the achievement of sodium labelling in India will be an important part of the country’s efforts to address the burgeoning non-communicable disease burden.  “The enforcement of sodium regulations will help consumers by providing them with the tools to make better choices.  In addition to delivering upon the base requirements of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and Codex requirements, the Government should  also consider the merits of introducing a standard front-of-pack labelling system displaying sodium content,’’ said Dr. Jha.

18 taken ill after eating contaminated burger

Hyderabad, April 2 (INN): As many as 18 persons were taken ill after consumption of a burger at a local bakery in Hafeez Baba Nagar of Barkas.
According to the preliminary report submitted by GHMC Additional Commissioner (Health & Sanitation) N Ravi Kiran, some of the families have purchased Vegetable Burger from Bake Well Bakery at Hafeez Baba Nagar, Barkas on March 29.
On consumption of the Burger, 18 persons developed vomiting and motions and they were rushed to the various hospitals. Of them, nine were admitted in Fever Hospital.
As per hospital records only five patients were admitted on April 1 and they are undergoing treatment. Further, four patients stated that they were also admitted in Fever Hospital due to food poisoning case. The affected people hailed from Barkas, Hafeez Baba Nagar and Ayodhya Colony.
The GHMC also denied reports about death of one person due to food poisoning. On enquiry with the family members of the expired person it was revealed that the person expired due to fits.
The civic authorties have collected four food samples from the Bake Well Bakery and sent to State Food Laboratory for Bacteriological analysis purpose. The Bakery and kitchen has been closed in presence of Food Safety Designated Officer, South Zone and AMOH, Circle No.4, GHMC in the interest of public health point of view.