Shops sell adulterated tea

Original tea powder dissolved in water (left)and water mixed with the fabric-dye tea powder (right).— PHOTO: P. GOUTHAM

Be cautious! The tea you consume from a few shops here may increase the risk of cancer in you as fabric dye is mixed with tea powder to give colour.

This was found when the health officials inspected tea shops and recovered the adulterated tea powder. “As per the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011, the colour in parts per million (PPM) should be 10 ppm in dry tea dusts, but the adulterated pack contains 1,950 ppm which is very dangerous to health,” T. Anuradha, District Designated Officer, Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department, told The Hindu .

She added that just to give colour to the tea content these were widely mixed with tea powder and served to customers. “Consumers are used to ginger tea and lemon tea. Now in order to attract customers, they add the chemical substance to the tea and provide colour tea,” Ms. Anuradha added.

The officials said that after inspections were carried out in shops and adulterated tea dust were found, the traders started to adopt this new strategy.

The officials said that consumers could differentiate between good tea and the adulterated one. They said that normal tea dust changed its colour only in hot water while the fabric dye-mixed tea dust changes colour in cold water.

Water samples from closed units tested for quality

CHENNAI, May 25, 2013

For the past few days, microbiologists of the State government’s food analysis laboratory have been working round-the-clock, testing packaged drinking water samples.

The National Green Tribunal’s Southern Bench has given the laboratory time until Monday, to test samples taken by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) from 92 packaged drinking water units in and around the city.

These units were shut down 10 days ago, after TNPCB found they did not possess the required licences to operate.

The Bench took up a case about the quality of the water packaged at these units, following a report in The Hindu .

According to sources in TNPCB, around 80 samples have been given to the laboratory so far.

The samples are being tested for 30 chemical and microbiological parameters, which include the colour of the water, as well as content of nitrates, fluorides, zinc, sulphates, cyanide, sodium, lead, iron, borates and heavy metals. An aerobic microbial count will also be done.

The mere presence of cyanide could kill a person, arsenic causes arsenic poison and fluoride can lead to arthritis and mottling of teeth, say doctors.

Doctors also said the presence of salmonella in water could cause typhoid; e-coli would lead to diarrhoea, vibrio cholerae could cause cholera, and shigella would result in blood diarrhoea. These are among the eight microbiological parameters that are being tested.

“Everybody in the office has been working overtime. We have created teams so that there is no break in the testing process. We are positive that the results will be ready before the deadline,” said a source at the lab.

R.P. Ilangho, chest specialist, Apollo Breathe Easy Clinic, said that apart from infecting the digestive system, streptococci could also lead to sore throats, viral fever and rheumatic heart disease.

According to S. Elango, former State director of public health, estimates show that the packaged drinking water industry in the State has an annual turnover of Rs. 2,000 crore. But nobody monitors the industry.

“Ultimately, it is the State’s responsibility to govern these units. The government should take immediate action and set up an authority to monitor the industry. Otherwise, the government should ensure that safe, potable drinking water is supplied through the water authority to meet every resident’s needs. One person requires 3-5 litres of water for cooking and drinking daily,” he said.

Chemical and microbiological content analysed; results to be given to Tribunal

OUT OF THE CAN

PCB issues notices to packaged water units in districts

Julie Mariappan TNN

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is continuing its crackdown against unlicensed packaged drinking water units in the state, with showcause notices being issued to several units.
    The board has closed 91 units and ordered that power to 78 units in and around Chennai be disconnected, forcing manufacturers to stage a strike last week. “We have issued orders to units in districts like Madurai, Coimbatore, Namakkal, Krishnagiri and Thanjavur as well,” a PCB official said. Manufacturers under the Tamil Nadu Packaged Drinking Water and Manufacturers Association, moved the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal on Friday in this regard.
    Admitting the petition, the bench, comprising J Chokkalingam and technical member R Nagendran, posted the hearing to Monday. The tribunal, which had taken suo motu cognizance of the pollution in packaged drinking water units in March, is expected to decide the fate of the 91 closed units on that day. Results of the samples from the units are expected to be submitted to the bench by then.
    On Friday, the association’s counsel, advocate P S Raman, said it was a registered body and the members holding licences issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards were facing action from the TNPCB. “No unit in the state has board approval. The approval to operate is not given by the board, since the Madras high court has issued directions not to give licences to extract water for commercial use, until the Tamil Nadu Groundwater Act, 2003, is notified.”
    Manufacturers said they were not running polluting industries. “We are extracting groundwater through borewells and purifying it through reverse osmosis. Where is the pollution?” a member the association said.

Kellogg India investigating possible bug contamination

Cereal Maker Says It’s Confident Problem With ‘Nut Delight’ Is Isolated

Nandini Sen Gupta & Namrata Singh TNN

Chennai/Mumbai: MNC breakfast cereal maker Kellogg India is investigating a possible bug contamination in a particular variant of its muesli range, something which routinely impacts processed food products worth several billions of dollars in the country.
    According to sources with direct knowledge of the matter, the issue came to light following a complaint from a Mumbai-based MNC investment broking firm which served the cereal at their staff canteen for breakfast.
    When contacted by TOI, the company confirmed the complaint and said an investigation was in progress. “We received a few complaints indicating that one particular variant of muesli (Nut Delight) did not meet our strict quality requirements,” said a statement from the company’s official spokesperson. “As part of the standard global complaint handling procedure at the company, we checked our control samples and they were found to conform to our stringent quality parameters. We are confident that this quality concern is isolated, and we are investigating all potential causes including investigating the distribution chain. As part of this process, we have collected samples from across the supply chain,” the statement added.
    “As a responsible organization, we try and understand the root cause of all consumer complaints, irrespective of the source of such complaints whether in the supply chain or inappropriate storage in consumer homes, so that we can take adequate remedial measures to correct or educate,” the statement said. “At Kellogg India, quality of our foods is our number one priority and we will continue to work closely with all our partners to uphold our strict quality standards,” the statement further added.
    Bug contamination isn’t new in India’s fast-growing packaged food market which, experts say, is set to touch $30 billion by 2015. According to a report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Assocham), the industry will double itself in the next two-three years from $15 billion in 2012 on the back of a healthy 15-20% growth rate annually.
    Ten years ago, Cadbury India faced a similar problem of a few instances of worm contamination in its Dairy Milk chocolate bars and the company used a big ticket celebrity endorser — Amitabh Bachchan — and a high-decibel campaign for a new, improved packaging to drive home the point that it had investigated the issue and taken corrective measures. On occasions, contamination has also been found in soft drink bottles.
    In February this year, Kellogg had a US recall when it took back 36,000 boxes of its Special K Red Berries cereal for possible glass fragments. This is the first time that Kellogg has received complaints of this nature in India, say sources.