The Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangankalin
Peramaippu has urged the Centre to revoke the Food Safety and Standards Act “as
thousands of traders were being adversely affected by its provisions.”
A delegation of the organisation,
led by A.M. Vikrama Raja, president, presented a memorandum to this effect to
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad in New Delhi
recently, according to Ve. Govindarajalu, treasurer of the organisation.
The organisation said that traders
were portrayed as criminals and were liable to heavy penalties and even
imprisonment for violation of the provisions of the Act. Small traders and even
roadside vendors were affected by the Act. Although the traders’ associations
had sought various changes in its provisions, the demand had not been
considered so far. Hence, the Act should be revoked. Otherwise, the deadline
for obtaining licences (February 3, 2014) should be extended by a year, Mr.
Govindarajalu said.
Misuse of Oxytocin Injection
There have been some reports in the
Media regarding the use of oxytocin injection being administered to cattle by
dairy owners and also to increase the size of vegetables and fruits by farmers
in the country. However, there is no scientific data available on the extent of
these practices.
Following the reports of use of the
artificial coloring / ripening agents in vegetables/ fruits, a Joint Committee
for Research on Food Safety, was constituted in August, 2010 under
Co-Chairmanship of the Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research
(ICMR) and the Director General, Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR)
to address the various issues relating to the safety of using ripening and
coloring agents, and any other relevant issues in nutrition and food safety
which emerge from time to time. In pursuance of the recommendation of the above
mentioned Joint Committee, the following research studies to generate
information / data regarding the extent of use and effect of oxytocin in
animals and vegetables have been completed:
i) Survey to
assess the use of oxytocin in production of vegetables.
ii) Effect
of oxytocin injection on yield and quality of bottle gourd.
iii)
Assessing the thermal stability of oxytocin in milk and digestive stability of
oxytocin in vitro.
Implementation of the Food Safety
and Standards Act/ Rules/ Regulations rests with State/ U.T. Governments. The
Commissioners Food Safety/ Food (Health) Authority of States/ UTs who are
responsible for implementation of Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006 and Rules/
Regulations made thereunder in their States/ UTs, have been requested from time
to time to keep a strict vigil on use of carbide gas and other hazardous
chemicals for ripening of fruits and to take legal action for violation of the
above provision of the Act/ Regulations. The State Governments have also been
advised to educate the public through print and electronic media against
consumption of such artificially ripened fruits and vegetables. State
Governments have taken measures in this regard, such as ordering the Food
Safety Officers (FSOs)/ Designated Officers (DOs) to keep a watch on fruit
markets, inspection of fruit market, fruit stalls/ godowns, taking samples of
fruits, vegetables & milk, educating fruit vendors to refrain from using
these chemicals, etc.
This was
stated by Sh Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare in
a written reply to the Lok Sabha today.
No comments:
Post a Comment