NASVI to train street food vendors to mark World Food Day

To clebrate World Food Day which falls on October 16, the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) will impart training to street food vendors on the issue of health and hygiene in the city.

"Promoting and professionalizing street foods in an era of growing costs of food and widespread debates over the issue of sustainability of formal food distribution system, NASVI with support from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is going to build capacity of more than 500 street food vendors in the national capital through imparting them training on issues of health and hygiene on October 21," a statement from NASVI said today.

The street vendors' body believes that once recognised and capacitated, the street food vendors would be more able to increase their enterprise and contribute to sustainability of food economy and its distribution systems.

The capacity building demonstration training would be a part of the ten-day long World Food Day celebrations which NASVI is going to start from October 16 across cities.

Every year the World Food Day falls on October 16 which marks the foundation of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

NASVI said this year the World Food Day throws up a very relevant theme of 'Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition'.

According to NASVI national coordinator Arbind Singh, the growing urbanisation and the shrinking formal food distribution system has stimulated a rise in the number of street food vendors in many cities and towns across India.

"The migration from rural areas to urban centres has created a daily need among many working people to eat outside the home. A large number of college/university going youth is also dependent on such foods. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) also has found that many regions have street food vendors as active labour force," Mr Singh said.

He said even from the angle of poverty reduction, employment and entrepreneurship, the working poor were attracted to this profession.

The ten-day exercise would witness street food vendors taking hands on training on health and hygiene as well as tips and wherewithal on how to make and serve delicious, healthy and nutritious foods to the consumers.

Upgrade procedure to test milk, suppliers tell JMC Tribune News Service

A day after announcing to resume the milk supply within municipal limits, milkmen, mostly Gujjars, today asked the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) to upgrade its procedure of testing milk, alleging that it was "obsolete and below national standards".

"To save milk from converting into curd, a limited amount of ice is added to maintain the temperature of milk in summer season, which generally has a minute effect on it but there is no change in its fat content. This can no way be termed as adulteration," Jameel Choudhary of the Dodhi Gujjar Association told reporters here.

He dared the civic body to show any provision or norm of the Food Safety Act, which allowed them to destroy milk during the collection of samples.

He demanded that the rates of milk and other milk products be enhanced with immediate effect as the Gujjars had been suffering losses because of high cost of cattle feed and fodder.

JMC officials, meanwhile, blame the state government for its failure to release funds for purchase of mobile testing labs to check milk adulteration at all entry points of the city.

"A proposal to purchase new mobile testing labs to check the quality of milk was mooted

last year after the release of an alarming report by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) in January 2012. The report stated that 83 per cent of milk sold in urban areas of the state was not safe for consumption. However, the proposal is yet to be implemented due to red tapism," said an official.

In 2012, the FSSAI had collected 18 samples from different areas of the state as part of its nationwide study and had found that most common form of adulteration in the state was that related to Glucose and Skimmed Milk Products (SMP).

"The civic body is still dependent on the lab which takes days to give out the results. Mobile labs can provide us with a tool for on-the-spot checking," the official said.

Kiran Wattal, JMC Commissioner, and Vinod Sharma, JMC Health officer, were unavailable for comments. 

Sidel bags bottling line contract with Moha, Pepsi bottler in Ethiopia

Sidel, an international supplier of liquid packaging solutions to the beverage industry, has won another contract with Moha Soft Drinks Industry S C, which operates in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and is a bottling plant for cola major Pepsi.

The turnkey project involves installing the entire production line for Moha’s new greenfield site in Mek'ele, the capital of the regional government of Tigray in northern Ethiopia and one of the African nation's principal economic and educational centres.

The plant is expected to continue the success achieved by the company at its other plants. It is located approximately 780km north of Addis Ababa, the national capital. With the new Sidel line, the Pepsi bottler aims to meet the rising demand for carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) and water.

The turnkey project at Mek'ele is expected to be implemented by mid-2014, and would include all auxiliary services, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) production, steam, syrup room, generator, water treatment plant and piping.

Previously, the supply to the region necessitated the trucking of products from Addis Ababa. The new line would mostly be producing carbonated soft drinks at a rate of 36,000 returnable glass bottles (RGB) per hour.

Clive Smith, zone vice-president, Greater Middle-East and Africa (GMEA), Sidel, said, “We are proud and happy to be working with Moha Soft Drinks once again. Moha is highly respected in the soft drink industry.”

“We are also looking forward to renewing acquaintances with Getachew Birbo, Moha's chief executive officer, and his team on this new project, which I am sure will be yet another successful Sidel collaboration with a leading beverage producer,” he added.

Collaboration and success

Ethiopia has a population of about 90 million, which makes it Africa's second-most populous nation. It has remarkable potential and opportunities. Its gross domestic product (GDP) is growing rapidly, and with a predominantly young population; the consumption of soft drinks in the country is also growing.

For this new venture in Mek'ele, the company has again turned to Sidel, with whom Moha’s strong working relationship goes back a long way. The company had previously supplied similar lines at other Moha factories.

Sidel’s leadership in beverage packaging solutions was a particularly relevant factor in the decision to award the contract, with the company’s strong regional support and its increased spares facility also playing an important role.

The introduction of the new line complements the range of Sidel equipment that is already successfully operating at other Moha plants.

This will offer considerable synergies in terms of components across a number of production lines, with commonality of spare parts, as well as drawing on the skill sets already established on Sidel lines with the Moha operatives.

This would provide the platform for a swift transition to the high production levels required at the new Mek'ele plant when the line comes on stream.

Birbo said, “We were looking forward for a very successful completion of this plant, as it would come at a time when most of the production capacity of our plants would reach their peak.”

“Furthermore, we at Moha believe that the newly-reorganised office in Dubai opens its doors at a time when closer cooperation between our companies was highly required to support this project. We have known Sidel now for many years. We have successfully collaborated with them on several occasions, including the new PET line which was commissioned in 2012, so we are well aware of their capabilities,” he said.

“Above all, we know the solution they provide us with will be efficient and reliable and we know their after-sales service will be good, especially now that the company is well-represented throughout the whole of the region with its newly-established headquarters in Dubai,” Birbo added.

Leading brands of soft drinks, juices and spring water

Moha Soft Drinks Industry S C was founded in 1996, following the acquisition of four state-owned Pepsi plants by Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi, Ethiopian business magnate of Saudi descent, and his wife, who are the largest foreign investors in Ethiopia.

Today, the company is one of the leading producers of CSDs in Ethiopia, and is the principal supplier of Pepsi and other offerings of the company throughout the country. It is currently responsible for around half the overall national production of over 40 million crates.

The major brands bottled by Moha include Pepsi and other brands of the company, including Mirinda Orange, 7-Up, Mirinda Tonic and Mirinda Apple, and Kool bottled water products.

Presently, the company has seven operating units in the country – Nifas Silk, TekleHaimanot, Gondar and Dessie plants (acquired from the Ethiopian Privatisation Agency) and the Summit, Bure and Hawassa plants in the Southern Nations and Nationalities People's Region.

[Source: African Press Organisation (APO) on behalf of Sidel International AG]

At recruitment drive for managers, FCI gets 91,000 online applications

The drive initiated by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to recruit managers has elicited a great response – about 91,000 aspirants applied online, and 18,000 applications were received by post.

Following the recruitment drive for category-III assistants (at which 10,300 candidates were selected), FCI – the country’s foodgrain procurement and distribution giant – recently advertised 460 vacancies for Category-II managers.

The corporation also advertised 30 vacancies for the post of assistant general manager, and has received 27,000 applications so far. Further registration is in process. A senior FCI executive said, “It is heartening to see such a good response to our recruitment drive from aspirants from across the country.”

FCI now has a staff strength of about 25,752. This includes 5,638 managerial-level executives, and 20,124 employees at various levels, including assistants and Category-IV employees.

Nearly 1,700 assistants have already joined FCI (against 3,755 vacancies), but their induction is still in progress. The corporation later advertised 6,545 vacancies and conducted written tests.

According to FCI's executive director (personnel), the recruitment was necessary to meet the growing operational requirements of the public sector corporation that handles stocks of about 800 million tonne foodgrains every year.

“It is after a long time that we have conducted such a massive recruitment drive,” he said.

Under the earlier recruitment drive for assistants for FCI’s north zone (where the maximum storage of food grains takes place), the total number of vacancies earmarked was 5,127, followed by the south zone (2,556), the west zone (1,634), the east zone (1,080) and the northeast zone (363).

IGPB hosting events to up India's wine exports to Asia-Pacific nations

The Indian Grape Processing Board (IGPB) has planned to increase the presence of Indian wine brands in the markets of the Asia-Pacific region, including Hong Kong and Singapore, as part of its strategy to increase the export of the beverage from the country in these markets.

Indian wineries will participate in a trade fair in Hong Kong in November 2013. It would be organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC). IGPB would also be organising a business conference in Singapore, with the support of the Indian embassy in Singapore and the Agricultural and Processed Foods Export Development Authority (APEDA).

“Wine is produced in Australia and several countries in Africa, South Africa and Europe. However, India is the only major wine-producing nation in Asia,” said Jagdish Holkar, chairman, IGPB in Nashik recently.

“We would initially target tapping into such markets as Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand, which are the major hubs covering the region, which also comprises nations like Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam,” he added.

“We recently organised a wine and food tasting event at the India House in Bangkok, the official residence of the Indian ambassador to Thailand, to promote wine from India in that country,” Holkar said.

“Around 150 wine importers, food and beverage managers of various establishments and hospitality professionals participated in it. We also held business meetings with some wine importers and hotel managers in Thailand. We are expecting good business from that country in the coming months,” he added.

At present, wine production in the country stands at around 12 million litre a year, with a market size of about Rs 480 crore. Exports from India stands at around 12 lakh litre, valued at Rs 50 crore. Of the total wine sales in the country, the hospitality industry accounts for about 65 per cent of the consumption, while the remainder is accounted for by retail wine shops.

Of the 93 wineries in India, 75 are located in Maharashtra. Of these, as many as 36 are in Nashik. There are 12 in Pune, 13 in Sangli, five in Solapur, four in Osmanabad, three in Buldhana and one each in Latur and Ahmednagar. Maharashtra accounts for almost 91 per cent of the total wine produced in India, and Nashik contributes to 80 per cent of the production from Maharashtra.

Food safety training for noon meal, Anganwadi staff

To bring in more professionalism in the process within the resources available

Tamil Nadu Food Safety Commissioner Kumar Jayanth on Tuesday ordered the Designated Officers (DOs) of Food Safety Wing to train the staff at noon meal and Anganwadi centres across the State in safe and hygienic cooking practices.

In a video-conference, he instructed the DOs of all 32 districts to provide training on handling different types of food materials, safe cooking practices and maintaining hygienic conditions, an official who participated told The Hindu on Wednesday.

The noon meal scheme at schools was a State Government project. Anganwadi centres are run by Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), a Central Government-sponsored social welfare scheme to tackle malnutrition and health problems in children and their mothers.

Apart from cooking, emphasis will also be placed on storage of different food materials. The objective was to bring in more professionalism in the process within the resources available to the staff, the official said.

The training will be conducted at the block-level, where the Block Development Officer will coordinate the effort with the DOs. Training for the first batch was likely to commence in a week’s time. The Food Safety Commissioner has written to all the district administrations seeking their cooperation.

Even though nearly three months have elapsed since the Food Safety Commissioner directed all DOs to test samples from noon meal and Anganwadi centres, no sample had been taken in Coimbatore so far, sources said.

Mr. Jayanth had issued a circular on July 19 in the wake of more than 20 children dying after taking the mid-day meal at a school in Bihar on July 16. It was found that food was contaminated as a result of the cooking oil having been placed in a container formerly used to store pesticides. While initially the process was held-up in Coimbatore due to the microbiologist post at the Government Food Analysis Laboratory here lying vacant, it was yet to take off even though the post was filled, a few weeks ago. The process of lifting samples and testing them was likely to be taken up after the training programme for the cooks conclude, an official said.

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

Food business operators pay Rs 17 lakh fine

PUNE: The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) officials have recovered Rs 17.82 lakh as penalty from food business operators for filing their annual returns late.

FDA had earlier directed licenced food business operators with an annual turnover of Rs 12 lakh and above to submit their annual returns by May 31, failing which a fine of Rs 100 a day would be levied.

For the first time, food business operators have been asked to submit annual returns of their transactions made between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013, since the new Food Safety and Standards Act came into force in August 2011.

"So far, we have collected fine to the tune of Rs 17.82 lakh from food business operators who failed to submit their annual returns in the prescribed format by May 31 this year," said Shahshikant Kekare, joint commissioner (food), FDA Pune The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the national food regulatory body, has exempted traders, restaurateurs and distributors from filing annual returns. Only food manufacturers, packers, re-packers, labellers and re-labellers come under the purview of filing the annual returns.

There are over 9,000 licensed food business operators in the city with an annual turnover of Rs 12 lakh and above. They include food manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, recyclers, processors, transporters, restaurants, hotels and catering business operators.

As per the Food Safety and Standards Act and Regulations 2011 (licensing and registration), the business operators have to submit the returns in the particular format (form D-1).

FDA intensifies checks on varai flour, sweets

PUNE: The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) officials have intensified random checks and inspection of sweet shops and grocery shops, which sell varai flour (samo rice) during Navaratra. In 2011, hundreds of people in the city and other parts of the state were hospitalized after eating preparations made from adulterated varai flour. "We have intensified our drive and have collected samples of varai sold either loose or in packaged form in the city. We are testing samples of sweets, khoya and khoya-based products sold at sweet shops in the city," said Dilip Sangat, assistant commissioner (food), FDA, Pune.The FDA has also issued guidelines to mandals to prevent food adulteration and food-poisoning incidents.

Besides, food safety officials are conducting surprise visits in mandals and temples to collect samples of food items being served. "During the festive days, our officials conduct meetings with authorities of religious organizations and sensitize them about safety precautions and hygienic preparation of food that will be served to the devotees,"