Spices Board to destroy consignments with Sudan dye contamination

The Board said that this is in view of the emerging quality concerns in the world spice trade

The Spices Board has directed exporters to destroy the consignments of spices and spice-based products detected with Sudan dye contamination in the pre-shipment sampling and testing.

A circular issued by the director (marketing) of the Board, strictly instructed such consignments should be fully destroyed within 15 days in the presence of the Spices Board and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) officials.

The Board said this is in view of the emerging quality concerns in the world spice trade. The circular also said that requests from exporters for re-sampling of consignments once detected with banned substances will not be entertained under any circumstance.

When the analytical report of testing shows positive results for banned substances, viz. illegal dyes, Aflatoxin, pesticide residue etc. there are requests for re-sampling. The board has clearly stated that because of quality concerns this would not be allowed.

Adulterated and expired food products seized

Officials of the Department of Food Safety seized about Rs.1.25 lakhs worth of soft drinks which have passed their expiry date, adulterated tea and decayed fruits from various shops in Srirangam on Thursday.

The drive was taken up ahead of the Vaikunta Ekadasi by Food Safety Officers under the supervision of A.Ramakrishnan, Designated Officer, TN Food Safety and Drug Administration (Food Wing), Tiruchi.

About 18 Food Safety Officers have been deployed in the town in view of the festival and they would continue to carry out checks over the next few days to prevent adulteration and ensure food safety standards. A Food Safety stall has been set up inside the temple premises from where officials would be monitoring food safety standards and also receive complaints, if any, from the public, Dr.Ramakrishnan said.

The officers also inspected the mutts, ‘chathrams’ and halls where food is to be cooked for ‘annadhanams’ to be organized in view of the festival in the temple town. According to Dr.Ramakrishnan, 22 persons have registered with the department seeking permission for organizing ‘annadhanams.’

Water unit sealed

Later in the day, Food Safety officers sealed a drinking water packaging unit, running without licence, at Poigaipatti near Manapparai, Dr.Ramakrishnan said. Acting on a complaint, the officials inspected the Sakthi Aqua unit which was also allegedly filling empty water cans of reputed companies with water from a bore well processed by a reverse osmosis unit. The cans and bottles were seized and the entire unit including RO plant has been sealed, he said.

Customers stock up on bubbletops

Nearly 900 water packaging units remain shut; shortage anticipated

Several customers in the city stocked up on packaged drinking water on Thursday anticipating a shortage due to the ongoing indefinite strike by manufacturers.

Protesting the National Green Tribunal’s directive on Wednesday to close over 252 units across the State, members of the Tamil Nadu Packaged Drinking Water Manufacturers Association started a strike.

Following this, several retailers received more orders for bubbletops on Thursday. V. Murugan, a retailer in Perambur, said he exhausted his stock as many residents had purchased two or three bubbletops anticipating a shortage during the next few days.

Nearly 900 units across the State remain closed since Wednesday evening. Of this, about 320 units are located in and around Chennai.

Tamil Nadu Packaged Drinking Water Manufacturers Association’s president V. Murali said the units were directed to be closed as they were located in regions where groundwater resources was said to be over-exploited. Of this, 12 were located around the city.

The association’s general secretary A. Shakespeare said the units already had licences from the Bureau of Indian Standards and Food Safety Standards Authority of India. “We are not a polluting industry. The State government must provide us exemption from the licensing system of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.” The association members had also represented their issues to officials in the Chief Minister’s cell on Thursday, he added.

While 3.5 crore litres of water is supplied across the State every day, consumers from the city and its suburbs consume nearly 90 lakh litres of packaged water daily. Nearly 90 per cent of the supply is in the form of bubbletops.

Training in safe cooking for Anganwadi, noon meal workers

Tasks under Food Safety and Standards Act to be explained

The training programme for noon meal and Anganwadi cooks held at Kinathukadavu block in Coimbatore district.

The Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department (Food Safety Wing) has begun a programme to train 7,000 noon meal workers in Government schools and Anganwadi centres in Coimbatore in safe and hygienic cooking practices.

This follows a directive issued by Tamil Nadu Food Safety Commissioner Kumar Jayanth during October following the death of 20 children after having poisoned midday meal at a school in Bihar.

Samples to be tested

R. Kathiravan, Designated Officer of Food Safety Wing, told The Hindu that once the training was completed, samples would be taken from cooking centres and tested for quality. Coimbatore has one of the six Government food testing laboratories in Tamil Nadu approved under Food Safety and Standards Act.

The workers would also be explained their responsibilities under this Act, which holds food organisers liable in case of food poisoning.

The workers have to submit fitness certificates attesting that they were not suffering from any communicable disease or skin ailments. The Act also required them to maintain a personal hygiene. Training in safe storage of water and raw materials for cooking especially the perishable commodities would also be given.

The cooks would also be instructed to store samples of the cooked food before and after serving the students and keep them for one day. In case of food poisoning, these samples would be used to ascertain the causes.

Further, the Designated Officer said that the cooks would also be taught how to remove the residue of fertilizers and pesticides from green vegetables. The location of kitchen and proper ventilation were also vital.

The training programme was being held in batches. As many as 700 workers had already been trained in Madukkarai and Kinathukadavu blocks. The remaining blocks would also be covered by the end of January, Mr. Kathiravan said.

Coimbatore district had 1,686 Anganwadi centres and 1,299 noon meal centres in the Government and Corporation schools.

Anganwadi centres are run by Integrated Child Development Services, a Central Government-sponsored social welfare scheme, to tackle malnutrition and health problems in children and their mothers.

Anti-adulteration drive to go on, says municipal corporation Tribune News Service

After crackdown on firms selling substandard food products, the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) said its drive would be continued throughout the year to ensure that no low quality food was sold anywhere in the city.

An SMC official said commissioner of the corporation GN Qasba had passed instructions to the health officer to intensify its anti-adulteration drive rigorously and ensure that no low quality food was sold anywhere within the municipal limits.

Following reports of substandard food products sold by leading business groups, the High Court had last month directed three leading companies to deposit Rs 10 crore each.

The court was hearing a PIL seeking to implement the Food Safety Standards Act in the state to check adulteration. The orders had been passed days after the health wing of the SMC had decided to initiate legal action against several leading business groups found selling substandard food items. The products were found substandard after the SMC for the first time had sent samples to referral laboratories outside the state for quality check.

Meanwhile, a team led by SMC health officer Shafqat Khan had destroyed a large quantity of open spices, including turmeric and fennel powder, during a market check yesterday.

Khan said the sale of open spices was banned under the Food Safety and Authority Act, 2006, and no colouring agent had to be present in these spices. He said action was taken after the SMC had received several complaints from the Athawajan and Batamaloo areas that some unscrupulous traders were selling open spices, which were not in conformity with rules and regulations.

“These spices are substandard and are of low quality, which is harmful to health and nobody will be allowed to sell this lot within the jurisdiction of municipal limits,” Khan added.