FSSAI withdraws requirement of Board Resolution for licences under FSSR

FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) has issued an order clarifying that it has withdrawn the prerequisite of Board Resolution for a point of contact in FBOs (Food Business Operators) with regard to issuing of licences under FSS Regulations 2011. Instead FBOs will have to go for Form IX.

The order says that FSSAI has received  intimation about state licensing authority and Central licensing authority seeking a copy of Board Resolution to include the name of nominee and licences of FBOs that have been rejected for non-submission of the resolution.
The order stated, “It is clarified that Board Resolution is not mandatory for nominating person in charge responsible for complying with conditions of licences and for the said purpose Form IX is to be required which must be signed by director or authorised signatory of the company.”
The order added that all licensing authorities are advised not to insist on submission of copy of Board Resolution for nomination of persons responsible for complying with the condition of licences.
It is pertinent to mention here that requirement of nomination by the company in prescribed proforma i.e. Form IX is mandated under Rule 2.5.1 and 2.5.2 of FSS Rules 2011 wherein it prescribes that company shall intimate the name of person responsible for complying with conditions of licences to licensing authority.
According to sources, this rule was taken from the erstwhile PFA Act, 1954, wherein production managers of the FBOs were required to be nominated for the said purpose.
Source:http://www.fnbnews.com

Interview with CEO FSSAI

ഓണവിപണി ലക്ഷ്യമിട്ട് ഹൈറേഞ്ചില്‍ കൃത്രിമപ്പാല്‍ വ്യാപകം

ചെറുതോണി: ഓണവിപണി ലക്ഷ്യമിട്ട് ഹൈറേഞ്ചില്‍ കൃത്രിമപ്പാല്‍ വന്‍തോതില്‍ എത്തിക്കുന്നു. തമിഴ്‌നാട്ടില്‍നിന്നാണ് പാല്‍ എത്തിക്കുന്നത്. മില്‍മ നല്‍കുന്നതിന...

Read more at: http://www.mathrubhumi.com/idukki/malayalam-news/cheruthoni-1.1334101

10 years of FSSAI - From preventing adulteration to ensuring food safety

Source:http://www.fnbnews.com

In 2006, India’s Parliament adopted a new comprehensive law replacing the erstwhile Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954. It was named the Food Safety and Standards Act.

The latter aimed at looking into more comprehensively the food safety ecosystem that included a broader definition of food business operator (FBO), thousands of additives and their standards well harmonised with those of Codex, creating duly accredited lab infrastructure across the country for scientific analysis of the samples collected and placing robust food clearance systems for imports amongst others to make food safe when it comes to the plate.

“The statement of Objects and Reasons appended to the Food Safety and Standards Bill 2006 refers to a multiplicity of food laws, standard setting and enforcement agencies, and the need for modernisation of laws which are non-responsive to technological developments, all of which hinder the growth of a modern food processing sector and fixation of safety standards,” wrote P I Suvrathan, the first chairperson of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), in his memoir in the book released by FSSAI.

“It was in 1998 that the prime minister’s Council on Trade and Industry recommended comprehensive legislation on food, with a regulatory authority as a means to modernise the food sector and ensure safety of food,” he added.

In August 2011, FSSAI started its operations officially.

But after five years of its operations, Suvrathan felt that the regulator must reinvent itself.

To avail safety all-round need of staff arrangements - bringing on board food inspectors as food safety officers (FSO).

During the initial days of the operations, FSSAI took several initiatives to build the organisation from scratch, which appeared to have got derailed in the middle before the current dispensation took over and tried to save the cause.

Before Onam : Food Safety Officials Raid Hotels

Food safety officials Raid in MRA Hotel Karamana

എംആര്‍എ ബേക്ക് ഹൗസില്‍ പരിശോധന; ബോര്‍മയുടെ പ്രവര്‍ത്തനം നിര്‍ത്തിവെപ്പിച്ചു

സൗന്ദര്യ വര്‍ധനക്ക് ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്ന റോസ് വാട്ടര്‍ പാചകത്തിന് ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്നൂവെന്നാണ് സ്ക്വാഡ് കണ്ടെത്തിയത്.ആരോഗ്യത്തിന് ഹാനികരമായ ഘടകങ്ങള്‍ ചേര്‍ന്ന ഈ റോസ് വാട്ടര്‍  ഭക്ഷ്യസുരക്ഷ ലൈസന്‍സില്ലാത്തതുമാണ്.

തിരുവനന്തപുരം: എംആര്‍എ ബേക്ക് ഹൗസിന്റെ തിരുവനന്തപുരം കരമനയിലെ ബോര്‍മയുടെ പ്രവര്‍ത്തനം നിര്‍ത്തിവെപ്പിച്ചു. ഭക്ഷ്യസുരക്ഷ വകുപ്പിന്റെ പരിശോധനയില്‍ പ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ കണ്ടെത്തിയതിനെത്തുടര്‍ന്നാണ് നടപടി. എന്നാല്‍ ആരോഗ്യത്തിന് ഹാനികരമാകുന്ന ഒന്നും ഭക്ഷ്യവസ്തുക്കളില്‍ ചേര്‍ക്കാറില്ലെന്ന്
എംആര്‍എ ഉടമസ്ഥര്‍ പ്രതികരിച്ചു.

ഭക്ഷ്യസുരക്ഷ വകുപ്പിന്റെ മൊബൈല്‍ വിജിലന്‍സ് സ്ക്വാഡിന്റെ പരിശോധനയിലാണ് എം ആര്‍ എ ബേക്ക് ഹൗസിന്റെ ബോര്‍മയില്‍ പ്രശ്നം കണ്ടെത്തിയത്. സൗന്ദര്യ വര്‍ധനക്ക് ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്ന റോസ് വാട്ടര്‍ പാചകത്തിന് ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്നൂവെന്നാണ് സ്ക്വാഡ് കണ്ടെത്തിയത്.ആരോഗ്യത്തിന് ഹാനികരമായ ഘടകങ്ങള്‍ ചേര്‍ന്ന ഈ റോസ് വാട്ടര്‍  ഭക്ഷ്യസുരക്ഷ ലൈസന്‍സില്ലാത്തതുമാണ്.

പാചകത്തിന് റോസ് വാട്ടര്‍ ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്നുവെന്ന് കണ്ടെത്തിയതിനെത്തുടര്‍ന്നാണ് ബോര്‍മയുടെ പ്രവര്‍ത്തനം നിര്‍ത്തിവെപ്പിച്ചതെന്ന് ഭക്ഷ്യസുരക്ഷ വകുപ്പ് അധികൃതര്‍ വ്യക്തമാക്കി. എന്നാല്‍ ഈ റോസ് വാട്ടര്‍ പാചകത്തിനുപയോഗിക്കുന്നതല്ലായെന്നാണ് എം ആര്‍ എ ബേക്ക് ഹൗസ് അധികൃതരുടെ വിശദീകരണം. ഉല്‍സവസീസണുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ടാണ് ഭക്ഷ്യസുരക്ഷ വകുപ്പ് സംസ്ഥാന വ്യാപക പരിശോധന നടത്തുന്നത്. 17 ടീമുകളായി തിരിഞ്ഞ് സംസ്ഥാനത്ത് ഹോട്ടലുകളിലും ഭക്ഷണശാലകളിലും ഭക്ഷ്യ സുരക്ഷ വകുപ്പ് നടത്തുന്ന പരിശോധന പന്ത്രണ്ടാം തിയതി വരെ തുടരും.

Source:http://www.asianetnews.tv

മുറിച്ച പഴം,പച്ചക്കറികള്‍ പ്ലാസ്സ്റ്റിക്കില്‍ പൊതിഞ്ഞ് സൂക്ഷിക്കുന്നത് ശിക്ഷാര്‍ഹം

How unlicenced slaughter houses pose grave problem in India

Source:http://www.financialexpress.com

All urban slaughter-houses as well as the butchers and flayers working there should be licensed, and entry to slaughter-houses strictly regulated. Greater proportion of the income derived from slaughter-houses should be spent on their upkeep, efficient running and improvement.” I can quote much more in the same vein. This isn’t something NGT (National Green Tribunal) has said. It is a quote from a Committee set up in 1955 (report submitted in 1957) by the ministry of food and agriculture, on slaughter-houses and meat inspection practices. Under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1960), there are the 2001 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules. Section 3(1) states, “No person shall slaughter any animal within a municipal area except in a slaughter-house recognized or licensed by the concerned authority empowered under the law for the time being in force.” The Rules go on to specify amenities in slaughterhouses and lairages and processes for slaughter. Under the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006, we also have the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations of 2011. From Schedule 1 of this, a Central license will be required for “all slaughter-houses equipped to slaughter more than 50 large animals or 150 or more small animals including sheep and goats or 1000 or more poultry birds per day.” We thus have a dual FSSAI (the Authority under FSSA) and municipal registration/licence for the high-end and only a municipal registration/licence for others.

There is no getting away for some kind of registration/licence—with slaughterhouses divided into ovine (sheep), caprine (goats), suilline (pigs), bovine (cattle), poultry and fish. Those are actually FSSAI registration heads, not municipal. We have FSSAI data from last year, when the health minister gave a written reply to Rajya Sabha. Sixty-two slaughterhouses are registered with FSSAI. Twenty are from UP. Every other state has less than ten. Assuming all those who should get registered under FSSAI do so, this is a remarkably small number. Through department of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries, because of a RTI query, we also have data (for 2014) on number of registered slaughterhouses. This is “as reported by states/UT governments” and is therefore about municipal ones. The total number comes to 1,623, with more than 100 in Andhra Pradesh (183), Maharashtra (316), Tamil Nadu (130) and UP (285). Bengal has a mere 11. We want registration because amenities and conditions improve and clearly, these are gross under-estimates.

There have been writ petitions and special leave petitions in the Supreme Court since 2001. To quote from a 2014 Order of the Supreme Court, “We notice that there is no periodical supervision or inspection of the various slaughter houses functioning in various parts of the country. Action Taken Reports would indicate that, in many States, slaughter houses are functioning without any licence and even the licenced slaughter houses are also not following the various provisions as well as the guidelines issued by the MoEF, which we have already referred to in our earlier orders.” There is also Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which tell us there are 3,600 authorised slaughterhouses, compared to that other figure of 1,623. If we go back to something like 1992, that 3,600 figure becomes more specific, because we have a CPCB industry document on slaughterhouses, meat and sea-food processing. This tells us, “As reported by the Ministry of Food Processing, a total of 3,616 recognized slaughter-houses” exist. With that cut-off of 100, there are 343 in Andhra Pradesh, 633 in Karnataka, 715 in Kerala, 261 in MP, 282 in Maharashtra, 380 in Rajasthan, 183 in Tamil Nadu and 407 UP. Rather remarkably, Bengal still has 11. These are recognised/registered slaughterhouses. Therefore, the two sets of numbers (from 1992 and 2014) should be comparable.

Absence of pesticide regulation hits food safety enforcement

Source:http://www.thehindu.com

The absence of prescribed limits on the use of chemical pesticides for various crops could hinder the government move to step up enforcement of food safety during the Onam festival season, experts feel.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has not prescribed the Maximum Residue Level (MRL) of many of the pesticides used on vegetables and fruits.

This, according to official sources, poses legal hurdles in cracking down on the indiscriminate use of pesticides by domestic farmers and curbing the import of pesticide-contaminated items from other States.

MRL is the legally permitted level of pesticide residue in food items. The MRL value is fixed on the basis of a rigorous evaluation. It acts as an indicator of the correct use of pesticides and ensures compliance with legal requirements for food safety.

“It is a matter of concern that the majority of pesticides that have been detected in vegetables, fruits, spices and condiments do not have MRL values,” says a senior scientist associated with pesticide safety.

“This makes a mockery of the periodic monitoring of food items for pesticide residue,” he said.

The State government conducts regular surveillance sample testing of food items and the reports are published on the official website. But in the absence of MRL values, officials are hamstrung in taking legal action.

“For example, Profenophos is a typical highly neurotoxic insecticide registered for use only in cotton. But it has been detected in chilli, chilli powder, curry leaf, coriander leaf, mint leaf, cardamom, cumin seed, fennel seed, and curry powders. The FSSAI has not fixed the MRL for this insecticide in any of these commodities, because its use is not approved in any of these crops,” says an official.

Vice Chancellor, Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), P. Rajendran said the multiplicity of pesticides used for various crops posed a problem in regulation. “Fixing the MRL value for a pesticide used on a crop is a complex, time- consuming process, often taking years. To complicate matters further, pesticide manufacturers come up with new products every now and then, by changing the formulation.”

Under a special food safety drive for the forthcoming Onam festival season, the Pesticide Residue Research and Analytical Laboratory under KAU is screening samples of vegetables and fruits collected from markets across the State.

FSSAI commemorates decade of Food Safety & Stds Act with 10 initiatives

Source:http://www.fnbnews.com
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) commemorated ten years of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and revealed its future plans with ten initiatives aimed at making the public and the food industry partners and an aware society.

The document released by FSSAI said, “The future of food safety and nutrition lies in an integrated approach, collaborations, engagement and surround impact.”

“These will be key dynamic to enable food safety in the country. And these initiatives are envision to connect people of all age groups across the spectrum with the simple intent of creating an aware community which is empowered to ensure food safety.”

Beginning from home, the dots connect workspace, schools, serving and corporate for food safety.

Initiatives

• Safe and nutritious food at home: FSSAI is bringing out a green book on safe food at home. It will assist homemakers in their routine dealing with the food
• Safe and nutritious food at school: This initiative is aimed at creating awareness about food safety among children and inculcating safe food habits that will last a lifetime
• Safe and nutritious food at workplace: This focuses on employees
• Safe food on the streets, at restaurants, railway stations and places of worship
• Working in close cooperating with corporates with a thought of food safety - a shared responsibility
• The apex regulator wants to connect with citizens by which public participation can be augmented to achieve the goal of food safety
• Diet for Life: This is aimed at the nutritional needs of children with metabolic disorders
• Food safety training and certification (FoSTaC): This aims at providing training to people involved in various food businesses
• IFS-Quickacess: This initiative is aimed at integrated food standards for easy and effective implementation and monitoring
• Strengthening of food testing laboratories (SOFTel)

FSSAI restructures team, renames depts & creates risk assessment divn

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has restructured its team, renamed a few departments and created a division for Risk Assessment and Research and Development (RARD). The RARD division will be be headed by Dr Rubeena Shaheen, who earlier headed the product approval division. She will be accompanied by a scientist and a technical officer. Product approval will now be a part of the standards division, headed by Anil Kumar. The imports division has been rechristened the International Trade and Cooperation Division (IT&CD). Rakesh Chandra Sharma, the former enforcement director, will be the director of this division. According to an order related by FSSAI, the Codex Cell will deal with matters pertaining to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and technical barriers to trade (TBT). An official said it had been done to ensure that the departments function in accordance to global best practices. He added, “The restructuring has been done for smooth functioning and clear division of work among the department. This will also help in eradicating overlapping in functionalities,” the officials said. Further, the order stated that Bimal Kumar Dubey would be director, Regulatory Compliance Division (RCD), which is the erstwhile Enforcement Division. It will have a help desk reporting directly to the director. The FSSAI laid a great deal of emphasis on the Food Safety Management System (FSMS), which will be headed by Suneeti Toteja, accompanied by two scientists. Source:http://www.fnbnews.com

Food Safety Commissioner's instruction to recall water bottle which cont...

FSSAI to test packaging for toxins release; new packaging standards soon

The apex food regulator FSSAI has sought a surveillance plan from the Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) with regards to testing the packaging material used in food products so that the risk of toxins released in the food could be mitigated. Currently FSSAI is examining the plan and will hold discussions for its possible implementation. Further FSSAI has plans to come up with packaging standards apart from the existing BIS standards.

Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI, speaking to FnB news said that it was being done to determine the safety of the material used for food packaging and how the material reacted when it came in contact with the food. “We have asked the IIP to suggest a surveillance plan for checking the safety of the material used for food packs. We’re currently examining the same and soon we will take a decision in the matter,” he said.

This move is in-line with ensuring safety of food and such policy will enable FSSAI to keep an eye on the packaging. Apart from the testing done by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), FSSAI is set to test the packaging standards of foodmakers. Testing will be carried on packets, bottles, cans or wrappers to see whether or not they release toxins into the food under different temperatures and conditions.

According to the officials of FSSAI, this will help FSSAI to bring down the percentage of the food contaminated due to migration from the packaging material. The FSSAI will conduct research before finalising their own set of guidelines.

The officials further stated that the new standards were expected to increase the frequency of checks and make companies more accountable. FSSAI wants manufacturers to make the packaging process more transparent.

FSSAI will also ask the states to follow the norms and domestic and multinational food giants will be checked.

Meanwhile, the industry welcomed the move saying that it would help the industry in checking any contamination while the smaller FBOs will be able to identify better packaging material for their products.

“The industry has experienced the issue of migration since the packaging was developed. There are certain parameters to avoid migration risks. A crucial component which has to be taken care while procuring raw materials for packaging a food product is statement of composition (SoC). This statement has a tabulated format of migration patterns of the material which is supplied. A detailed note of possible migrants is mentioned in the statement. Also, the worst case scenarios are mentioned statistically. There are even other systems to ensure safety, the food product should be taken into consideration while choosing the packaging material,” said Neelakamal Mohapatra, head, food processing technology development, Siegwerk India Pvt. Ltd, Rajasthan.

He added, “The new standards will be helpful for small manufacturers while choosing the materials as the migration levels will be mentioned already in the standards. This is a good move which will help small players on a larger scale. If they will be properly educated it will save their costs in incurred in testing on a larger scale.”

Source:http://www.fnbnews.com

FSSAI to exempt traders supplying farm produce from quality accountability

Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided to exempt traders who deal in supply of farm produce (particularly grain and pulses) to the food processing industry from being held responsible for the quality of the produce. In this regard, traders who trade in mandis and procure raw material from farmers had alleged harassment at the hands of food safety officials on account of quality of the raw produce.

However, now, the FSSAI has issued an office order, which states that the apex food regulator has amended the rules with regards to enforcement in mandis wherein a provision has been added to the regulation 2.4.6 of Food Safety & Standards (Food Product Standard and Food Additives) Amendment Regulations, 2016, relating to food grains Clause 15. An additional Clause 16 was proposed to be added with respect to unprocessed whole raw pulses – not for direct human consumption.

FSSAI officials reveal that this proposal has already been operationalised with effect from April 13 this year.

“This would prevent avoidable harassment or prosecution of such traders who are procuring raw agricultural produce directly from farmers and selling the raw agricultural produce for further processing. The analysis of such samples when taken would be tested against the standards of raw produce. This is in line with the belief of FSSAI that sampling of primary food should only be encouraged where the same is being sold for direct human consumption,” states the order.

FSSAI has received several representations from various trade associations against enforcement activities undertaken against traders engaged in procuring raw agricultural produce directly from farmers and selling the same for further processing. The traders in mandis were held responsible for quality of the agricultural commodities produced by farmers.

But FSSAI officials admitted that the authority had limited scope in ensuring best farm practices while the department of animal husbandry, agriculture cooperation and farmers welfare and their respective departments in states had the responsibility to ensure that.

Source:http://www.fnbnews.com

Raid in bakery units in Calicut

What did Kerala for food saftey | Manorama News

Food Safety officials raid teashops in Kozhikode

കോഴിക്കോട് പലഹാരങ്ങള്‍ നിര്‍മ്മിക്കുന്നത് വൃത്തിഹീനമായ സാഹചര്യത്തില്‍

Source:http://www.reporterlive.com/

കോഴിക്കോട്: കോഴിക്കോട് നഗരത്തില്‍ പലഹാരങ്ങള്‍ നിര്‍മ്മിക്കുന്നത് വൃത്തിഹീനമായ സാഹചര്യത്തിലാണെന്ന് ഭക്ഷ്യ സുരക്ഷ വകുപ്പിന്റെ കണ്ടെത്തല്‍. പലഹാര നിര്‍മ്മാണത്തിന് ചീഞ്ഞളിഞ്ഞ വസ്തുക്കള്‍ ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്നതായും തെളിഞ്ഞു. കോഴിക്കോട് ഒരു ദിനം നിര്‍മ്മിക്കുന്നത് ഒരു ലക്ഷത്തോളം പലഹാരങ്ങളാണെന്നാണ് ഭക്ഷ്യ സുരക്ഷ വകുപ്പിന്റെ കണക്ക്.മൊത്തമായി നിര്‍മിക്കുന്നത് പത്തോളം സ്ഥാപനങ്ങളിലാണ്. പലതവണ അടച്ചു പൂട്ടാന്‍ നോട്ടീസ് നല്‍കിയിട്ടും പാലിക്കാത്ത സ്ഥാപനങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് എതിരെ നിയമനടപടി സ്വീകരിക്കാനാണ് ഭക്ഷ്യ വകുപ്പിന്റെ തീരുമാനം.

പാളയത്ത് ബോണ്ടയടക്കം നിര്‍മ്മിക്കുന്ന കേന്ദ്രത്തില്‍ ചീഞ്ഞ ഉരുളക്കിഴങ്ങുകള്‍ കൊണ്ടാണ് പലഹാരങ്ങള്‍ നിര്‍മിക്കുന്നത്. ദുര്‍ഗന്ധം വമിക്കുന്ന ഉരുളക്കിഴങ്ങുകള്‍ കൂട്ടിയിട്ടിരുക്കുകയാണ്. 

Silver leaf made from animal parts banned

Ahmedabad: Silver foil, seen atop various sweetmeats at sweet shops, is now comming under the scanner. Following the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) notification, the making of silver foil (chandi varakh) with the use of animal parts or products has been banned from August 1 this year. A subsequent notification has been brought out by the state-level food and drugs department and executed across Gujarat.

Fine silver foil or silver leaf, is used to decorate sweets and traditional desserts and spices such as cardamom and sweet paan. They are manufactured mostly in traditional units where the silver is placed between layers of animal intestine obtained from slaughterhouses, and then hammered into a fine foil. "There has to be a clear distinction between silver leaf made in traditional factories and those manufactured using machines," says a senior AMC official.

The FSSAI issued a gazette notification Tuesday that said: "Silver leaf cannot be manufactured using any animal material of animal origin at any stage of manufacturing process." The notification has also fixed norms for thickness, weight and purity of silver. This is to ensure that hazardous aluminium foil is not passed off as silver leaf and supplied to sweet shops in small towns and villages. It has also said that the sheet needs to be of uniform thickness, free from creases and folds; and the weight of silver foil should be up to 2.8g per square metre; and the silver used should of a minimum 999/1000 fineness, the notification says.

"The fines and penalties will be announced soon. The state food regulators will take action against manufacturers who use silver leaf which uses animal parts," said a senior official of the food and drugs department. Modern machinery, according to an AMC health official, is available for the manufacture of silver leaf.
Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Silver-leaf-made-from-animal-parts-banned/articleshow/53330144.cms