Checks on shawarma stalls

The Kochi Corporation has decided to extend its food raids to evenings and nights in a bid to make sure that Shawarma stalls are also included in the checks. So far most of these raids were conducted only in the day time thereby missing the inspection of Shawarma stalls.
“We used to conduct food raids in the early mornings and during the day to ensure that the stale food gets detected before it is boiled. But now we have noted that due to this we often missed the Shawarma stalls which open only in the evenings. Taking the problem into consideration, the Kochi Corporation has decided to conduct raids in the evening as well from now on,” said the Health Standing Committee Chairman, Kochi Corporation.
Following the incident in Thiruvananthapuram where one hotel management student died following suspected food poisoning after consuming Shawarmas, the Kochi Corporation carried out raids in hotels in various parts of the city on Wednesday. Two hotels selling Shawarma were shut down following the raids and others were given spot notices to improve their Shawarma stalls.
The raids were conducted at the GCDA Shopping Complex, KINCO Boat Jetty, Ernakulam North and Palarivattom. Officials from the health department said that most of the stalls were kept in unhygienic conditions. “In order to attract customers most of these Shawarma counters were kept right at the footpaths without any sort of safety covering. Due to the food gets unhygienic in a few hours,” said the Chairman of the Health Standing Committee of the Kochi Corporation, T K Ashraf.
The authorities concerned state that they would not allow Shawarma counters to operate in the open, without a covering. “There are a number of health risks in allowing them to operate out in the open right next to the roads. We will not be allowing this from now on. A protective covering of some sort like a glass covering will be insisted upon,” said the Food Safety Officer, K Ajith Kumar. Officers from the Commissionerate of Food Safety have left for Bangalore to get the reports on the details of food poisoning that supposedly killed a person.

Packaged drinking water units raided

Inspectors of food safety and quality returned empty handed after conducting a raid against units involved in packaging drinking water, who were operating without obtaining the certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), in the district on Wednesday.

The inspectors had decided to raid R P Dambal and company in Somanahalli in Maddur taluk and Tanu Enterprises in Gejjalagere. However, with both the units having downed their shutters, the inspectors had to return empty-handed. Both these units have to obtain BIS certificates.

The units had failed to respond to the notices following which the authorities decided to conduct the raid.

He said discussions would be held with additional deputy commissioner to take legal action against illegal units involved in packaging drinking water. These units need to be equipped with a laboratory and personnel.While returning from these units, authorities stopped a vehicle transporting drinking water. They seized the vehicle as it didn’t have the necessary documents.

The district has 14 packaged drinking water units, of which only four are authorised.

Avoid street food

 

Officials from the Corporation and the Food Safety and Standards Wing, inspecting the kitchen of the Rolex Hotel near the KSRTC Bus Stand. EPS

The health and food safety authorities have asked consumers to exercise caution before taking to new food items and fast foods. Authorities state that a number of such fast food outlets are opened only in the evenings, and hence often escape the eye of the health squads in the city.
“When it comes to street food and fast food joints that are laid out in the open, people must be very cautious. For one, many of these shops do not have registration or a permanent address and hence monitoring them becomes very difficult. Another issue is that most of them are opened only at night. Hence most of the health squads miss them completely,” said the Corporation Health Officer, C Shantha.
Authorities also point out that if one has to go in for street food anyway, it is better to stick to boiled and cooked foods rather than frozen or semi-cooked food items.

Two city restaurants closed down in raids

Problems noticed most at joints selling Arabian food

Two city restaurants were temporarily closed down in a raid by the Mobile Vigilance Squad of the Health Department here on Wednesday. The raids were carried out following the death of a student by food poisoning in Thiruvananthapuram two days ago.

Over the past two days, raids led by District Licensing Authority A. Mohammed Rafi were conducted on 20 city restaurants. A squad member said many of them prepared food in unhygienic conditions. The freezers were not working in some places. Cooked food items were kept in open containers.

Presence of open drains near the cooking and food storage areas was noted in some cases. Another major problem was the mixing of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items while being stored in the freezer.

“Two restaurants, Arabian Dine on Annie Hall Road and Broast at Thondayad were asked to close down temporarily. Since they can solve the problem with the existing infrastructure, they can probably reopen in a week’s time,” said Anil Kumar, Food Safety Officer, who was part of the squad. Mr. Kumar said the problems were noticed most at fast-food joints selling Arabian food. Since those who are running these were fairly new to the industry, they did not follow the hygienic rules.

The Food Safety Commissionerate formed recently according to the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 has been organising awareness programmes on hotel hygiene since January. Training programmes were also conducted recently. But only a few hotels participated in this, Mr. Anil Kumar said.

According to the new Act, all hotels have to get new registrations and licenses before August 4. But only 20 per cent of the hotels in the district have complied with the rule till now. The hotels under the Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi had opposed some points in the Act and had asked for an extension. But now they have started applying for licenses.

Meanwhile, the health standing committee of the city Corporation has expressed concern that the Food Safety Act has taken away its powers to take action against food safety offenders.

The health inspectors will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss on the safety measures to be initiated.

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Health inspectors’ emergency meet on Thursday

‘No power for standing committee under new Act’

‘Don’t harass people’

Kota Srinivas Poojary, Minister for Muzrai, Ports and Inland Water Transport, said on Wednesday that the implementation of laws by government officials should not lead to harassment of people.

He was speaking at the inaugural function of the awareness workshop on “the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006” organised by the district administration here. Mr. Poojary said the Government formulated laws and regulations so that they provided security to the citizens. But some regulations were creating problems for people. It was essential for the officials to have a thorough knowledge of the all rules and regulations. Else, the people would be the ultimate sufferers. The Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms had created many problems for the fishermen living near the coast. Ever since the State Government implemented the ‘Sakala’ scheme, the efficiency of 150 government departments had increased. Files were being disposed more quickly than before.

Deputy Commissioner M.T. Reju said that over 1 lakh applications had been cleared under the ‘Sakala’ scheme in the district. The achievement under this scheme was 95 per cent, he said. President of zilla panchayat K. Shankar Poojary, Chief Executive Officer S.A. Prabhakar Sharma, zilla panchayat members Gitanjali Suvarna and Upendra Nayak, Additional Deputy Commissioner Kumar were present.

Food sector escapes scrutiny

Without adequate preparedness for timely crackdown, the entire food vending sector went off the scanner in the past few months.

With the government repealing the powers of civic bodies for initiating action against food adulteration and enforcing the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, without adequate preparedness for timely crackdown, the entire food vending sector went off the scanner in the past few months.
Lack of amenities
Lack of amenities to inspect hotels within a prescribed time is a major challenge being faced by food safety officials. Unethical trade practices are reportedly thriving during the interregnum.
With all its shortfalls, the health officials of civic bodies used to inspect the hotels and attempted to book eateries functioning in violation of health and hygiene norms.
Rs.500 fine
The inherent flaws of the Panchayati Raj and Municipality Act impeded the officials from taking stringent action against those dishing out adulterated food.
Official sources told The Hindu here that they were empowered to levy only a fine of Rs.500 from the eateries booked under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. Rules mandated to destroy the stale food seized from the joints there itself.
Still, the municipalities and corporations had a battery of officials and were sufficiently armed to conduct raids and periodic inspections.
The civic representatives too had enough space to intervene in the event of an exigency.
Once the authority was vested with the food safety officials and the civic bodies retracted from the process, there was a vacuum and it worked to the advantage of those who violated the rules, the sources said.
On enforcing the FSS Act, the powers for issuing licence and collecting licence fees from hoteliers had all been delegated to the food safety officials.
The State government should have taken adequate safeguards and provided amenities to the food safety officials to pre-empt the sale of musty food but no such steps had been taken so far, sources said.
A coordinated initiative of the LSGIs and food safety personnel was the sole option to plug the loopholes. Mobile food sample testing laboratories too should be commissioned for instant examination of the seized samples.
Isolated attempts were unlikely to bring in the desired results and the government would have to take the lead for collective action, they said.

Stinking meat, shawarma seized

In the wake of the death of a youth owing to suspected food poison, the district unit of the Food Safety and Standards Authority conducted massive raids at various parts of the district on Wednesday.
Raids were part of the state-wide operations launched against the violators of Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, following the death of Sachin Roy Mathew, who is suspected to have died after consuming Shawarma from a restaurant in Thiruvananthapuram.
Food Safety and Standards Department designated officer of the district David John said that 30 kg of rotten meat was seized  from a baking house at Varisseri in the town. The meat was kept for making bakery products like puffs and chicken-rolls. The shop is owned by Kasim, a native of Kannur.
The officers also seized 10 kg of Shavarma which was kept in unhygienic conditions from Kurisumood, near Changanasery.
Though the authorities conducted inspection at various hotels in the town here, Medical College and Changanassery, no other case of violation was found.
“We have already sent notices to four hotels that did not comply with the hygienic measures stipulated by the authorities,”  David John said. Two hotels near the Medical College, and one at Thengana near Changanassery were issued notices for improving hygienic conditions.
The team also conducted inspection at a confectionery factory in Kurichy panchayat and collected samples of various confectioneries for detailed examination.
David John said that the seized food products from the bake house has been destroyed and samples collected from there would be sent to the Food Safety Commissioner of the state. If the products lack the required quality, the owner of the shop can be penalised or even imprisoned.
Changanassery Food and Supply officer P B Ravindran Nair, Municipal Food Inspectors Shine, Prathibha Kumari and S Aji  were part of the inspection team.
The Food Safety authorities, together with the Health Department, had conducted similar inspections a week ago and seized rotten food.

Food safety act to be implemented strictly enforced: Minister Sivakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government will not show any leniency in the implementation of the Food Safety and Standard Act, said health minister V S Sivakumar here on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference, the minister emphasized that every food producer in the state, from street vendors to star hotels, would be strictly monitored and defaulters will be penalized.
"By conducting more than 3,000 awareness programmes across the state since August 5, 2011, the food safety department has made the food businesses and establishments aware of the strict nature of the act," he said.
"Those who violate the rules will be asked to close shop and only after proving their capacity to meet the standards will they be allowed to function again," the minister added. Sivakumar opined that the earlier food safety laws were lenient but under the new one, a defaulter could be imprisoned up to six years and slapped a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh, and no compromise would be made in its execution.
In the past two days, food safety officials raided 271 hotels across the state. As many as 18 hotels were told to close down and 150 given improvement notices. "The drive will continue in the coming days," the minister said.
When asked whether the department had necessary infrastructure and manpower required for the mass operation, Sivakumar said that if required, more officials would be recruited.
"The department has labs to conduct sample checks at Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Kozhikode and Pathanamthitta.
More labs will be established in all districts in the state, for which we have requested additional funds from the Centre,"he said.
Meanwhile, the state had completed the registration process of 2,167 petty shop owners and have given licenses to 8,964 hotel and restaurant owners.
He further said that a meeting of various state departments would be convened soon to bring coordination in the process.

New standards regime on the anvil - THE HINDU

K. Chandramouli 

Aim is to make food business operators accountable, not penalise them: FSSAI

The food poisoning episodes in the State capital and the shocking revelations from raids conducted across the State might well prove to be the starting point of a much sterner food administration regime in the State along with the rest of the country.

The country is all poised for enforcement of the Food and Safety Standards Act 2006 which prescribes science-based standards for various items of food and seeks to regulate the manufacture, storage, sale, etc. so that these are absolutely safe for human consumption. The Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act was all about adulteration and penalties, but the 2006 Act is the first attempt in the country to engage in standardisation process, defining specific standards for each food item, K. Chandramouli, who recently took over as the chairman of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the apex body of food safety in the country, told The Hindu here.

Till now, the country has had a plethora of Acts to deal with various aspects concerning food, under various implementing authorities. The new Food Safety and Standards Act brings all laws under an umbrella in the Ministry of Health.

“The challenge before us is huge because we need to get everyone in the business of selling food – Food Business Operators (FBO) – on board in the licensing and registration process, including everyone from your local fruit seller to those running five-star hotels. We are not there to penalise anyone, but we want all FBOs to be more accountable about the food they are selling, which will ultimately increase their own respectability,” Mr. Chandramouli pointed out.

The States have been asked to complete the registration and licensing process by August 4 this year. In this first year of implementing the Act, the FSSAI will focus on getting solid data on the number of persons engaged in food business in the country. Rough estimates say that about 5.5 crore people are engaged in the food business, including street vendors and home-based food sellers. The FBOs have been categorised on the basis of their annual turnover and those with a turnover of Rs. 12 lakh and above will need a licence while those below will need to register themselves under the Act.

Mr. Chandramouli said the process had just been set in motion and eight scientific committees had been set up to lay down standards. “We need more scientific labs even though we have a network of CSIR labs and that of the National Institute of Nutrition, and authentic testing methods. We need more scientists and food analysts. But right now, more public awareness is needed on the Act so that consumers come forward to demand safe, healthy food,” he said. The local bodies have a crucial role to play as in getting all street vendors and tea shop owners into the registration process.