May 17, 2014

Election Results: Gadkari election revives hopes

Local businessmen also plan to lobby for reversal of some decisions taken by UPA government to which they were opposed to. B C Bhartia of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) traders will lobby with Gadkari to have FDI in multi-brand retail reversed, Food Safety and Standards Act diluted and for implementation of goods and services tax (GST).

Adulterated Coconut Oil Floods Market as Prices Skyrocket in State

KASARGOD: With the price of coconut oil skyrocketing, adulterated coconut oil is invading the markets in the state.
Coconut oil mixed with palm kernel oil, which is harmful for health, is being sold here widely under the pretext of pure coconut oil.
The palm kernel oil has the same characteristics and aroma of pure coconut oil, which makes it difficult to detect adulteration. One litre palm kernel oil costs only `20 to `40, whereas one litre coconut oil costs up to `180. So the merchants promote the sale of adulterated coconut oil eyeing huge profit. The Food Safety Officers are concerned about this and they have intensified raids at checkposts and shops.
Last month alone, over a hundred trucks carrying coconut oil were stopped in the checkposts to collect samples, of which, over 50 were found adulterated. It includes the one which was seized by the Food Safety Officers in Kollam on Thursday.
Even though developed nations have banned the import of palm kernel oil taking into account itsharmful effects on health, India has not done so. So Food Safety Officers cannot do anything until and unless the culprits are caught red-handed while selling adulterated oil or while mixing it. Malaysia is the major exporter of palm kernel oil and it is exported not for edible purposes but as a raw material for soap-making and other industries. “Importing palm kernel oil is not a crime and it is being used as a raw material in the soap-making industry. But everyday, hundreds of vehicles carrying palm kernel oil reach Kerala via checkposts and it poses a natural question, do we have that many soap industries in Kerala,” said a Food Safety Officer on condition of anonymity.
It is also alleged that politicians work hand in glove with those who supply palm kernel oil and many food safety officers have been transferred for intercepting vehicles carrying palm kernel oil.
Other than palm kernel oil, paraffin, petroleum byproducts and mineral oils etc. are also being widely used as coconut oil adulterants. Food Safety Commissioner-in-charge Anil Kumar, when contacted, said, “We have intensified raids and inspection in the wake of this. Strict instruction has also been given to Tamil Nadu Food Safety Commissionerate to monitor the outflow of oils to Kerala.”
He also said that there was nothing to worry as the palm kernel oil is as good as coconut oil.

EU banned Alphonso before testing new quality regime

An audit report by the Food and Vertinary Office, an agency of the European Union, has shown that India did take note of quality concerns raised in its export of plant and plant products, and had informed the intergovernmental body last August about the new quality control mechanism to be effective from April 1.
The EU has banned the export of Alphonso mangoes and four vegetables — eggplant, taro plant (colocasia), bitter gourd and snake gourd — from India on grounds that it did not adhere to repeated warnings on quality control.
In its reply to the Food and Vertinary Office (FVO) audit conducted in April, the Indian authorities had submitted an action plan on August 23, 2013, according to the report placed on the website of the EU.
In that reply, Indian authorities said, “The system of official checks has been reviewed and it has been decided to devise a new system of export inspection and certification at the pack house where adequate facilities for inspection, examination/testing, etc. will be available and the produce will be packed under the supervision of plant quarantine official. This system will be put in practice effective April 1, 2014.”
India had also told the EU that as an interim arrangement, an exclusive area for inspection and certification work “has been established at the Mumbai airport from where major export to EU countries takes place”.
The EU, in the last week of March, decided to ban imports citing “significant shortcomings in the phytosanitary certification system”, days before the new system was scheduled to roll out. The decision of the EU’s standing committee on plant health came after 207 consignments of fruits and vegetables from India were found to be contaminated by pests, including fruit flies.
An official told The Indian Express that the EU, despite being aware of the proposal, chose not to wait to see the effectiveness of the new quality control mechanism.
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority in a notification on March 14, had asked all exporters to route shipments of fresh fruits and vegetables through APEDA-approved pack houses, where it would be monitored by plant quarantine personnel.
The National Plant Protection Organisation had assured the FVO mission during its visit to India in November 2011 and last April, of pest-free exports from April 1 this year.