Jun 15, 2016

Customs officers to replace experts to ensure imported food safety norms at airports

Move to ensure ease of business for food importers across 125 locations; FSSAI justifies it despite contradiction of regulations
Instead of appointing full-time technically qualified and trained food safety officials, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has made customsofficials responsible for ensuring the safety of imported food across 125 points of import and clearance as an additional task. The move, which contradicts FSSAI’s own regulations, has been made as part of government’s push for ease of doing business.
In March 2016, these custom officials were designated as what the FSSAI Act calls "authorised officers". Besides undertaking all other custom duty related tasks, they are now additionally in-charge of supervising, taking samples, sending these to labs, reviewing the lab results and approving the safety of all imported food products coming into India against the set standards for more than several thousand products and ingredients that FSSAI approves.
Their appointment comes in contrast to the regulations FSSAI passed this January. Under these norms the FSSAI mandated that the technical qualifications and training of those posted at customs to check safety of imported should match that of ‘food safety officers’ as prescribed by law.
Under the regulations, at the time of joining, Food Safety officers - a category of specialised officers enshrined in the law - are supposed to “have a degree in food technology or dairy technology or biotechnology or oil technology or agricultural science or veterinary sciences or bio-chemistry or microbiology or a Masters in chemistry or degree in medicine from a recognised university”. The officer can also have an equivalent/recognised qualification notified by the Centre, and he or she has to complete the mandated training before joining the post.
But the custom officials were not individually identified and checked against these qualifications before the additional charge of food safety was handed over to them. The examiners, superintendents, inspectors and appraisers at these 125 locations were appointed in their ex-officio positions instead. They were also not trained to handle import of food products under the law at the time of handing them this additional charge. 
FSSAI responding to detailed queries sent to its Chief Executive Officer by Business Standardsaid, “The technical qualifications apply only where FSSAI appoints its own (full time) authorised officers at these locations. Obviously not for the custom officials.” It justified the move in entirety as essential for ensuring safety of imported food in India. 
“Their appointment was decided in consultation with the department of customs. The basic idea and premise was to give the ease of doing business and facilitate the importer,” FSSAI added.Business Standard reviewed documents that show the discussion on these and other processes to ensure ease of business for food importers was held with the finance ministry through 2015.
The decision to appoint customs authorities as part time handling food safety instead of specialised full-time officers comes after years of having allowed custom officials to clear food imports in violation of the law, as the government had not appointed specialist safety officers on most of these locations. 
Though the law came into place in 2011, by mid-2015 the FSSAI had appointed only five officers to manage 16 importing locations, its record show. In May 2015, the FSSAI admitted on record that custom officers were permitting import of food on their own, even where FSSAI had its specialists posted and at times even those consignments that had been barred by FSSAI. 
But, when Business Standard asked FSSAI how much food products had been imported in the previous three years from locations that did not have trained and qualified food safety officials, the agency said that data was not available with them. 
Documents show that in 2015 the finance ministry pursued the case for a single window clearance mechanism for food imports and simplifying the process. The FSSAI responded, “It appears that FSSAI may take some time to expand its presence at the major ports of import. Keeping in view that the imports cannot be blocked at all other locations all of a sudden, it is proposed that the names and designations of the officers of the Customs department may be made available to the FSSAI so that they are formally notified as the ‘authorised officers’ under the FSSAI Act, 2006.” In 2015, the intent to expand the network of trained officials was reflected. That changed in 2016. 
A plan to expand the FSSAI’s reach across the country was quietly shelved earlier this year when the government set aside its original draft cabinet note to have a Rs 1,750-crore centrally sponsored scheme for FSSAI and states to ensure food safety. The plan for FSSAI to move out of enforcement of the food safety law was instead set in motion. In January 2016, upon instructions, the chairman of FSSAI wrote in an internal note, “We need not provide personnel for import clearances since this work could be transferred to the customs department. We would, however, have to review whether appeals on import related issues would lie with us or with the designated customs authority and provide for the same in our regulations.” 
FSSAI responded to Business Standard queries to say, “Custom officers were anyway drawing the samples (mandatory for all consignments of food imports). Now they shall have the legal force to ensure safety of all food that is imported under the FSSA.” Appointing trained specialists of FSSAI, the agency said, would become ‘cumbersome’. 
The US, EU and many other developed and developing countries, including those in Africa have dedicated food safety officials across their importing points. In fact the US food safety officials carry out checks of food safety on their own as well as through third party certification even at the manufacturing units of the exporting countries. A hard application of sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards and conditions by developed countries has many times lead to disputes with exporters, including with India. 
The appointment of unqualified custom officials for food safety comes as part of a larger package of the reform through the single window process. In January regulations for safety of imported foods were revised without mandatory public consultations. FSSAI is empowered to use emergency provisions to bypass consultations when there is an ‘urgency concerning food safety and public health’. But, the agency used the emergency provisions of the law for ease of food import business. 
These new regulations also introduced eased norms for testing of imported food products through a ‘Risk based Import clearance System’. While the rules have been applied to ease testing, the system is still a work in progress, FSSAI noted in its April 2016 newsletter. 
In contrast, the FSSAI had recorded some reservations against this risk-based system in 2015. The FSSAI had told the finance ministry, “It is clear from the above provisions, in particular section 47(5) that the FSSAI does not have the enabling powers to put in place a Risk-based Import clearance system.” But it also suggested that regulations subordinate to the law could be put in place to overcome the limitations of the law. It told the finance ministry, “As a regulator the FSSAI is as much concerned about facilitating the ease of imports, for which, it is proposed to frame ‘Import regulations’ and make enabling provisions in the regulations in this behalf.” 
FSSAI justified this move in its response. “We say that there is nothing provided in the act itself which denies us the right to introduce the risk based sampling. At that point we said that we shall have an enabling provision and that has been provided in the (new) import regulations.”
While FSSAI in one part of its response had said it did not have data on total volume of food products imported without its approval in previous years, in another part of the response it also claimed that almost 90% of the imports came in from two ports at Chennai and Mumbai that it has specialists deployed at. 
This raises the questions of why government did not designate the rest of 10% imports to be also routed through these ports and instead deploy officials at 125 other custom locations. FSSAI claimed in its response that India had all kind of importers – big and small – and some of them preferred other locations. 
Contradicting the FSSAI claim, the DG of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics data says that in February-March 2016 the total food item imports from across the country were worth Rs 20,198 crore while those coming through Chennai and Mumbai were only Rs 2,364 crore - 
FSSAI’s April 2016 newsletter said FSSAI cleared food products worth only Rs 7,111.91 crores during the two month period. 
FSSAI said it now has 21 of the key entry points for imported food covered by few officials. It also said that with the single window online clearance system in place it was anyway able to monitor all imports. But the task of taking samples from consignments and checking them physically for labelling, ingredients and safety through lab tests now lies with the custom officials doubling up as food safety officers at 125 custom points.

Food safety wing shuts hotel

Food safety officials closed down a restaurant at Vattakkinar for violating the food safety norms. The officials also seized the chicken kept in unhygienic condition. The restaurant was closed down on the basis of a complaint registered by a Panniyankkara native at the Panniyankara police station. The complaint was registered after the person felt uneasiness and vomiting after consuming chicken from the shop. The raid was led by food safety (intelligence) officer and Panniyankkara police SI.
Coordinators' meeting: A meeting of the coordinators of the 10th equivalency contact study centres will be held at district panchayat hall on Thursday. 
Application for ID card: The last date for submitting the applications for the biometric identity card for fishermen is June 25, said a release issued by the office of the Kozhikode Matsya board regional executive here on Tuesday.
Applications invited: Kasyapa Veda Research Centre has invited applications to its two year course in advanced studies on vedas. The classes will commenced at Kasyapashram from Sunday. Those who have completed preliminary course upto 'agnihothra' from any branch of Kasyaparshram are eligible to apply for the class. For more details contact: 9745815151 
Chess tournament: Robert Fischer Memorial All India Open Chess Tournament being organized by Travancore Chess Club will be held from July 2 to 6 at Technopark Club Hall in Thiruvananthapuram. The registration will be open till June 26. For more details, contact: Ashok G Nair, secretary, Travancore Chess Club. Mobile: 984 742 7036
Diploma in horticulture therapy: Centre for disability studies, Poojapura, Thiruvananthapuram will conduct a six-month-long diploma course in horticulture therapy for disabled students who have passed plus two. There will be no fees. The interview for admission to the course will be held on June 23 at 10.30am at the Centre for Disability Studies, Poojapura. For details contact: 0471-2345627

Adulteration, pesticides pose threat to India's global standing in spices

Several importing countries have already raised complaints about poor quality jeera, chilli and pepper
While India may be enjoying pole position in the globalspices market with nearly 45 per cent share, rising cases of adulteration and presence of pesticides in outbound shipments of the commodity are posing a threat to the country's standing. Several importing countries have already raised complaints about the quality of spices, especially jeera (cumin), chilli and pepper.
Bhaskar Shah, chairman of Indian Spice and Foodstuff Exporters' Association (ISFEA) said, "Currently, India has a market share of about 45 per cent and if issues ofpesticide and adulteration are not tackled, this could go down over the next few years. Both government and industry have to take strict action, otherwise we will lose our market globally."
Importing countries have begun warning exporters in India to serve quality products and tighten quality control rules or lose business. As per Spices Board India data, exports increased by 25 per cent in 2012-13, but dropped by nine per cent in 2014-15.
"It is true that adulteration and pesticides are major aspects governing the food industry and trade market. Food safety and sustainability are the key words ruling the global market. All importing countries have their own stringent food laws and regulations to maintain quality standards of products imported to ensure the safety and health of their citizens and the exporters have to abide with these rules," said A Jayathilak, chairman, Spices Board.
According to Jayathilak, there persists a continuous international demand for Indian spices owing to their superior quality. India has also been able to maintain a good image in the world market thus far by taking rapid action to sort out the alerts received from the importing countries.
There has been increased awareness of food safety issues all over the world in recent years, especially in developed countries such as the US, Japan and those belonging to the European Union. Hence regulatory control of imported spices in these countries has become stricter, with extremely low maximum residue limits imposed for pesticide residues, mycotoxins and also for microbiological contamination.
These are applicable to all countries that export spices, since India is one of the biggest exporters of spices in the world with the rate of spice exports growing steadily, the impact of these strict regulations felt by the Indian exporters might be proportionately larger.
Jayathilak said, "The food standards, guidelines and codes of practices on imported items formulated to protect the health of its citizens are different for each country. Hence due to lack of uniformity in the regulatory standards for importing spices, the Indian spice exporters face immense challenge to assort their consignments to meet the quality standards in accordance to the importing countries."
At present, there are three important concerns with respect to export of spices including pathogens, pesticide residues and mycotoxins. Spices Board has taken extensive measures for the control of these issues. Firstly, the Board has established seven state-of-the-art laboratories at the major export locations in India. Secondly, the Board has implemented mandatory testing programs covering the major food safety issues (presence of pesticide residues, mycotoxins and illegal dyes like Sudan), for the export of spices from India.
The establishment of a Centre of Excellence in analysis of pesticide residues and microbiological contamination in spices is already in progress at the Board's laboratory in Mumbai.
However, the Spices Board is confident that the issues would be addressed, though the industry still believes that more efforts needed from government side and within the industry.
"Adulteration and pesticides are the major concern for the spice industry. So far, importing countries have not taken major steps for India other than tightening the rules. If we will not deliver quality products, it could be a big threat," said said Yogesh Mehta, managing director of Spicexim.
To address the issue, recently traders and exporters met to take remedial measures. Also to reduce the pesticide problem in spices, the industry planning to collaborate with farmers and appoint scientists to educate farmers in this regard. Spice traders and exporters have come together to form a new body called 'Seed and Spice Stakeholder Association' (SSSA).
Ashwin Nayak, a director on the board of SSSA, "We are now going to form special task force to find out adulteration. Board meeting of the association will soon meet for that."
Jayathilak said, "For reducing the issues of adulteration and pesticides in spices, the issue has to be communicated to all stakeholders of spice industry and the reform for production of clean and safe spices has to begin from the basic level of industry."
Spices Board has always promoted farmers to adopt organic farming in spice cultivation. The Spices Board has implemented various scheme heads under developmental programs for promoting organic cultivation of spices like ginger, turmeric, herbal spices, seed spices and chillies and provides assistance to organic farmers for obtaining organic certification.
The quality improvement training programs for farmers are conducted in all regions to impart the necessity of production of clean and safe spices, the monetary benefits obtained on the production and sale of pesticide free spices.

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கோயம்பேடு மார்க்கெட்டில் கார்பைடு கற்களில் பழுக்க வைத்த 4.5 டன் மாம்பழம், பப்பாளி பறிமுதல் உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அதிகாரிகள் அதிரடி

அண்ணா நகர், ஜூன் 15:
கோயம் பேடு மார்க் கெட் டில் கார் பைடு கற் கள் மூலம் பழுக்க வைத்த 4.5 டன் மாம் ப ழம் மற் றும் பப் பாளி பழங் கள் பறி மு தல் செய் யப் பட்டு அழிக் கப் பட் டன.
கோயம் பேடு பழ மார்க் கெட் டில் மாம் ப ழங் களை கால் சி யம் கார் பைடு என்ற ரசா யன கற் களை பயன் ப டுத்தி, இயற் கைக்கு முர ணாக பழுக்க வைத்து, விற் பனை செய் வ தாக, சென்னை மாவட்ட உணவு பாது காப்பு நிய மன அலு வ லர் கதி ர வ னுக்கு புகார் வந் தது.
கோயம் பேடு பழ மார்க் கெட் டில் மாம் ப ழங் களை கால் சி யம் கார் பைடு என்ற ரசா யன கற் களை பயன் ப டுத்தி, இயற் கைக்கு முர ணாக பழுக்க வைத்து, விற் பனை செய் வ தாக, சென்னை மாவட்ட உணவு பாது காப்பு நிய மன அலு வ லர் கதி ர வ னுக்கு புகார் வந் தது.
இதை ய டுத்து அவ ரது தலை மை யில், உணவு பாது காப்பு ஆய் வா ளர் கள் சதா சி வம், மணி மா றன், கண் ணன், கஸ் தூரி உள் பட 10க்கு மேற் பட்ட அலு வ லர் கள் நேற்று கோயம் பேடு பழ மார்க் கெட் டில் திடீர் சோதனை நடத் தி னர்.
அங் குள்ள 65 கடை க ளில் சோதனை செய் த போது, 42 கடை க ளில் கார் பைடு கற் களை வைத்து பழங் களை பழுக்க செய் வது கண் டு பி டிக் கப் பட் டது. அந்த கடை க ளில் இருந்து 4.5 டன் மாம் ப ழம், பப் பாளி பழங் களை பறி மு தல் செய் த னர். மேலும், அங் கி ருந்து 250 கிலோ கார் பைடு கற் களை கைப் பற் றி னர்.
பிறகு பறி மு தல் செய் யப் பட்ட பழங் களை, குப் பை யில் கொட்டி அழித் த னர். மேலும், சில கடை க ளில் உள்ள பழங் களை கைப் பற்றி, ஆய் வக பரி சோ த னைக்கு அனுப்பி வைத் துள் ள னர். அதில், அந்த பழங் க ளும் கார் பைடு கற் களை கொண்டு பழுக்க செய் தது தெரி ய வந் தால், சம் பந் தப் பட்ட கடைக் கா ரர் கள் மீது உரிய நட வ டிக்கை எடுக் கப் ப டும் என அதி கா ரி கள் கூறி னர். இது கு றித்து அதி கா ரி கள் கூறு கை யில், மார்க் கெட் பகு தி யில் உள்ள கடை க ளில் கால் சி யம் கார் பைடு எனப் ப டும் ரசா யன கற் கள் மூலம் பழங் களை பழுக்க செய் வ தாக எங் க ளுக்கு தொடர்ந்து புகார் கள் வரு கின் றன. இது போன்ற பழங் களை சாப் பி டு வ தால், பொது மக் க ளுக்கு வயிற்று புண், தொண்டை புண், புற்று நோய், தைராய்டு பிரச்னை ஏற் ப டும். இதனை தடுக்க நாங் கள் தீவிர நட வ டிக்கை எடுத்து வரு கி றோம் என் ற னர்.

FDA Warns Whole Foods of ‘Serious Violations’ After Inspections

Including conditions that support the growth of the bacteria that causes listeria

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned Whole Foods of a series of “serious violations” it found while inspecting a food preparation facility in Massachusetts, including conditions that support the growth of the bacteria that causes listeria.
The FDA detailed its findings from inspections conducted in February in a lengthy letter it sent to Whole Foods executives last Wednesday. The facility packed and prepared food under “insanitary conditions whereby they may have been contaminated with filth or rendered injurious to health,” the letter said.
The violations stemmed from employees handling products in areas where “condensate from ceiling joints was dripping onto the surface below,” according to the FDA. Employees were also spotted touching exposed products without washing their hands or changing gloves after first cleaning work surfaces.
FDA laboratory analysis of swabs taken from surfaces where food makes contact at the site also confirmed the presence of the bacteria Listeria welshimeri, which was non-pathogenic, meaning it is incapable of causing disease. Still, its presence is seen as an indicator for the probable presence of Listeria monocytogenes, the FDA said.
“This finding demonstrates that conditions exist in and on your equipment that would support the presence and growth of Listeria monocytogenes and indicates that your cleaning and sanitation practices may not be adequate,” the letter said. “Your firm should consider improving your environmental monitoring program to verify the adequacy of your cleaning and sanitation operation.”
Whole Foods said it has addressed and corrected each of the issues identified in the letter. The company also said the “thorough ”steps it took to address the violations were not reflected in the FDA’s letter. “We were honestly surprised,” Ken Meyer, global vice president of operations forWhole Foods Market, said in a statement. “We’ve been in close contact with the FDA, opened our doors to inspectors regularly since February and worked with them to address every issue brought to our attention.”