FOOD QUALITY MONITORING-THE AWESOME TASK!

India is a large country with 1.2 billion plus population with diverse culture and economic standards. Any thing to be done on a pan-India scale is fraught with insurmountable problems and only dedication, commitment, perseverance and high investment can show positive result at the ground level. In spite of good intentions and massive investments, the income gap between the rich and the poor is widening and poor people in the country are increasingly being mired in endless miseries and agony which do not seem to give them much hope about their future. Food is an area where the country has done reasonably well, at least with regard to production of staple grains like wheat and rice. Of course the story of oil seeds and pulses is one of many missed opportunities and billions of rupees are being spent to bring these foods from out side the country every year. The onus on the government to protect the food supply is indeed awesome and the special purpose vehicle created for the country's food safety is still in its formative stage trying to prove its mettle during the last 5 years. Unfortunately this outfit under the name Food Standards and Safety Authority (FSSAI) has been created with a heavy bureaucratic structure with doubtful capability for showing any dynamism at the ground level. As this agency is heavily dependent on the state governments with no authority to enforce its writ, the policies often do not get implemented. Here is a take on this important area of concern to the Indian citizen, viz how food is the food taken by him!

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The agency is working to bring on board about 55 million people engaged in various food businesses and register them with the organisation by February 2014, Chandramouli said. Currently, only one million licences have been issued to food and beverage operators. To check and maintain food standards, FSSAI is in the process of setting up testing laboratories, he said. "Our aim is to have at least one laboratory in each state initially. Later, we plan it to increase this to at least one lab for every 20 districts in the next five years," he added. There are currently 72 government laboratories, which are to be upgraded during this period. Simultaneously, 33 new such testing centres will be set up. On food imports, Chandramouli said: "Our country imports lot of food items now. Though there is no fixed figure available, but Rs2-3 lakh crore of foods come to India every year." "We don't have food and safety standards in the country which deal with food products across the spectrum. For this, we need to get the state governments and other stakeholders on board," Chandramouli said, adding implementation of the FSSAI Act continues to remain a challenge".

The above report laments about lack of allocation of funds to FSSAI during the 12th Plan and one is afraid that this could as well become an excuse for non-performance or under performance.It is common knowledge that the quality of food made in India and imported at great cost is suspect because of grossly under developed infrastructure and shortage of critical personnel to run the monitoring program sincerely and effectively. With legal system delaying trials of food fraudsters for years, many are able to get away with blatant violations of existing laws and wide spread adulteration.  One of the excuses trotted out for under performance is lack of standards available to enforce but this argument cannot be sustained when it is realized that international standards under FAO-WHO as well by different global organizations are in place for thousands of foods which can easily be adopted till domestic-specific ones are evolved. FSSAI seems to be over obsessed with licensing and wants more than 55 million food handlers to be brought into its licensing system! Is it practical? What next after registration? Does it have adequate capability to undertake surveillance of these players regularly? Millions of home scale processors, cottage units and micro enterprises cannot be expected to register with FSSAI which is both time consuming and cumbersome. Since the retailers who sell the food articles are all licensed by local civic authorities, it is easier to make them accountable vis-a-vis quality of food sold by them. The onus of selling safe food must be put on these retailers who must be punished if he peddles bad food even unintentionally. Such an environment will starve the fraudsters of a market eventually. No doubt a body like FSSAI is a necessity for the country but it must be made to work hard and diligently for the welfare of the common man.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE "GO VEGETARIAN" BUG-FOOD MNCs BEING "INFECTED"!

Who ever has ever imagined that the transnational companies like Pizza Hut and others will ever identify themselves with the vegetarian eating culture so predominant in India! McDonald is a company with a reputation of slaughtering 67000 cows every day of the year to satisfy the insatiable palates of American consumers for Beef! Yet these food peddlers are vying with each other to set up exclusive vegetarian vending outlets in some parts of the country, especially in the land of Mahatma Gandhi, Gujarat. It is another matter that they might not even know who Gandhi was and might not care also since their focus is improve their business at any cost. They know many Indian vegetarians are cash rich and they will not brook even preparing and serving meat based food preparations in the same place. Here is a report about this new emerging trend which provides interesting reading.

In Gujarat, global restaurant chains like Subway, KFC and McDonalds are not just experimenting with vegetarian food but also offering Jain food. In a first, American restaurant franchise Subway has opened a Jain counter at its first all-veg outlet in Ahmedabad at a location with a high density of Jain population. "We carried out a survey in Gujarat and sent a proposal to the US HQ to open an all-veg outlet with a pure Jain counter in Ahmedabad. We will now add more vegetarian items on the menu in Gujarat, which is the only state that contributes 60% of the total sales from vegetarian food," said Durlabh Singh, Subway's development agent for Gujarat and Daman-Diu. The company's first all vegetarian counter was opened at a private university in Punjab recently, after which the restaurant chain decided to experiment with the Jain cuisine for Gujarat. "We plan to open similar outlets in Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Anand, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar soon," said Singh. McDonalds too is working out the logistics of setting up all-vegetarian outlets in the state in a few years. When KFC entered Gujarat in November 2011 with its first restaurant, it changed its menu to include vegetarian cuisine as well. KFC plans to add five more stores in the state this year with increased vegetarian options. Pizza Hut made its Gujarat foray with its first vegetarian restaurant in the world in Ahmedabad, offering Jain food. Pizza outlet Domino's Pizza also has four restaurants in Gujarat, which offer completely vegetarian menu.

Another way of looking at this new trend is that world over there is a definite shift among consumers to go for non-meat foods on which there is a trust deficit, all making of the meat industry itself there. Repeated food contamination episodes, frequent hospitalization, periodic mortality and decreasing antibiotic sensitivity among the population do play a role in such change in consumer preference. The new development in India is indeed a welcome one and millions of vegetarians in India will look forward to taste some of the reputed products from the stables of these MNCs though questions will still remain how healthy are these products steeped in salt, sugar and saturated fat! On any given day the Udupi restaurants and Dhabhas offer more healthy and tasty alternatives to Indians. Occasional eating at these MNC joints, however will do no harm and even such irregular visits can spell significant business to the new avatars of fast foods. 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

MARKET HONEY-HAS IT GOT ANY MEDICINAL PROPERTY?

If India is considered the capital of food adulteration America does not seem to be lagging behind too far if recent reports about honey quality in the markets there are to be believed. Honey is a much valued commodity in the Orient and its medicinal and health boosting properties are well recognized under the traditional Ayurvedic system of Medicines. Chemically honey is nothing but a syrup consisting of glucose and fructose but this syrup is enriched by the the bees after extracting from various flowers through the process of regurgitation through its oral cavity. There are hundreds of micro chemicals present in honey some of which have not yet been completely identified. If honey is taken for its value as a sweetener only, the high fructose corn syrup now being manufactured from glucose through hydrolysis and isomerization could be a better choice. Fraudsters in the market imitate honey by using HFCS without any of the micro chemicals present in them and sell it of as real honey. According to accepted definition of honey it must have natural pollens of flowers present is sufficient quantities which confer upon the product the health giving properties. It is a sad reflection on the authorities in that country that a majority of retail stores and pharmacists are offering highly processed products containing no pollens raising doubts about the real identity of the products. Here is a take on this ridiculous situation in a country considered a super economic power in the world where its citizens are exposed to spurious food products marketed under its very nose!   

More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn't exactly what the bees produce, according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety News. 

"The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled "honey."

The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world's food safety agencies.

The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled "honey."

The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world's food safety agencies.

The food safety divisions of the  World Health Organization, the European Commission and dozens of others also have ruled that without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources.

According to FDA any product that's been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn't honey. However, the FDA isn't checking honey sold here to see if it contains pollen.

Ultra filtering is a high-tech procedure where honey is heated, sometimes watered down and then forced at high pressure through extremely small filters to remove pollen, which is the only foolproof sign identifying the source of the honey. It is a spin-off of a technique refined by the Chinese, who have illegally dumped tons of their honey – some containing illegal antibiotics – on the U.S. market for years.

Food Safety News decided to test honey sold in various outlets after its earlier investigation found U.S. groceries flooded with Indian honey banned in Europe as unsafe because of contamination with antibiotics, heavy metal and a total lack of pollen which prevented tracking its origin.

Food Safety News purchased more than 60 jars, jugs and plastic bears of honey in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

The contents were analyzed for pollen by Vaughn Bryant, a professor at Texas A&M University and one of the nation's premier melissopalynologists, or investigators of pollen in honey.

Bryant, who is director of the Palynology Research Laboratory, found that among the containers of honey provided by Food Safety News:

•76 percent of samples bought at groceries had all the pollen removed, These were stores like TOP Food, Safeway, Giant Eagle, QFC, Kroger, Metro Market, Harris Teeter, A&P, Stop & Shop and King Soopers.

•100 percent of the honey sampled from drugstores like Walgreens, Rite-Aid and CVS Pharmacy had no pollen.

•77 percent of the honey sampled from big box stores like Costco, Sam's Club, Walmart, Target and H-E-B had the pollen filtered out.

•100 percent of the honey packaged in the small individual service portions from Smucker, McDonald's and KFC had the pollen removed.

•Bryant found that every one of the samples Food Safety News bought at farmers markets, co-ops and "natural" stores like PCC and Trader Joe's had the full, anticipated, amount of pollen".

China has been known to be supplying spurious honey to many unsuspecting countries through unholy collusion with unscrupulous traders but with the tightened regulation in the US for import of Chinese honey, that country started using some of the third world countries to send its products under false labeling. Americans more worried about the presence of antibiotics in Chinese honey products as many honey manufacturers are reported to be using antibiotics to prevent infection of the bee population which results in contamination of the final product from Beehives with these antibiotics. Now that this fraud has been unearthed, American food safety agencies can be expected to be more vigilant in inspecting all imported honey in future.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

ENTREPRENEURSHIP NEVER DIES!-A CLASSICAL EXAMPLE IN FOOD PROCESSING

What will one do when a lottery is won for a billion rupees? Normally such a winner will keep the money in deposits earning interest and live happily for ever! What about investing that money in Industry with an intention to earn more returns beyond the 9% interest being offered by most Banks? Considering the road blocks, impediments and excessive risks  that are to be faced by an entrepreneur in this country, very few can be expected to venture into industry. According to a news report, the reputed founder of MTR brand of processed foods, who took that company to stratospheric heights with hard work for more than two decades and sold the same to a multinational company some time back for a whopping Rs 360 crore does not seem to be content with sitting back and enjoying a leisurely life. His entrepreneurial spirit does not seem to be quenched in spite of his enormous success in his first avatar and with courage and conviction he has started the food business all over again with a new venture, his commitment still being on traditional foods of India for which he had slogged for years as head of MTR Foods earlier. Knowing him well there is no reason to doubt about his success in the second avatar for which the country is looking forward. Here is a critique on his new vision and expectations.

India's packaged food industry, including snacks and ready-to-eat foods, is likely to touch $30 billion by 2015 from $15 billion last year, according to an April 2012 report by industry lobby group Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham)."It's too early, but our likely (product) mix would be 50% from traditional Indian snacks, both south Indian and north Indian, and 50% from other things like beverages (lassis, milk shakes, fruit juices), ready-to-eat, spices, etc.," Maiya said in an interview. "We started our business selling 56 varieties (of snacks) in 2010-end; now we have 65."MTR, on the other hand, gets a majority of its business from masala powders, spices and breakfast and meal mixes."Snacks is a new area for us and we're still building our presence there. We're currently testing our products in Karnataka. We have internal benchmarks and standards and till the time we beat those, we will not want to expand (in snacks)," said Vikran Sabherwal, vice-president, marketing, at MTR. "In beverages, we have a badam (almond) drink product, but we don't see ourselves becoming a mainline beverage player. Our competence lies in packaged foods and we will put most of our efforts behind that," he said.Maiya expects his new company to triple sales to Rs.120 crore in the current financial year from Rs.30-40 crore last year. MTR expected to close the 2012 calendar year with sales of roughly Rs.430 crore, chief executive Sanjay Sharma said in an interview in October. While he was at MTR, Maiya introduced new product categories in India on a large scale such as ready-to-eat foods and so-called softee ice-creams. He said he plans to do the same—open up new product categories—with his new company. "We're coming out with frozen foods and fruit chips made from jack fruit, mango, apple, banana and pineapple. Another innovation is nanotechnology-based products. For example, buttermilk powder—you just add water and you get buttermilk. It's taken me almost six years to do all this. After leaving MTR, this is all I've been doing," he said. Maiya's company is also significantly expanding its distribution network both within and outside India. The company already exports snacks and beverages to customers in six countries including the US, Germany, Japan and this year, it plans to sell in another 12 countries such as South Korea, China and Canada, Maiya said".

MTR Foods which had established its brand name within India as well as in many other countries, presently owned by a Norwegian company, may find it difficult to prosper in this country having no clue regarding the dietary habits of Indians and this is reflected by the fact that its turn over is stagnating around Ra 500 crore for the last few years ever since it bought out this ethnic food company. No new successful products are emerging from its stables and it is unlikely that it would survive for long. With its erstwhile owner coming to the market with many products similar to that being made by them, MTR Foods may wither away sooner or later. Of course India is a large enough market for many players but only those with their pulse close to the consumer can succeed and former MTR boss seems to have a distinct edge at the present reckoning.    

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

FOOD SECURITY AND GM TECHNOLOGY-WHAT IS THE CONNECTION?

The furious debate regarding the relevance and need for wide scale adoption of genetically modified crop technology world wide does not seem to be abating in spite of tons of scientific reports supporting as well as decrying this new agricultural tool emanating from many research institutions world over. Hardly a day passes without any publication coming out in this subject of intense interest for the consumer as well as policy makers. While the claim that GM technology can raise yield has not yet been conclusively established, it can cut down field losses due to some pests cannot be denied. Similarly long term safety of all GM crops is till uncertain though short term studies do not indicate they are harmful. Environmental issues are still to be sorted out as many fear that wide scale cultivation of GM crops can wipe out the native species over a period of time through contamination. Here is the latest on this subject which only adds to the already existing confusion. 

The US Congress adopted a clause in its 2013 agriculture budget bill that effectively bars the department of agriculture from any attempt to halt planting or harvesting a GM crop, even if the call comes from the judiciary, sparking outrage. India imposed a 10-year moratorium on field trials of GM crops in 2012. Organizations like Greenpeace and activists worldwide welcomed India's decision, but the IFPRI report describes it as a significant setback to food policy, and mainstream scientists argue that GM crops offer a way out of deepening food insecurity as growing conditions like the weather and water become compromised by climate change. IFPRI researchers P K Joshi and Devesh Roy note that the moratorium, "not based on scientific logic, will have negative effects on frontier research and demand-driven technology generation". The adoption of the US clause, nicknamed the "Monsanto Protection Act", was described by Greenpeace as a "sad day for democracy and the future of our food". Mark Bittman, a food writer for the New York Times, cites interviews with the Union of Concerned Scientists stating that GM crops purported to be weed- and insect-resistant are actually failing.  There is no reliable proof that GM crops are harmful to human beings. "That's not the same thing as saying that the potential isn't there for novel proteins and other chemicals to generate unexpected problems," Bittman writes, "which [is] why we need strict, effective testing and regulatory systems." The debate on GM crops is polarized between supporters and those who think it will have long-term impacts on biodiversity, possibly health, and lead to a takeover of food production by corporations like Monsanto. This has also been the case in Africa, where some countries have banned GM maize as food aid. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, 2001 World Food Prize Laureate and the author of a book on the politics of GM food, described India's moratorium as "nonsensical", and said it "reduces India's efforts to assure sustainable food security for its population". He is among the mainstream scientists who prefer to be open-minded on GM technology and believe that while it might not be the panacea to climate-proof plants, it is a tool with some potential to ensure food security in the coming decades.

There is some criticism about Indian Governments 2012 policy of imposing a moratorium on GM food crop cultivation though one cannot find fault with this step considering the rich diversity this country has vis--a-vis food and agriculture. The argument that such a policy will stifle research is misplaced because there is no stopping of research and development of this tool and if the scientific community can come up with GM foods based on "confined" research with safety questions fully solved, Government may be able to justify lifting the ban for the benefit of the country. Any attempt in introducing GM crops must satisfy the need to protect indigenous species through multiple gene pool collection and maintenance. No self respecting country can pass on the responsibility of developing such new technology to private sector monopolists like Monsanto or Cargil which can have potential danger of exploiting the farmers through stifling restrictions and restrictive patenting. Of course a rich country like the US has opted for a policy of protection to the GM seed industry in a big way with least concern to the well being of its citizens, third world countries should not mimic this strange country and opt for farmer and consumer friendly policies only.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

INDIAN AGRICULTURE-THE WRONG PRIORITIES AND THE CONSEQUENCES

Internationally India is one the top food importing countries in the world  with a substantial portion of its requirements of pulses and edible oils coming from outside its boundaries and though this situation is continuing since 3 decades no palliative steps have been taken by the governments ruling the country at different point of time except for pompous and meaningless statements. It is just laughable that a few private entrepreneurs are globe trotting trying to solve India's food problems through leasing out foreign lands, especially in Africa while the real answer lies within the country. Here is a fabulous critique on the misguided and senseless policy orchestrations being pursued by successive governments with limited farsightedness!  

Sound food policy should be a priority for India, on track for the world's largest population by 2025. India has also achieved status as a major food exporter with rice, wheat and buffalo beef. Indian policies emphasize minimum support prices for farmers and subsidized crops for the poor, but these in turn spur food inflation, price volatility, overproduction of grains and overworked land. The government purchases about one third of all cereal output, yet pro-cereal policies hinder production of non-cereals like fruits, vegetables and dairy products, which benefits other export nations like Canada or Australia. Despite misgivings by economists, a food security bill guaranteeing low prices for more than two thirds of India's population is winding its way through parliament. "The end result of these policies will be India's forced integration into global agricultural markets, not only as a grain importer, but also as a leading buyer of non-cereal commodities," explains Deepak Gopinath, director of a research service on emerging markets. Global markets won't provide special pricing for India's poor.

Is it not rue that the country is being burdened by unwanted surplus food grains which neither serves domestic food security nor the export business of the country. Endless encouragement to a section of farmers who over utilize the resources of the country on non-priority food as well as non food crops has resulted in gross shortage of health protecting foods like fruits, vegetables and pulses besides raising their price beyond the reach of most citizens. To day in most urban markets no fruit is available, with the exception of Papaya, at a price less than Rs 50 per kg with fruits like apple pomegranate, strawberry etc commanding prices above Rs 100 per kg. Similarly almost all vegetables are sold at prices ranging from Rs 30 to Rs 60 per kg! Ironically the farmers who grow them are reported to be getting only a fraction of the consumer price, a major portion of it being gobbled by the so called middlemen! Unfortunately GOI does not seem to be unduly concerned and there is not yet any evidence that this issue will be addressed seriously in the near future. GOI is obsessed with only grains, formulating schemes after schemes to supply these commodities practically free to the population incurring huge subsidies draining the exchequer. Under these circumstances no one knows what lies ahead for the citizens of this country under political masters who cannot see any thing beyond their nose (or purse?). 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

BAN TRANS FATS-THE NEW UNIVERSAL MANTRA!.

Realization that trans fats in foods eaten every day can be a major source of health hazard among consumers all over the world is driving many countries to come up with policies that will address this problem. Such policies vary from outright ban on the production of hydrogenated fats to prescribe maximum limits in processed foods. Declaration of trans fat content in package foods on the label which is becoming mandatory in most countries is considered to be one of most significant steps taken consciously in many countries giving an opportunity to the consumer to shun those products containing unacceptable levels of trans fats. Here is a critique on this issue which is pitchforked into international attention with WHO actively trying to evolve effective policies and programs to help its member countries.

Shauna Downs, lead author and researcher at the university's Menzies Centre for Health Policy said trans fats policies in Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea and the USA over the last two decades had proved effective in removing trans fats from the food supply. She said the study's findings were particularly relevant for low- and middle-income countries where such measures have been identified as a 'best-buy' policy for health - one that is expected to provide a high return on investment in terms of health gains."We found, for example, that a national ban in Denmark virtually eliminated trans fats from the food supply, while local bans in Canada and the USA were successful in removing trans fats from fried foods," Downs said. While some of the government policies we studied imposed voluntary self-regulation and others took mandatory measures, such as labelling, local and national bans on trans fats proved to be the most effective policies for removing trans fats. "Our findings show that these policies are not only feasible and achievable - they are also likely to improve public health." Trans fats - also known as trans fatty acids - are naturally found in dairy and meat products but are also generated by industrial processes to produce hard fats from vegetable oils. The industrially produced trans fats are also known as partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Consumption of trans fats is associated with an increased risk of non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, such as heart disease, as well as stroke and diabetes. These partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are, however, widely used in the food industry and fast food outlets because they are cheap, have a long shelf life, are semisolid at room temperature - which makes them easier to use in baked products, and can withstand repeated heating. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for the elimination of trans fats from the global food supply in response to the rise in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases and has identified it as a 'best-buy' public health intervention for low- and middle-income countries. This proposed policy measure was advocated in the Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases in September 2011".

Manufacture of hydrogenated fats which are plastic in nature is slowly being faced out because of the tendency to form trans fats from unsaturated fatty acids during catalytic hydrogenation process. Alternate technologies are now available that can make plastic fats so necessary, especially in many baked products, and therefore there must be put in place a universal ban against manufacture of such fats. Against such a backdrop it is not clear why some nations including India are still dilly dallying on banning their production. If trans fats are bad for consumers in rich countries like the US and in Europe who can afford healthy foods why it is acceptable in countries like India where poverty and ill health are rampant? It is the bounden duty of any responsible government to protect its citizens from hazards posed by food industry through coercive measures if that is what it takes to discipline the industry. 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com