?FDA asks food business operators to stop stapling pins to pack food articles, for safety measures

Officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have issued cease-and-desist notices to three branches of the renowned South Mumbai restaurant, Bademiya, for operating without proper licenses.

As part of an ongoing enforcement campaign, the FDA has shut down 28 eateries in Mumbai and Thane due to their failure to adhere to essential hygiene and safety standards.

This crackdown is set to continue for another month, with additional restaurants likely to face inspections.

A group of food safety officers conducted an inspection of the Bademiya establishments situated behind the Taj Palace Hotel near the Gateway and Horniman Circle.

During the inspection, they reportedly discovered that the restaurants were serving food without the necessary license and were in breach of various safety and hygiene regulations.

The inspection team also observed the presence of cockroaches and rats within the restaurant premises.

Despite receiving the notice, the restaurant continued to operate late into the evening on Wednesday.

Shailesh Adhao, the Joint Commissioner of the FDA, has confirmed that the Bademiya outlets must remain closed until they meet all the necessary compliance requirements and undergo a fresh round of inspections. The renowned 76-year-old Bademiya, famous for its kebabs and rolls, boasts an annual turnover exceeding one crore. The recent discovery of a rat in a meal served at Papa Pancho da Dhaba triggered a comprehensive inspection of restaurants in both the city and the state since August. Alongside Papa Pancho da Dhaba, Mumbai Darbar based in Mahim and a chain of cloud kitchens operated by Hyperkichen foodtech pvt. Ltd in Govandi were instructed to cease their operations due to compliance issues.

In Thane, a total of 25 eateries have received orders to halt their activities, as confirmed by the department.

In Mumbai, close to 70 restaurants underwent inspections, with a combined 85 establishments surveyed in Thane. Adhao mentioned that a significant number of these eateries were found to be operating without the necessary licenses.

Food Safety on Wheels, a mobile food testing van of the Goa Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), was launched by chief minister Manohar Parrikar and health minister Vishwajit Rane.

Fully equipped with a lab, van will be used to conduct tests for common adulterants in milk, water, edible oils and other items. It will also be possible to draw on the spot samples and generate instant reports of the analysis.

FDA director Jyoti Sardesai said “The FDA will also tie up with panchayats, municipalities and consumer clubs to spread awareness about food safety, hygiene and healthy eating habits”.

The van that costs Rs 41 lakh was procured under the central government scheme to strengthen the food testing system in the country.

One of the famous milkshake brands of the country, Keventers, apart from opening outlets in Nairobi and California, plans to open 25 outlets in Dubai and Sharjah by next year.

The company will soon open its 100th outlet in Bengaluru's UB City by this month's end.

Sohrab Sitaram, CEO and Director, Keventers said, "We are looking to open 25 outlets in Dubai and Sharjah in next one year."

He added, "Currently all the world's best restaurants are in Dubai and it serves very well for our international ambition as well."

According to Sitaram, the first outlet will come up in Dubai in the next two months which will be company owned followed by franchisee outlets.

At present, Keventers has 9 company owned outlets while the rest are franchisee operated outlets.

The company also plans to open 200 franchise outlets and 35 company owned outlets in the next financial year.

He said, "We are looking to invest around Rs 14-15 crores next year in opening outlets, building a corporate team and marketing. We have sufficient funds for next year but we might look for PE funding once our international expansion is in full swing."

The company plans to open its first outlet in Nairobi next month and is currently awaiting FDA approvals to open its outlet in California.

Keventers expects to close this financial year with revenue of Rs 29 crores. 

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials have found 120 out of 126 bakeries in Pune to be flouting operational as well as sanitation rules laid down by the Food safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

The Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 states that living inside the production section of a bakery is not allowed. The law only permits a changing room for workers.

Between January 3 and 9, FDA officials conducted the drive in the wake of the massive fire that led to the death of six employees, who were sleeping inside Bakes N Cakes bakery in Kondhwa. The issue of bakeries running without the mandatory license came to the fore as the owner of Bakes N Cakes had been found to be running the business without the license. As per FDA records, there are total 689 bakeries in Pune.

The inspected bakeries are from Pune, Satata, Sangli, Kolhapur and Solapur districts.

SS Desai, Joint Commissioner (food), FDA, Pune division, said, "We inspected 126 bakeries in Pune division. Among them, we found that 30 were running the bakery without the mandatory license or registration. Besides, bakery workers were living inside the production area of 18 bakeries, which is prohibited. Moreover, the remaining 72 bakeries were found faltering on hygiene and sanitation norms. We have issued them improvement notices and asked them to correct the lacunae. We will initiate action against them if they fail to comply."

The officials inspected the highest number of bakeries, 75, in Pune district. Among them, 24 bakeries were operating without license while, at 16 bakeries, workers were sleeping in the production area at night. A sizeable number of bakeries were also running the business in filthy conditions.

Desai said, "We have issued improvement notices to 65 bakeries in Pune district. They have been told to initiate measures to comply with norms or face action."

Activist Sanjay Dabhade said, "The FDA’s report shows the pathetic conditions of bakeries in Pune and how they function. FDA officials must find ways to use technology for surveillance work. The bakeries need to be periodically monitored so that they have a sense of accountability, which is currently missing in most cases."

The manufacturer of Maggi instant noodles, Nestle India, today again told the Bombay High Court that it was ready for an independent lab testing of the product provided the tests were carried out in the presence of a reputed scientist, reported PTI.

The division bench of Justices V M Kanade and B P Colabawala, while hearing Nestle's petition against the 5th June order of Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) banning nine variants of Maggi, today asked whether the company was ready for fresh independent tests.

Iqbal Chhagla, Nestle's lawyer said that the company was satisfied but the tests should be conducted in the presence of a renowned scientist and the samples available with the company should be used.

Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration, Darius Khambata and the FSSAI counsel sought time till tomorrow to take instructions from their clients. Khambata also contended that one of the samples must be from the lot collected by state FDA.

The judges also said that they proposed to order independent testing of Maggi and sought the parties' views.

The Nestle lawyer alleged that FSSAI and FDA had not followed the principles of natural Justice by not giving a hearing to the company before banning Maggi on the ground of lead content in it being beyond the permissible limit.

Moreover, Chhagla said that only three variants were tested and the regulators prohibited all the nine variants of Maggi.

He further added that there was no substance in the allegation of FSSAI about the company destroying evidence by burning Maggi stock.

Amul godown has been raided by Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) officials who took away six samples of its various milk products for testing, reported PTI.

The FDA officials said that they will tear down all the milk pouches stored in the godown, which were curdling.

Vineet Kumar, FDA Official said "We were getting regular complaints about various Amul milk products sold in the open market".

The samples of Amul Ghee, ice creams, fresh cream, Badam shake; Homogenized milk and Standardized milk were taken for testing.

The official also said that all the samples will be sent to regional testing laboratory for further analysis.

Samir Saxena, Amul's Head of the Quality Assurance and New Product Development department, at Anand in Gujarat said that some times milk pouches get spoiled during transit as a result of which curdling takes place.  

Food and Drugs Administration of Uttar Pradesh has raided a departmental store in Rajendra Nagar area of Sahibabad and found that it was displaying expired food items, reported PTI.

FDA inspector Yaduveer Singh Yadav told that during its routine exercise the team reached Vishal Mega Mart and searched its counters for various eatable items being displayed for sale.

During the inspection, the team found 20 packets of a sweet dish, displayed on the counters which have expired.

A video film of the displayed items was also taken by FDA team as evidence.

Rice and black gram were also found to be infested with weevil moths, bugs and borers. They were also on display on counters for "loose sale".

Sample of soan papdi (4 packets), rice and black gram were seized by the FDA team.

The store manager was directed to destroy rice (50 kg), black grams (80 kg) and 16 packets of 'soan papdi' in presence of FDA officials, the officer said.

Seized samples will be sent to laboratory for testing, he said.

Head of HR department of Vishal Mega Mart, Rajesh Mishra, said that the expired 'soan papdi' was stored in their warehouse where customers don't have any access.

But, he, accepted that rice and black gram was infested due to moisture.

Mishra said that some of the expired products are taken back by the manufacturers while remaining items are destroyed at regular intervals.

The recently renovated Sura Vie by TYC at Connaught Place is introducing a range of Special Combo Platters featuring lip-smacking dishes from world cuisine.

This special combo menu has been carefully designed by Chef Extraordinaire Sanjeev Kapoor’s Team of experts, led by Master Chef Saurabh Saxena who heads Sura Vie Kitchens and Operations.

The gastronomic variety features an eclectic mix of scrumptious delicacies from world cuisine.

From Indian, Mughlai and Mezze to Italian, Continental and Chinese; the customers can taste variety of authentic flavors that includes popular as well as pioneering dishes to create a luxurious experience.

They have perfect combos and exciting offers on alcoholic beverages which will fulfill a complete dining experience.

The menu includes combo platters like Tandoori Combo, Makhani Maza, Curry in a Hurry, Pao Dog Hinglish Burger, Keema Buns, Biryani Bombo, Hakka Bakka, Satay, Dimsums, Mezze, Steak Griddle, Pizzaah, Pasta and Nachos.

The combo Platters start with Rs 699 plus taxes and the special offers i.e. happy hours, featuring one plus two on imported liquor & on plus one on IMFL and Beer. The timings are 12 pm to 8 pm and seven days open.

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij has asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Department to issue notices to 19 producers of canned food and beverages in the state.

The minister has also asked ban on sale of drinking water of three brands whose samples have been found unsafe in laboratory tests and some products were misbranded.

Vij took a serious note of this issue during his meeting with senior officers of FDA Department in Chandigarh, an official release said.

“water samples of sealed bottles of two brands taken from Palwal were found completely carbonated and water of another brand taken from Jind was also to be unsafe for usage,” added the release.

The minister immediately issued directions to ban the sale of sealed water of three brands in market, the release said, adding, samples of other items, including Khoya, two brands of Desi ghee and one of flavoured milk from Hissar also were found to be sub-standard.

Samples of soft-drink Mirinda SCW of Coca Cola Company taken from Hissar have been found as misbranded, the release said quoting the minister.

Coca Cola in a release, however, claimed that Mirinda is not its brand.

The department was directed to issue notices to them, it said.

Mizoram government has sent samples of Maggi instant noodles from the state to the Assam Public Health Laboratory in Guwahati, a senior state health department official said to PTI.

Joint Director (Food and Drugs Administration) Lalsawma told that the samples were sent yesterday as Mizoram does not have testing facilities to determine food safety.

Lalsawma said that the laboratory would send its report and findings to the Mizoram health department which would be submitted to the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI).

Though the state government did not ban the Nestle product, the company continued recalling its product from the state.

He said that the recalling process progressed well but recalling all the products from all the remote villages took time.

RI Bureau

Nestle India, one of the largest food manufacturers here, is facing allegation from the food authorities over its flagship product, Maggi. The issue also brought a wave on social media pages influencing lots of Maggi lovers against the product, who are deciding to no more have a bite of their favourite ‘Meri Waali Maggi’.

On 30th April 2015, the local authorities in Lucknow asked Nestle India to recall one batch of MAGGI Noodles,  which is around 200,000 packs, on the grounds that it contained Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and lead concentration of 17.2 parts per million (ppm), nearly seven times the permissible limit in the instant noodle.

According to a media statement issued by Nestle, the Maggi batch that FDA had asked to recall was manufactured in February 2014 and had already reached the ‘Best Before date’ in November 2014. And the company’s practice is to collect stock that is near ‘Best Before date’ from distributors/retailers.

“We are confident that these packs are no longer in the market. The company does not agree with the order and is filing the requisite representations with the authorities. In the meantime, it is important to note that there are no other orders to recall MAGGI Noodle products in the market. People can be confident that MAGGI Noodle products are safe to eat,” a Nestle Spokesperson commented on a telephonic query.

The statement also assured the quality and safety of the products being sold by Nestle in India mentioning that this is the top priority for the company.

“We have in place strict food safety and quality controls at our MAGGI factories, including thorough quality checks at each stage of our raw material sourcing and manufacturing process. This includes comprehensive testing to ensure that MAGGI Noodles comply with all applicable food safety laws, as well as our own high standards of quality and safety before they reach our consumers,” added the statement.

On allegation of lead and MSG contains in the instant noodle, the company stated that they are aware of the reports of elevated levels of lead in a pack of MAGGI Noodles analysed by the authorities. And the food company regularly monitors for lead as part of their stringent quality control processes, including testing by accredited laboratories.

“We have submitted product samples to an independent accredited laboratory and will share the results with the authorities,” added the statement issued by Nestle.