FSSAI to lift tea decoction samples to check adulteration

After repeated raids to curb the use of adulterated tea dust, officials of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have started lifting decoction samples from tea stalls to check for adulterants.

Earlier, FSSAI officials used to lift tea dust from provision shops, bakeries and tea stalls to examine the use of adulterants.

Samples checked in previous years had revealed that tea dust lifted from some places were adulterated, primarily by adding artificial colors.

“While lifting adulterated tea dust from tea shops, the shop owners used to blame the trader. The trader at provision shops would point the finger at wholesale dealers. Based on a direction from headquarters, FSSAI is currently lifting samples of decoction from tea shops. If the samples are found adulterated in the laboratory examination, action will be taken against the tea shop owners,” said O.LS. Vijay, Designated Officer, FSSAI, and Coimbatore.

Dr. Vijay said that samples will also be lifted from Aavin milk booths where tea is sold and the samples lifted from some of the shops are currently being examined in a Government laboratory.

On Monday, FSSAI closed down a tea shop in Gandhipuram for repeated use of low quality adulterated tea dust. Officials said that all shops selling tea in Gandhipuram were taught to detect adulterated tea dust through a simple method.

“Tea dust mixed with colourants, when added to a glass of normal water, will release colour instantly. Whereas, pure tea dust will release colour only in warm water. We had demonstrated this experiment in all shops. As adulterated tea dust is cheap, they compromise on its ill-effects,” said K. Chandran, food safety officer for Gandhipuram area.

FSSAI has launched”Clean Street food project”

Don’t be surprised if you find a golgappe wala wearing an apron, gloves, cap and T-shirt while serving the delicious snack to you. On par with international standards, street food vendors in Delhi will now be following proper health and hygiene standards before serving you any food item.

This unique initiative is part of a programme followed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) with Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Under the program, around 23,000 street food vendors have been trained by the National Street Food Vendors Association of India (NASVI). On Saturday, around 6,000 of them will be awarded the certificate and a kit after completing their training.

The kits, containing two aprons, one T-shirt, one cap, 50 disposable plastic gloves and a hand sanitizer will be given to promote hygienic practices. The first phase will see vendors from Lajpat Nagar, Sarojini Nagar, Malviya Nagar and Sarai Kale Khan.

However, Sangeeta Singh, Head, street food program, NASVI, claimed that the lack of Aadhaar cards had ensured vendors were not able to get certificates earlier.

“Many of them have not filled the information correctly due to which the certificates have not come yet. Some of them have not linked the Aadhaar card with the bank account. The department has now finally decided to give certificates to these 6,000 food vendors in the first phase.”

In March last year, the FSSAI had launched ‘Clean Street Food’ project with an aim to raise the safety standards of foods sold on streets across the national capital by training 20,000 roadside vendors on aspects of health and hygiene. FSSAI partnered with the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship to train street food vendors.

The vendors will also be provided with a health chart which will have 10 indicators. These indicators include washing hands before serving, using head cap, wearing gloves, using clean water, etc. Every food vendor will have this chart displayed near his/her cart. But it’s not just the vendors. As the organisers of the initiative point out, the consumers too have a role to play to ensure better health and sanitary conditions. “The customers must always remind the food vendor to follow the 10 health indicators before serving the food. We will also keep a close watch on all the vendors to ensure that all the rules are being followed,” added Singh.

According to experts, the practice will help in eliminating diseases like food infection, gastroenteritis and diarrhoea.

“Most of the time, we advise people not to eat street food as the vendors don’t follow proper hygiene standards. The water used in making these items is extremely unhealthy and leads to many diseases like diarrhoea and gastroenteritis,” said Dr SP Byotra, Senior Consultant, Department of Internal Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram hospital.

Sources say that apart from the 6,000 already certified vendors, the remaining vendors will be certified in the next few months. According to the sources, once all the details of the vendors are placed properly, the certification process will speed up.