Hindustan Times: New Delhi: Tuesday, April 18, 2017.
The
food regulators of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, and Assam have reportedly
found nine products of major companies to be “substandard” after they failed
quality tests conducted between April 2016 and January 2017, The Indian Express
said on Monday.
The
products include Pepsico India Holdings Private Ltd’s Mirinda, Nestle India
Ltd’s Cerelac Wheat, Adani Wilmar Ltd’s Fortune oil, Marico India’s Saffola
Gold oil, Parle Agro’s Frooti and a cheese spread used by the Subway chain
among others, according to information sought under the Right to Information (RTI)
Act by the Express.
“The
RTI replies show that Herbalife’s energy drink, Murugappa group’s Parry
packaged drinking water and Haldiram’s Aloo Bhujia are among the products
reported to have failed the quality tests during this period,” the newspaper
said.
“In
a number of cases, the companies have either questioned the test procedure or
have asked for re-analysis of the samples,” it added.
Mirinda
The
Express said five reports found Mirinda to be “misbranded, substandard and
unsafe”.
According
to the newspaper, in a report dated January 12, 2017, Gurgaon’s food safety
officer found batches of Mirinda to be “unsafe as well as substandard”. The
state food lab of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Haryana Haryana also
found “Mirinda” to be “misbranded” in 3 probe reports in April, May, and
October last year and it found the drink to be “misbranded, substandard and
unsafe” in October 2016.
“According
to an RTI reply, the lab did not have the information regarding the action
taken in last four cases because the matter was ‘not related’ to its ‘office’,”
it said.
The
food safety officer said the newspaper in an RTI reply that a “letter (has been)
sent for permission for prosecution to commissioner of FDA”.
“PepsiCo
operates in the state of Haryana through its franchisee. The franchisee has
received only one of the reports (18th May 2016) referred to by you and has
requested for a reanalysis of the sample mentioned in that report. No other
notice referred by you has been received by our franchisee … All products,
including Mirinda, comply with the food regulations and are completely safe and
hence pulling out Mirinda is unwarranted,” a PepsiCo spokesperson was quoted as
saying by the Express.
Cerelac
Wheat
Nestle
India Ltd’s infant food Cerelac Wheat was found to be substandard by the chief
medical and health officer (CMHO) of Rajasthan’s Rajasmand district in a report
dated October 14, 2016.
In
one RTI reply, the CMHO told the Express that Cerelac failed at the quality
parameter of “total protein”.
Asked
what action has been taken against the company, the officer’s RTI reply stated:
“Anusandhan jaari (Investigation is ongoing).
The
company did not respond to requests seeking comment from the newspaper.
Fortune
oil
In
an RTI reply, the CMHO of Bundi in Rajasthan said that the acid value of
Fortune, a refined rice brand oil from Adani Wilmar Ltd, was found to be 0.67,
which must not be higher than 0.5, in test results on July 15, 2016.
The
officer told the Express that the matter is under investigation when it asked
if any action has been taken against the company.
“So
far we have not received a notice on Refined Rice Bran Oil from Bundi, CMO. As
regards the acid value on Rice Bran Oil, the permitted limit is 0.50, However,
due to the faulty procedure (wrong indicator) adopted by many public analysts,
the result may show acid value on higher side … There is no question of
withdrawing the product from Indian Market as Rice Bran Oil is one of the
healthiest oils available in the market and our product meets the standards as
provided under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006,” an Adani spokesperson
told the newspaper.
Saffola
Gold oil
A
sample of Saffola Gold, blended edible vegetable oil, was picked up on May 9
last year by food safety officer Naresh Kumar Chenjara in the western state’s
Sawai Madhopur.
The
Expres said the probe results came on May 27, 2016, and said the product was
substandard as its acid value was 1.12 instead of the permitted limit of 0.50.
The
results also said Saffola Gold does not conform to the prescribed provisions of
food safety and standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additive)
Regulation, 2011.
“Under
Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, (we are) submitting chargesheets in court
against the firms/manufacturers,” Umesh Sharma, CMHO, Sawai Madhopur, told the
newspaper in an RTI reply.
Marico
Limited did not respond to requests seeking comment.
Processed
cheese spread
Similarly,
a sample of the processed cheese spread used by Subway Systems Indian Private
Ltd picked up by the food safety officer of Faridabad on July 21, 2016, was
found to be substandard as it was “misbranded”, according to the newspaper.
The
Express said when asked about the action taken, the food safety officer, in an
RTI reply, said: “Case pending to launch”. But Subway denied using processed
cheese spread.
“We
would like to place on record that Subway does not use ‘Processed cheese
spread’ as an ingredient in any of its products,” a Subway spokesperson told
Hindustan Times in its response on Monday morning.
Frooti
The
Express reported Parle Agro’s mango drink, Frooti, was found to be
“substandard” as it failed on the “physical” parameter by the state public
health laboratory of Assam in 3 probe reports between June 13, July 14 and
August 2, 2016.
The
samples were manufactured by Padmesh Beverages, which has been given a contract
by Parle Agro, at its plant in Satgaon, Guwahati, Assam.
“The
action against samples which have been declared substandard by the food analyst
to the government of Assam are being taken and are at different stages of
adjudication in the court of the adjudicating officers in the district
headquarters of the state,” the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Assam
told the Express in an RTI reply to the Express.
The
newspaper said Parle Agro did not respond to requests seeking comment.
Parry
packaged water
The
food safety wing of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu found that the aerobic microbial
count in the sample of Parry packaged water was 32 colony forming units
(CFU)/ml, which must not be more than 20 CFU/ml, in samples of Parry Enterprises
India’s packaged drinking water taken on July 20, 2016.
A
microbial limit test checks the presence of microorganisms such as bacteria,
yeast, and mold in a sample is exceeding the limit or not.
The
Kanchipuram wing stated in an RTI reply that “adjudicating process will be
started against the concerned food business operators”.
The
Murugappa group company said: “Please note that we are unable to refer to the
Probe Report you have referred above, as we have not received this report.
However, we were made aware of a test report (which reported the numbers
mentioned by you above) by Kings Institute dated 20th July which was an
enclosure to a letter from FSSAI dated 29th July 2016, on a matter relating to
labelling. We understood that this observation made by the Test house was in
itself inaccurate and based on inadequate and perfunctory analysis as per the
Act.”
Haldiram
aloo bhujia
The
newspaper said the state food lab of FDA Haryana found the aloo bhujia produced
by Haldiram Foods International Private Ltd in a probe report of July 2016 to
be “misbranded” or not compliant with rules in Food Safety and Standards
(Packaging and Labeling) Regulations, 2011.
“The
state food lab did not comment on the action taken in this probe report and
said that the matter is ‘not related to this office’,” it said.
Haldiram
did not respond to requests seeking comment.
Fresh
energy drink mix
The
Express reported that Haryana’s food lab picked up a sample of fresh energy
drink mix by Herbalife International India Private Ltd from a shop in Model
Town, Sonipat in Haryana and the test results came on May 30, 2015, which
stated that the product was found to be “substandard”.
It
said the food safety officer of Sonipat said in an RTI reply that a case has
been “filed in ADC (Additional Deputy Commissioner) court, Sonipat”.
“With
respect to your queries kindly be informed that the matter is sub judice and it
would not be appropriate to make any comments at this point of time,” the
company told the newspaper.
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