From Kitchen to Table: Celebrating Safety Standards in Every bite

In the fast-paced world of the HORECA (Hotel, Restaurant, and Catering) industry, ensuring food safety and maintaining exceptional taste and convenience are crucial for success. Ready-to-cook solutions have emerged as a game-changer in meeting these demands. By implementing rigorous quality control measures at every step of the process, ready-to-cook products offer a reliable solution that enhances food safety without compromising taste or convenience.

The Importance of Food Safety in HORECA:

Food safety is of utmost importance in the HORECA industry. Establishments must prioritize maintaining customer trust and loyalty by ensuring that the food they serve is safe and free from contamination. The consequences of foodborne illnesses can be severe, leading to negative impacts on business reputation and potential legal consequences.

The Rise of Ready-to-Cook Solutions:

Ready-to-cook products have gained popularity among HORECA establishments due to their numerous benefits. These products are pre-prepared with high-quality ingredients, requiring minimal effort and time for chefs and kitchen staff. Some key advantages include time and labor savings, consistent taste and quality, reduced food waste, and improved inventory management.

Quality Assurance at Every Step:

To ensure food safety and maintain the highest standards, ready-to-cook solutions, implement strict quality control measures at every stage of the process. The manufacturing facilities are HACCP certified, and these brands follow all Good Manufacturing Practises (GMP) to ensure the products meet strict quality standards, reducing the pressure on the procurement, storage, and consumption stages of the HORECA system.

1. Sourcing of Ingredients: These brands employ stringent selection criteria for suppliers, ensuring the highest quality ingredients are used. Regular quality checks and adherence to safety standards guarantee that only the best and safe ingredients make their way into the products.

2. Manufacturing Process: State-of-the-art facilities and technology are utilized to prepare ready-to-cook products. Adherence to standardized recipes and processes ensures consistency in taste, texture, and safety. Regular inspections and audits as prescribed by HACP managed system are conducted to ensure compliance with stringent quality control protocols.

3. Packaging and Storage: Secure and tamper-proof packaging and retort processing technology are employed to maintain the freshness and integrity of the products through regular analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement, and handling during the manufacturing and distribution of the finished products. Proper labelling and batch traceability provide transparency and allow for effective tracking. Appropriate storage conditions are maintained to preserve the quality and safety of the products.

4. Handling and Distribution:Brands pay special attention to the handling and distribution of their ready-to-cook products. Robust distribution of chain management is implemented to maintain product freshness and integrity. Timely delivery to HORECA establishments is ensured, accompanied by comprehensive guidelines and training for proper handling and storage.

Compliance with Food Safety Regulations:These brands strictly adheres to local and international food safety regulations. The company obtains necessary certifications and licenses to ensure compliance. Regular inspections and audits are conducted to maintain the highest standards of food safety.

Customer Satisfaction and Trust: By offering ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat solutions, these brands deliver consistent taste and quality to customers. Transparent communication about food safety practices builds trust with customers. The company values customer feedback and promptly addresses any concerns, further enhancing customer satisfaction and trust.
 

Recently, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) along with Vigilance officials conducted surprise raids on various restaurants and ghee manufacturing units in Vijayawada. It was learnt that the ghee manufacturing units are supplying low quality products to their customers, and the restaurants are also using banned chemicals to enhance the taste of the food. 

Also Read: FSSAI plans to use next-gen technology to ensure food safety, quality

Whether it is a small restaurant or a major restaurant chain, health code violations can pose a significant threat to the life of the business and its consumers. Without consistent internal audits and inspection checks, it can be challenging for restaurants to ensure they will be prepared when the inspector arrives. 

Many of the cleaning tasks done on a regular basis don’t even scratch the surface of what restaurant auditors will be paying close attention to. This is why weekly or even monthly inspections should be carried out internally. And while ticking off the checklist, many overlook the very basic yet imperative factors that stop them by acing a restaurant inspection. 

Especially post-pandemic, owners now have to get lean and focus on minor detailing along with the need to quickly analyse a problem and fix it. Raj Sadvilkar, Partner and Co-Founder of Angrezi Dhaba believe that restaurant inspections will be a key consideration for how foods offered at the restaurant should be safely handled and delivered to the customers. “Also key practices for employee health, cleaning and sanitizing and following all the SOP’s for receiving customer, defining high standard for cleaning and housekeeping will be crucial so that team and guests can feel safe in the environment and serve better,” he commented. 

Beforehand training for impromptu visits

The proper strategy for a successful health inspection is to be ready at all times. As Ritesh Saini, Director of Local Gurugram stated, “If you are an owner, manager or a restaurateur, health inspection is enough to keep you up at night.” To ace, one should follow the proper strategy that is to be ready for your health inspection and to act like every day is a health inspection day. 

It is crucial to train the employees before the food inspection. Teach them how to behave and instruct them to proactively correct any error before the food inspector enters the restaurant. Familiarize them with the rules, regulations, and guidelines to follow during a food inspection. The restaurant staff should be competent enough in following all the safety and hygiene norms in front of the food inspector as this directly affects the scoring of the restaurant. 

Proper documents in place

According to Nikhil Mittal, Co-founder of Infinity, many owners are missing out on Food Handler Certificate which is certified by the Indian Health Service (IHS). “Ensure a food handler certificate for every employee,” he commented. Keeping up with food safety guidelines as they change can be a challenge for restaurant owners, especially when one expands and open more locations in other provinces, states and cities. Staying directly in contact with the local health department to stay on top of food safety guidelines can be the key. 

Ensuring proper food storage 

Places and shelves where the food is stored need to be adequate, clean, and hygienic enough to avoid contamination. Cooked and ready-to-eat food should be kept above raw food. Ensure proper wrapping of food products so that they do not spill or drip on the shelves.

Saini recommends avoiding uncovered stored food and inappropriate containers. “No labels on your food for ‘use-by dates, no gloves on your employees and storing cleaning products near the pantry. Lack of temperature control should not be practiced. Covid appropriate maintenance schedule can’t be skipped. To ensure distinction one should conduct an impromptu inspection for their own restaurant,” he further added. 

Additionally, chemicals and detergents should be stored in separate areas and not with the raw materials and ingredients. Proper stock rotation should be practiced so that the quality of raw materials does not deteriorate with time.

Having an immediate exit plan

Although there are ample points one needs to consider while firming up a restaurant’s safety and hygiene standards, one must also have an effective exit plan ready. “You and your staff need to be aware of an immediate exit plan so that everyone is safe if at all something goes wrong in the restaurant,” shared Shyam Thakur of Momo King by adding that setting up a daily maintenance schedule can help the last moment mishaps. 

May Interest: Tamper-proof packaging to ensure food safety and hygiene

While no one enters the restaurant business out of a love for food safety, owners and managers must take it seriously. By protecting customers from foodborne illnesses, one is protecting his/her restaurant’s reputation. 

The food enjoyed at restaurants all around the world goes through a tedious process of transportation, storage, and handling to move from plant to plate. This process creates many opportunities for bacteria to infiltrate and contaminate food products, which ruins the safety of the food. This can lead to severe damage to a restaurant’s reputation and image, which will negatively impact the restaurant’s sales.

The most prominent example of poor food safety occurred at the popular Mexican food chain, Chipotle. In 2015, hundreds of consumers contracted the E. coli bacteria after dining at Chipotle. This resulted in a nationwide closure of many Chipotle locations and it had an extremely negative financial impact. Individuals at every level of the food supply chain hold responsibility and commitment to thoroughly inspect food products and handle them with extreme safety. Diligence in the transportation, inspection, and handling of food makes a major difference in food safety.

Food safety is more imperative now

The pandemic has brought in the attention towards food safety in a whole new tangent where patrons are now more alert than ever before and can absolutely not comprise on the hygiene prospect while eating out or ordering in.

According to Manish Sharma, Owner of Drunken Botanist, it is extremely important that every diner who visits feel safe in the environment that a restaurant has created. “Right now, guests need to feel that they can sit and take their masks off to enjoy some food and drinks with their friends and family, and hence hygiene is our utmost priority,” he commented. 

There is an ever-increasing awareness of food safety by the general public and news agencies are reporting on food recalls and outbreaks more often. It's important for all restaurant owners, workers, and managers to understand the causes and repercussions of foodborne illnesses.

“If an establishment fails to meet customer expectations, the restaurant may lose patronage or worse, the unsatisfied customer may leave a bad online review, thus tarnishing the overall image of the business. Additionally, with growing awareness about food safety, end-users have developed many expectations from restaurants in terms of quality,” said Vaibhav Nayar, Co-Owner, Namaste Desi. 

Are regulatory bodies meeting expectations

Restaurateurs believe that FSSAI however holds more responsibilities for proper surveillance.

“While FSSAI is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety but there are certain lapses that affect the enforcement of the food safety measures. Regulatory agencies around the world adopt a multi-stakeholder involvement to deal with food safety matters,’ added Nayar by pointing that the FSSAI should monitor food safety properly to ensure the customer’s safety. And, also need to develop a comprehensive and well designed national food contaminants monitoring program that takes into account the country’s food safety priorities, as well as the geographic, agro-climatic and population characteristics. 

According to Sharma, FSSAI needs to be more proactive and have audits in place to check food hygiene and quality. “We are in the most difficult hours of our lives right now, and serious surveillance should be mandatory. We cannot put our guests at health risks by serving substandard food and ingredients. FSSAI should take things into its hands and make sure that the restaurants and cafes that have reopened are maintaining hygiene and quality both,” he pointed. 

Are restaurants ready for improvement?

Post pandemic, FSSAI has geared up to fight against the hygiene issues persisting in the restaurant industry for a long. Recently, the food safety regulator issued an order stating that restaurants will have to mention the FSSAI licence number on bills from October this year. 

Mentioning of FSSAI number shall also improve the overall awareness, the regulator said "if not mentioned, it will indicate non-compliance or non-registration/licensing by the food business.” 

Last year, FSSAI notified that it will be mandatory for restaurants with central license or outlets at 10 or more locations will have to mention the calorific value (in kcal per serving and serving size) allergen details, nutritional information, health warnings etc against the food items displayed on the menu cards or boards or booklets. Food aggregators will also have to mention the calorific value and nutrition count of the items sold through their platforms, the regulations state.

These changes, however, for obvious reasons, are not desirable for restaurants as it opens up a host of new protocols to be followed. This move, but, would give consumers a most significant right to know about the use of any potentially risky ingredient in food and to understand its possible effects on their health.

While it is now interesting to see how these restaurants are going to acclimatize with the new regime imposed by FSSAI, it will be more insightful to know how effectively the FSSAI could implement their own regulations. Whatever it is, the restaurant industry has surely entered a food hygiene and safety debate where consumers are more aware than ever before. 

Consumers can be quite unforgiving if they experience a food incident as approximately six in 10 reportedly would never eat at a restaurant again if they contracted a foodborne illness or food poisoning, shared a study by Zebra Technologies.

Slightly more than 80% of surveyed consumers said companies have an important role to play in implementing food safety solutions and an ethical responsibility to ensure the safe handling of their food.  Most consumers (70%) said it is important to know how their food and ingredients are manufactured, prepared, and handled, while 69% agreed knowing how their food is sourced is also important.

The study highlights the views of consumers as well as food and beverage industry decision-makers worldwide from distribution and warehouses to grocery stores and restaurants around safety, traceability and transparency.

Surveyed consumers reported their top food safety concerns include restaurant kitchen and wait staff hygiene, foodborne outbreaks, illness from contaminated food, and food and beverage recalls.

Given the increased focus on health and wellness, it’s unsurprising both consumers and industry decision-makers are showing a great level of interest in the source, quality and safety of their food. However, a disconnect exists between what consumers believe and what industry decision-makers think.

Almost seven in 10 (69%) decision-makers say the industry is prepared to manage food traceability and transparency, but only 35% of consumers agree. Furthermore, only 13% of consumers felt the industry was extremely prepared today to manage food traceability and be transparent about how food travels through the supply chain, whereas 27% of decision-makers reported feeling this way.  Unfortunately, this is not just a short-term challenge as approximately half (51%) of surveyed food and beverage decision-makers said meeting consumer expectations will remain a challenge in five years.

“Findings from our study show that while the industry is taking measures to ensure a more transparent supply chain, more work needs to be done in order to increase consumer confidence and improve food traceability,” said Deep Agarwal, Regional Sales Director of India, Zebra Technologies. “Businesses naturally have more information available to them but can improve consumers’ faith in their food sources by providing them access to the same information.”

One bright spot identified in the research is the role that technology can play in closing both these gaps in both the short- and long-term.  An overwhelming majority (90%) of decision-makers acknowledged that investments in traceability-focused solutions will provide them with a competitive advantage by enabling them to meet the expectations of consumers. When asked about the top benefits that technology-based track and trace solutions would provide, nearly six in 10 decision-makers cited risk reductions with proper handling, transportation and storage and tracking product perishability. 41% of industry decision-makers reported RFID tags improve food traceability within the supply chain more than any other technology, yet only 31% currently use them within their own organizations.

Mobile computers and tablets, mobile barcode label printers, scanners and specialty labels and tags will also be key enablers in winning consumer trust and delivering more transparent information to consumers.

Approximately 90% of surveyed industry decision-makers expect to use rugged handheld mobile computers with scanners, barcode scanners and mobile barcode label printers within the next five years to digitally manage and track food products and related information.

KEY SURVEY FINDINGS

Asia-Pacific

• 93% of surveyed food and beverage decision-makers believe their companies have an ethical responsibility to ensure the safe handling and management of food.
• Nearly three-quarters (73%) of consumers listed illness and deaths caused by contamination as their biggest concern for risks posed by the food supply chain.
• 89% of industry decision-makers believe investments in traceability-focused solutions would provide their companies with a competitive advantage.

With FSSAI announcing registration for all home chefs mandatory, the industry showed a mix reaction. The food safety body has mandated state license for those below Rs 12 lakh turnover per annum and central license for those above Rs 12 lakh turnover per annum. Also, if a home chef wants to sell online a central license is required.

"I absolutely feel it's a great that the home chefs now need to get a registration done. It will absolutely put everything in process and will have a proper certification and hygiene check. During the pandemic we have seen a lot of people opening up their kitchen to serve food which I feel is good but there has to be some checkpoint as everything that goes unchecked out in the market can have their repercussion in the long run. In the West this certification is absolutely very mandatory so I don't see anything wrong if we are starting it here in India,” added Ayandrali Dutta, AD's Cookhouse, Noida.

The association shared that food operators, whether operating from home or from dark kitchens, should be regulated for cleanliness and hygiene. It also pointed out that unregistered, unregulated food business operators (FBOs) may not be maintaining hygiene standards, which is detrimental to the interest of consumers and poses health risks.

Also Read: Restaurant Owners welcome FSSAI move on registration for home-cooked meals

“It is very important for hygiene and safety norms to be maintained when you're cooking, more so if it's commercial. The FSSAI rules that have come into play are a welcome change. I remember getting a license / registration even before I started serving my clients. It puts your customers at ease, knowing the food is coming from a hygienic kitchen, especially now that we have a pandemic surging across the country,” shared Shaista Iqbal of Mrs Ahmed's kitchen, Gurgaon who make an overnight fame with her cooking and food.

Not only this, with covid-19 pandemic we have seen a rise in home chefs and demand for home-style food as people were left with no options to go out. Hence, mandating these small platforms to get registered will not only boost confidence in them but also give a trusted platform to people from where they can choose their food.

May Interest: 7 reasons home chefs could disrupt the fast evolving food industry

“Mandatory registrations for home chefs are a good decision, and would boost more confidence. I have been selling my homemade preservative free pickles from last year with an FSSAI registration. But to say that unregistered food business may not be hygienic is totally unacceptable. this pandemic gave birth to many home chefs and I believe we home chefs take extreme care of hygiene while cooking,” added Rajani Jain of Chatori Rajani, Delhi who uses freshest ingredients as she cook on order basis and not in bulk. “Most of the cleaning, chopping and cooking is done by self since we are very cautious of hygiene. Most  of my clients who order food are those who have been following my recipe videos, they feel it's safe to order from me since now they have an insight of how I cook and maintain my kitchen,” she added.
 

Covid-19 has changed how Indian’s have been dining for ages. Today, people are looking at more convenient, healthy and safe food. They are also looking at how the food is being packaged, what’s the source, how is it travelling all the way when ordered online looking at the hygiene standards. Here are top five trends that Restaurant India found while talking to the experts and researching during the pandemic that will remain in the food sector post covid.

The rise of DIY kits: DIY kits have also become the new cool nowadays as many restaurants have started this concept where they let people do the assembling, preparing and cooking, using all the fresh ingredients which are provided by them. “It’s simply a substitute to dining out. And a good family activity as the person who cooks takes the price of being the master chef of his home. And then a happy meal equals to happy family,” shared Saurabh Khanijo, Owner, Kylin who has launched his DIY range of sauces during the pandemic.

Also Read: Top Resto-bars play with DIY Cocktails to keep customers engaged

Focus on Safety & Hygiene: Food safety and hygiene remain a concern for people these days and it will be a major concern going forward when they will be dining out. This is the most important focus for any establishment currently both for delivery and backend operations at the kitchen. “Everyone who is concerned about Hygiene & safety is our customer. Celebrities, Our Regular guests, Bureaucrats, Corporate Clients, Families everyone is currently ordering through us,” added Vishal Jindal, Co-Founder, Biryani by Kilo.

Fitness/ Healthy Food is the key: According to recent studies, healthy food categories are picking steam with covid-19 spreading across the globe. People are looking at healthier eating options when dining or ordering food at home.

Demand for good Packing standards: Packaging is the key part of any delivery industry. Food should be packed with flavours intact and spill proof. The client should experience convenient and comfort packaging so that he can consume the food easily without any hassle. “We are trying to adapt the eco friendly packaging but as we know plastic is banned our plastic boxes are more than 50 microns. In a rapidly changing and challenging environment, we want to deliver hygienically approved packaging so that customer feels safe and ensured,” shared Anshu Raj, Founder, Caterspoint. Also the packaging should contain basic information that will let the client know about the brand and the product because packaging is a theatre that creates a story.

May Interest: How McDonald’s is driving circular solutions to tackle packaging waste globally

Contactless Dining/ Delivery is the future: There’s no denying that contactless dining will be the future of restaurant business. With the unlock, restaurants are resuming their dine-in service by implementing Contactless dine-in processes, wherein right from accessing the menu via QR codes placed on the table to making payments, the entire process is made digital. With Contactless services in place, restaurants have upgraded their digital assets including the website, m-site and mobile app for a faster, easier and more seamless experience. “Post unlock, more people are moving out of their homes for work and they will need access to safe and hygienic food. Our contactless services ensure Trust, Safety and Hygiene in every bite of the meal. We have been responsive to customer needs in the new normal by offering value deals and innovative contactless experiences across platforms while ensuring that our team members and guests feel safe, valued, and cared for,” pointed Neha, Marketing Director, Pizza Hut India.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India on Wednesday issued guidelines related to hygiene and safety that food business operators (FBOs) need to follow during the coronavirus disease outbreak. In its 14-page 'Food Hygiene and Safety Guidelines for food businesses during coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic', the FSSAI has suggested various measures that need to be taken by the FBOs.

“Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is caused by a new type of coronavirus, has been declared a pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO). The disease is transmitted from person to person primarily through close contact with one another, and respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. In the absence of a known cure for the disease, all efforts are towards prevention of the spread of this disease from person to person,” shared the statement.

Although, there is currently no evidence that food is a likely source or route of transmission of COVID-19 virus, it is important to take all precautions to prevent any possibility of person to person spread of C0VID-19 infection during food business operations.

As a routine, various hygienic and sanitary measures mandatorily to be followed by food business operators are specified in Schedule IV of Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011. These measures are primarily aimed at ensuring safe, clean and wholesome food which is indispensable to the health and welfare of consumers. Nevertheless, COVID-19 situation demands implementation of some additional focussed measures mainly to prevent human-to human spread of the disease in food business operations and also to reduce the likelihood of contamination of various materials in contact with food such as equipment, packaging materials etc.

The guideline also mentioned, buffet system, food service and mass gathering should be disallowed during Covid-19 pandemic; such services should be resumed only under directions from the concerned statutory authorities.

In view of the above, FSSAI has developed a detailed guidance on specific measures that can be taken by various types of food businesses in addition to those specified in the Schedule IV of Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations 2011, to prevent spread of COVID-19 during such food business operations. These specific measures, detailed in the document, include maintaining high levels of personal hygiene; excluding COVID-19 infected persons from the operations; practicing social distancing; and appropriate cleaning/sanitization of the food operations’ premises, food contact materials etc. The document is primarily intended for all types of food businesses including food service, transport and retail operations.

The guideline also mentioned that in case of delivery, customers should be encouraged for contactless delivery.

The guidance has been developed based on the best practices currently recognized and adopted internationally.

An allergy is the body’s immune system reaction to a substance that’s normally harmless: pollen, certain foods, animal dander or house dust mite, for example; the ‘hygiene hypothesis’, Environmental changes, Air pollution and Food allergies. In children, eggs, milk, soya, wheat and peanuts are the most common causes of allergic reactions, and in adults, nuts (including peanuts), fish and shellfish, although any food has the potential to be an allergen in susceptible people. It’s unclear what causes the immune system to react to certain food proteins; however if other close family members have an allergic condition you have a slightly higher risk of developing one and children who have eczema at a young age are more likely to develop a food allergy. Get advice from your GP if you suspect a family member may have a food allergy.

Here’s how to handle your guests’ food allergies and dietary restrictions:

Get the info: There’s no way of knowing about your guests’ food allergies and dietary restrictions unless you ask. Leave some space on your response cards for them to explain their sensitivities, especially if their allergies are severe. This isn’t a place for your guests to explain what they’d like to see added to or omitted from your menu, it’s a place where they can state if their vegan, vegetarian, piscatorial, gluten-free or allergic to certain foods.

Find the right caterer: most caterers are cool with adjusting their dishes to suit your guests, but you’ll definitely want to clear it with them first. When you sit down for a Q&A with them make a point of asking about dietary restrictions. They’re trained professionals, so they probably have a few tasty tricks up their sleeves.

Show them the menu: No, giving your guests a sneak peek at your menu won’t ruin your reception - it’ll actually help. To avoid any snafus, ask your caterer to provide you with an ingredient list for all the dishes they plan on cooking up. You can show a copy of this to your friends with allergies or restrictions so that they can give it an OK before your big day. Tip: you can also post your menu on your wedding website for your guests’ reference.

Labelling = your BFF: If you’ve opted for a buffet or food stations make sure you note which dishes are vegan, vegetarian, GF or nut-free. This will help your guests hunt down the dishes that they actually can eat.

Let them hit the buffet first: this is another one specific to food stations and buffets. As you know, these restaurants styles involve a lot of maneuvering and shuffling, especially if there are large crowds involved. This usually ends in serving spoons landing in different dishes - which can be a nightmare for people with allergies or food sensitivities. Let these guests jump the line and serve themselves first to help avoid cross-contamination. Yes, your other guests mouths may be watering, but they’ll have to wait their turn.

Make them their own meals: if your menu isn’t compatible with certain guests’ diets, you may have to ask you’re to caterer whip up something special just for them. If your guests only need a few tweaks made to the dishes you’re already serving, even better. Just make sure the chef knows not to cross-contaminate their meals.

Think about yourselves!: If you, the guests of honour, have certain dietary restrictions, you can base your entire meal around them. Is one or both of you vegan or vegetarian? It is totally your prerogative to serve an entirely plant-based menu to all your guests. However, if you’re hosting a ton of omnivores, you may want to consider adding a few dishes outside of your dietary scope to please your entire party.

Do dessert: Just because some of your guests need to sidestep certain ingredients doesn’t mean they should miss out on dessert. No, these people probably won’t be indulging in a slice of your decadent wedding cake topped high with butter cream frosting, but they should still be offered a sweet treat! If you’re hosting guests with food allergies or sensitivities, fill your sweet table with GF, vegan and nut-free offerings. Remember to include labels so that they know exactly what they can and cannot eat.

Approximately, 25 per cent of the India’s population is now having at least one food allergies. People have always thought that food allergies or being allergic to a certain ingredient or raw material was a norm in western worlds, too much surprise Indians are not far from it.

The allergies can happen from ingredients like peanut, dairy or certain fruits which may spoil the experience one had at the restaurant and often allergies can be so serious with emergency medical conditions.  Hence, restaurants these days are working hard to know about their guests and explain them what each ingredient would do to them if they are an allergen to few ingredients.

Be Precise

“The success and failure of a restaurant is tied to its food accuracy. As much as good food can make restaurant it can also very much stop them from visiting ever again,” shares Vikrant Batra, Co-Founder, Nueva and Café Delhi Heights. What happens generally that when a restaurant goes through a change in menu or some changes it often forget to update changes to the servers and that’s where the problem starts. Customers not only want food that is beautifully plated but also something that is fresh and tastefully prepared. For the trust which the patrons bestow while dining out, the restaurants must make sure to serve them nothing but the best.  In that case whenever there is a new update in the menu all related information should be updated in the system. “To ensure food accuracy scanning of supplies, vendors, ingredients, recipes, preparations, internal meetings and regular food trials all are very important. From the moment the ingredient reaches the storehouse till the time it is on the table of the guest, every intricacy is important,” adds Batra. Thus, the highlight to ensure the accuracy is maintaining the recipe, quality of ingredients, preparation and customer feedback along with other pivotal details.

ALSO READ: FDA Cancels License Of Top Players, Focus On Hygienic Food

“Food Allergy has become very common in the recent past, over the last three decades a high rise in people who have food allergies have been identified. Since I started working and till now the number of guest who report allergens while checking in a hotel have risen,” points Amit Dash, Executive Chef, The Westin Pune Koregaon Park. 

It’s Important to Educate Staff

“A strong brick never lets a building fall”. Staff is the biggest asset for a brand without which nothing is possible. The key to happy and productive employees is to make sure they feel important in their role. “Empowerment when it comes to handling customer’s likes and dislikes is very Important as we believe to delight every customer in the shortest timeframe,” says Sharad Singh-Director F&B, Sheraton Grand Pune. Educating restaurant staff helps in avoiding multiple levels of approvals so that the staff can freely focus on guest needs and delight them.

Providing Guests with enough Information

“We have always envisioned to plate nothing but the best. Our cuisine is a reflection of our well-travelled chefs in the form of Indian and World’s finest cuisines. At unplugged courtyard you’ll always find the chef taking routinely rounds, answering guest’s queries and enriching them about the food that we serve. With well-trained servers and elaborate menu we make sure our guests are well informed about what they are being served,” shares Dinesh Arora of Unplugged Courtyard.

Diners today are hungry for food and knowledge both and hence restaurants should provide them with adequate knowledge and information. Customer education being an important aspect, restaurant food menus are created and designed keeping in mind the comfort and understanding of guests . The restaurants should attach and provide a brief description next to every dish on the menu so that the guest makes an informed decision. Restaurants should also make sure that servers taking the order to the chefs should personally attend tables to enlighten the guests, and provide guests with proper information. From knowledgeable and well informed servers to chefs themselves introducing cuisines and dishes at tables, the restaurants should make it a practice to avoid any incident. 

In the last two years the food safety and standards authority of India has played an important role to maintain and make sure that restaurant and hotels are maintaining the basic hygiene. The food safety authority has also demanded online aggregators to make sure they partner with restaurants who fits on the safety criteria and had also asked them to delist the remaining players if they are not going by the law.

In a stern action, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended the licenses of five hotels, including Lemon Tree Hotel Private limited, Holiday Inn Restaurant and Hyatt Place at Hinjewadi in Pune over lack of cleanliness, preparing food in unhygienic conditions and serving food items beyond their expiry dates.

Licenses of two other hotels — Fortune Select Dasve at Lavasa and Upper Deck resort at Lonavala were also suspended. The action comes after a visit by Food Safety Officer Santosh Sawant to Hyatt Place, Holiday Inn Restaurant and Lemon Tree Hotel on August 30 last year.

A statement, issued by Joint Commissioner (Food), FDA’s Pune division, Suresh Deshmukh, said the licenses of these hotels have been suspended. “The license of Holiday Inn restaurant and Hyatt Place has been suspended for 15 and 14 days respectively. The licence of Lemon Tree Hotel has been suspended for four days,” said Sampat Deshmukh, assistant commissioner (Food), FDA, Pune. The FDA Joint Commissioner has further urged hoteliers to maintain cleanliness and ensure qualitative standards, failing which strict action will be taken.

“Vigilance of food and health authorities is good steps as it will filter out players doing wrong practices and help customers have food which is not unhygienic. However, for long term, better route should be to re-work on the food and health rules and make it consistent across country,” shared Karan Tanna, CEO, Yellow Tie Hospitality adding the licenses approval should be made online so it is transparent and not subjective.

After identifying several lacunae, such as lack of hygiene, the hotels were served notices on September 6, and asked to improve the quality of food, as well as step up cleanliness measures. After the hotels submitted their compliance report on December 11 last year, the FDA conducted a re-inspection but found no change in the issue of cleanliness.

Earlier, this January, FSSAI also said that they have accelerated the process of setting standards and notified 27 new regulations for food standards.

Some of the key regulations include the ones on alcoholic beverages, food fortification, advertising and claims, packaging, residues of pesticides, tolerance limits of antibiotics and pharmacologically active substances.

"We are setting standards to ensure safe food to consumers and at the same time see to that they do no impact the businesses. Now that the standards (on food products) are more or less in place, our focus is going to be on compliance, monitoring, inspection and enforcement," shared Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI earlier this month.

A Parliamentary Standing Committee on health and family welfare in a report submitted in 2018 had rapped FSSAI over weak enforcement of food safety laws and also recommended restructuring of the autonomous body that functions under the health ministry.

Hence, we can say that the food safety authority is working hard to make sure that the food is served fresh and healthy.

Nestle India shares fell from the day’s high after Supreme Court revived the class action suit filed by the Central Government against Maggi noodles, while setting aside NCDRC order.

After rising over 4 per cent to Rs 11,499 in the morning session, the stock pared gains and was trading at Rs 11,253, up by 1.92 per cent at 1:25 pm, said a media report.

The company had moved the apex court against the tests ordered by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC).

The government had filed the suit in the NCDRC after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) raised the safety concerns over Maggi noodles. The consumer court had ordered fresh tests on Maggi samples.

The Supreme Court said that the NCDRC will continue the probe based on 2016 CFTRI report from the Mysore lab.

In 2016, the NCDRC had stayed the centre's class action suit against Maggi noodles.

Also, on Thursday the Supreme Court was given this admittance by the lawyers of the company that the popular maggi noodles has presence of lead as the case was being heard.

Last year, tonnes of the product were destroyed because it failed the health safety norms. Moreover, the government has moved a class action against Nestle seeking damages of Rs 640 crore.

The SC judge asked the Nestle counsel why should he eat noodles with any lead content when it was argued that the content of highly toxic lead was within 'permissible' limits.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has now been in talks for a while. According to Accenture reports, 85 per cent of organizations have already planned to adopt AI in their supply chains. Recently, United States market recently predicted that the value of artificial intelligence will grow to $36.8 billion globally by 2025.

Various other markets other than food industry have already opted for the technology. Stock markets are now dominated by technology, everyday search engines like Google use AI for improving their results the moment certain keywords are typed. Therefore making its presence felt in almost every sector. Artificial intelligence might be a new technology for food industry but there are many early adopters of the technology including mainly pharmaceutical, healthcare, cosmetics and retail industries. But things are changing for the food industry as there has been a lot of noise for it currently.

Restaurateurs are getting aware of the benefits of having AI which can eventually help them in growing business. Machines over humans have always been in the talk for a long time where everything was predicted to transform into machinery format. Artificial intelligence increases the efficiency and speed eliminating the time factor. But there are vendors who believe that this technology will bring additional revenues with better margins and lower costs in the industry.

 AI relies on a continual process of technological learning from experience and improving at answering complex questions. The F&B industry is expected to modernise by adopting AI in their supply chain planning. The technology is proving everybody wrong who thought that they have done their best by utilizing yesterday’s technology solutions and optimizing the supply chain process.

 Similar to the human brain, artificial intelligence adapts to the environment and improves with its regular usage. But unlike humans, the capacity for improvement is unlimited as repetitive, more and boring tasks are never a problem.

Calculating data

Having to deal with thousands of customers on a daily basis, machine learning can provide much more efficiency at calculating complex data quickly and meaningfully for the food manufacturers and retailers. Machine learning is highly effective at clustering promotions based on looking at similarities and many other variables other than using traditional techniques. For instance, a leading health food brand used the technique to analyze demand variations and shopping trends resulting in a 30 per cent reduction in lost sales. Not only will this technology know when shelves are empty, but more importantly, will predict what is going to happen next. Thus, making the shelves fully stocked along with minimizing the waste.

Reducing wastes

In food industries, many people are looking at new ways of increasing their sales which clearly states that it is still a problem in the food industry. According to the figures from WRAP, UK waste advisory body claims the industrial waste to be around ten million tons of food a year valuing over 17 billion pounds. Some food processing companies have already turned their way towards artificial intelligence as a means to better calibrate their machines in order to manage several products sizes reducing wastes and money cost by it.

Some beverage companies even tried to use AI to allow customers to change the flavors of their chosen drink. Armed with an application on their mobile phone in front of self-service machinery, it’s helping in developing new product ranges.  

Artificial intelligence might just be the order of the day which will be useful to the people belonging to the food industry. The adaptation of this technique is expected to rise as the time passes by.

Suppliers are the one who are in relation with products, processes and customer base and supply chain management has to understand how to get fresh food which can even be stored for a long span. Maintaining a good supply chain will satiate customer’s palate which in turn will help in growing restaurant business. Supply chain management doesn’t have to do anything with logistics and data instead to understand customer’s need and do what is need to be done accordingly. A business runs smoothly only if everything is in place from down to up and a solid supply chain management system is good for the health of a restaurant business.

The Initiate

“System for supply chains is extremely bad in India but the restaurateurs and operators need to fix it by creating awareness amongst the farmers, vendors and suppliers. They must ensure the quality by keep checking if the ingredient is being grown from the same farm where it is supplied from. So that way, they have to develop the farmers and producers as well,” says Chef Alok Anand, Executive Chef at JW Marriott, Kolkata. This initiate should be taken and it’s not the long time before it starts.

Awaking farmers is the need of an hour because 20 to 25 per cent of the products within the farm are wasted and then there would be some percentage getting wasted. People now days are open to explore and present ideas. For example, the farmers from Uttarakhand earlier used to grow only rice but now they have started growing all sorts of organic and exotic vegetables there. Weather also supports this and gives them better results.

The Quality

A lot of infrastructure needs to be done for improving the quality. Government has introduced many schemes to develop this. The only drawback is that people are not aware of the benefits they can take by those schemes. They can use the fund in making cold storages and enhancing facilities then. Restaurateurs should demand for best quality from their vendors and farmers and encourage them to yield best. If restaurateurs start challenging them and set a standard on quality then it’ll be the win-win situation for both as the wastage will be reduced and no one has to compromise on quality. Quality factor is vital because to make excellent dishes, you’ll need excellent ingredients.

The Demands

In 21^st century, people have started eating out more but not for food. They are going out for the service and experience which can only be provided if the supply chain supports the restaurant. “Suppliers have started asking vendors to provide only standardised raw materials or else they won’t take it. They are trying to provide restaurants with finest raw materials at right temperature and with good shelf life,” says Sourav Guha Bakshi, Zonal Head-East, DS Group. For specific requirements of restaurants, suppliers keep visiting the clients to understand what they want and accordingly take the production planning in process.

The Food Safety

The food safety is responsibility of those into the food business and they should not wait for the government to enforce it on them to take any step. They itself should make sure that every procedure is followed as per the standards and standards should be laid by them only. If restaurateurs took the responsibility to serve and prepare the food then it should be made that way only.

With growing urbanization and ever changing lifestyle, consumers have started looking towards a healthy and varied food options, which in turn has witnessed acceptance of healthy and fortified products. Today, consumers are looking at food, products which supplement their daily nutritional requirements and calorie count. In India, deficiency of vital nutrients is real and concerning, resulting in issues related to the overall growth and other health problems. Such deficiencies are also linked to today’s lifestyle, for e.g., Vitamin D deficiency is majorly due to the fact of very limited exposures to sun. Hence, fortification of daily staple products such as milk, wheat, sugar, oil and rice with core vitamins is a perfect choice for consumers to address their daily micronutrient needs. “Fortification is one aspect. The whole initiative is for safe and nutritious food,” shares Smita Mankad, Head, Food Fortification Resource Centre- FSSAI.

Why there is need for fortified food?

The availability of fortified foods helps to tackle the problem of malnutrition which is especially rampant in the developing countries, including India. Malnutrition is responsible for an estimated one-third of childhood deaths. Recent studies have indicated that the availability of fortified ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) formulations is very useful for rapid weight gain in severely malnourished children, even in home settings. This strategy is recommended by WHO1 and underscores the need for food fortification. Also, at a time when there is lots of noise in the food service industry will also make the technology cost-effective if a food distribution system is present. “At the individual level, fortified foods increase productivity. At the national level, it positively impacts the economy by increasing the healthy workforce,” says Saurabh Arora, CEO- Food Safety Helpline.

Players like Mother Dairy have already started selling fortified milk with presence of Vitamin –A & D. “Over the years, Mother Dairy’s Bulk Vended “Token” milk has been fortified with Vitamin A. Recently, we have also started fortifying this milk with Vitamin D. The process of fortifying milk with Vitamins A&D has been further scaled up to the poly-pack milk variants as well. All our poly-pack milk variants, except Full Cream Milk, are now fortified with Vitamins A&D, making us amongst the first ones in the industry,” points Sandeep Ghosh, Business Head – Milk, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd, adding that their edible oil portfolio – Dhara, is consciously and aggressively pursuing fortification. “We were among the first ones to enter the fortified segment through edible oils with most of the variants being fortified. Today, Dhara’s entire range of edible oils, both filtered and refined, is fortified with Vitamins A&D,” shares Ghosh.

Food safety is the call

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), has also taken a proactive role in the area of food fortification. Importantly, it has recently drafted a Consultation Paper on Food Fortification 2 in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Govt. of India, which has highlighted the problem of nutrient deficiency in the Indian population. The FSSAI has issued a Press Note2 on January 31, 2017, requesting inputs from the various stakeholders and the general public in order to improve the quality of the paper. This consultation paper is likely to expedite improvements in the food fortification sector of the food industry in the near future. “The standard and logo is already available. We are looking at building the supplier market in open retails. We are also working on consumer awareness just to align them for the supply. We started the work already. Things are moving fast. It’s not mandatory but it’s entirely voluntarily,” adds Mankad who is leading the Fortification division.

Food fortification has a great potential to enrich the nutritional quality of various foods. The food industry is also committed to fortification of foods, which is highly encouraging. Side-by-side, this will benefit the food industry right from procurement of fortified foods, passage through the distribution chain, up to the end-users i.e. the consumers. Importantly, the Food Business Operators (FBOs) will become well informed and educated about the benefits of fortified foods, thereby increasing their expertise, competence and proficiency. This will help India to improve the nutritional status of millions of people, especially the malnourished and deprived economically weaker sections of society. “The entire process of fortification is followed as per the guidelines issued by the Food Safety Regulator,” adds Ghosh who has been following the requisite labeling norms wherein the contents of Vitamins A&D are duly mentioned. In addition, Mother Dairy is also using the recently launched Fortification logo by FSSAI on all their packaging. The logo is also significantly visible at Mother Dairy milk booths wherein the group retail fortified token milk. “We have been using varied mediums like digital, print, etc. to further promote the fortified range of milk,”Ghosh further adds.

Thus, food fortification being an important part of nutrition will surely help combat nutrition issue which the country is witnessing since age. 

Food safety has become a major issue in the last two years. Talking to Restaurant India, Shri Shivaji Desai, Joint Commissioner, Food & Drug Administration- Pune shares about the food safety programs at FDA.

What is your view on food safety in India?

The food safety and standards act, 2006, has been implemented since 2011. In Maharashtra, FDA has taken responsibility to implement this act. The restaurant factor is there. We have to follow norms mentioned in the schedule 4 i.e. part 5 that is for restaurant, hotel and catering facilities. It should be followed by these entrepreneurs. We have to inspect and take programs and inspect many times so that they should comply by the industries. If schedule 4 is complied you have achieve goals that is required by the act for safety management system.

Restaurants are following the norms but the unorganised sector is not. What do you have to say about it?

We are giving street vendors registrations and about 12 lacs vendors have been educated and provided license on it. Though, it is a very difficult task but people will have to come together to follow these regulations.

What is your view on growing culture of and restaurant as industry?

With growth of smart cities and IT industries there is a sudden push in the eating out trend. And, seeing the opportunity it provides, we have to support the food culture of India which is as diverse as its culture.

What is your role at FDA?

I am keenly involved in the food safety drive at FDA. We have done a special drive and we found majority is not complying with the law and we have issued notices as warnings. They have to comply in 14 days and if they do not we have to cancel their licenses.

Many a times restaurants have applied for licenses but it takes time to get the revert. What are you doing for it?

It is not at all difficult these days. It is an online process and FDA has launched a website and you have to make an online request and your license will be issued in 8-10 days.

Come summer and ice-cream is usually promoted with all kinds of images that titillate the senses and tempt consumers as being a product that they simply cannot miss out. The delectable summer treat comes in the form of bars, sandwiches or scoops and is often topped with flavours, nuts, chocolate chips which make the ice-cream even more irresistible.

However, while ice-cream manufacturers can get creative about ice-cream they also need to keep in mind the food regulations so that their product continues to be enjoyed safely by consumers.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has categorised ice-creams under “Dairy Based Desserts/Confections” and under the category of ice-cream they have ice-cream, kulfi, chocolate ice-cream and softy ice-cream which are all obtained by “freezing a pasteurized mix prepared from milk and /or other products derived from milk with or without the addition of nutritive sweetening agents, fruit and fruit products, eggs and egg products, coffee,cocoa, chocolate, condiments, spices, ginger and nuts and it may also contain bakery products such as cake or cookies as a separate layer and/or coating. “

Ice- creams may be frozen hard or they may be of a soft consistency but one thing they must have is a pleasant taste and smell and must not have any off flavour or odour. Ice- cream can contain permitted additives but the FSSAI says the product must be tested formicrobiological parameters so that it does not contain any organisms such as Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Listeria, and others that can cause human disease and are associated with farm animals.

Ice- cream is also categorised as Ice- cream, Medium fat ice-cream and Low fat-ice-cream depending on the percentage of total solids, milk fat, milk protein used.Where chocolate, cake or similar food coating, base or layer forms a separate part of the product only the “ice cream” portion will need to conform to the requirements in the table below. FBO’s need to keep in mind that type of ice-cream (whether medium or low fat) shall be clearly indicated on the label otherwise standard for ice-cream shall apply.

The FSSAI regulations also have another definition which is similar to ice-cream but is called Frozen Dessert / Frozen Confection. This product is defined as“product obtained by freezing a pasteurised mix prepared with milk fat and / or edible vegetable oils and fat having a melting point of not more than 37.0 degree C in combination and milk protein alone or in combination / or vegetable protein products singly or in combination with the addition of nutritive sweetening agents e.g. sugar, dextrose, fructose, liquid glucose, dried liquid glucose, maltodextrin, high maltose corn syrup, honey, fruit and fruit products, eggs and egg products, coffee, cocoa, chocolate, condiments, spices,ginger, and nuts.”

Similar to the ice-cream, frozen dessert is also categorised as Frozen Dessert/ Frozen Confection, Medium Fat Frozen Dessert/ Confection and Low Fat Frozen Dessert/ Confection. The requirement for milk fat and protein is also the same except that the protein is Nx6.25 whereas for ice-cream it is Nx6.38. Frozen dessert may also contain a separate layer of cake or cookies.

Where is the difference???

Food Businesses Operators are usually busy trying to fulfil the demand for the sugary frozen foods in summer. However, they need to pause to see that they know the differences between ice-cream with frozen dessert so that the consumer does not think both are the same. While both the products contain milk solids, fats and proteins a number of the ingredients are totally different.

• One of those ingredients allowed in frozen food but not in ice-cream is vegetable oils and fats
• While you can use any of the emulsifying and stabilising agents permitted in the regulations in frozen desserts all are not permitted in ice-cream{3.1.6 (7)}

Labelling Requirements

• The FSSAI indicates that it is mandatory for all ice cream dealers to “legibly and conspicuously” display their name and address as well as the name and address of the manufacturer on the stall, vehicle or container as the case may be.
• FSSAI also clearly states that every package of ice-cream, kulfi and chocolate ice-cream containing starch shall have a declaration on a label as specified in regulation 2.7.1(2).

This article as an attempt to refresh the minds of the FBOs so that they use ingredients and additives as permitted so that the millions of Indians who love ice-cream can be assured that they are consuming a product that is safe to eat. So that consumers make the right choice FBO’s must label the ice-creams correctly because there is a huge difference between ice-cream and frozen dessert especially in the permitted ingredients and that the labelling must be such that the normal consumer is not deceived. For its part the Apex Food Regulator must also bring in more clarity about ice-creams and frozen desserts neither is mistaken for the other.

About the author:

                           Dr. Saurabh Arora is founder of Food Safety Helpline and head of Auriga Research Limited laboratories.

When eating out at a restaurant if you find human hair in your food you are likely to be disgusted. You will lose your appetite and straight away leave the restaurant and never return. The same applies to finding human hair in processed or packaged foods. You are likely to dump the entire contents into the dustbin no matter how expensive. Human hair is made up of the protein keratin, which also makes up the outer layer of the skin and nails. In itself keratin might not pose a problem but the truth is that besides feeling nauseated hair can lead to contamination in foods and of course finding hair in food casts a shadow on the reputation of the brand.

To ensure food safety FSSAI has established hygiene and sanitation guidelinesas per Schedule 4 of the regulations which mentions that human hair must be controlled from falling into exposed foods in eating establishments as well as in food processing and manufacturing plants. According to food regulators the term food includes foods, beverages, bottled water and nutritional and functional products so none of these products can contain hair.

How hair causes contamination

You will be surprised to note that hair is one of the most commonly found ‘foreign bodies’ in food. Foreign body means any extraneous matter found in food which is not a part of the ingredients. Therefore any foreign body found in food means that the food is contaminated and not fit to eat. Human hair is termed a physical as well as a microbiological contaminant because besides being extraneous matter, it can also lead to the growth of microorganisms in the food. Oil, sweat, residue of hair treatment chemicals and shampoos, dyes or any other organic matter sticking to the hair becomes a breeding ground for pathogens when left in processed foods for long periods of time. A report published by the National Institute of Science, Technology, and Development Studies, New Delhi on human hair waste states that hair could contain a number of toxic chemical contaminants. These contaminants reach hair from the environment and so these same toxic substances can reach food from human hair.

Risk involved

Hair in food also poses a physical risk as a person can choke on it, it can get stuck in the throat or cause nausea and vomiting. However, besides the physical aspect hair is a potential route of Staphylococcus aureus contamination from the human scalp. Human hair can transmit ringworm as well as fungal infections if a person is infected by these. Staph aureus, as it’s often called, is a type of bacteria that can be found on the skin and hair as well as in the noses and throats of people and animals. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention states that the most common way for food to be contaminated with Staphylococcus is through contact with food workers especially when foods are prepared by hand and not cooked. Hair in salad or cut fruits, sandwiches and chutneys could pose a problem as hair can remain in these foods for hours. There is a heavy stigma attached to any food that contains hair, be it at a restaurant or in home-made pickles. The popular sun dried chips &papads can easily be contaminated with foreign matters including hair as they are left to dry in open, but finding human hair in the restaurant food would be due to the lack of good personal hygiene practices.

Human hair is shed constantly

According to Hair Foundation, Queen’s College, Oxford University, England every human being with hair on their heads, sheds between 100-150 hairs every day at a constant rate. Therefore a person doing an eight hour shift will lose around 33-50 hairs. Multiply this by the number of personnel working in the restaurant or manufacturing plant and you can calculate the pathogen risk to food. This figure is attributed to only hair from the head but hair can reach foods from the arms, beards, moustaches and even from the chest. Hair from the arms can travel into baked products from flour that has to be kneaded with the hands. Anything that enters food from the body parts of human beings is a potential contaminant. Therefore people working in restaurants, bakeries and food processing units have to follow strict hair control measures.

Preventing hair contamination

FSSAI has strict guidelines for following good hygiene and sanitation practices including wearing of nets and caps to prevent hair from entering foods. In most countries, people working in the food industry are required to cover their hair because it can contaminatefood. Complete capture hairnets are now available that has led to the decrease of hair falling into foods. Some countries even have rules for wearing beard and moustacherestraints especially for those with long beards and moustaches as people tend to touch them absentmindedly which could cause hair to fall into foods. Good manufacturing practices advise that all personnel wearhairnets, headbands, caps, beard covers or other effective hair restraints so hair does not come into contact with exposed foods.

Is your food safe?

When consumers find hair in foods they are likely to wonder what other possible contaminant the food could contain and if it is safe to eat. Hair in food is like a sign which tells consumers about the poor hygiene standards maintained by the Food Business Operator (FBO). It brings the restaurant, product or brand adverse publicity which could result in loss of sales. FBOs need to ensure food safety, by complying with FSSAI regulations so their brand is protected. To gain consumer trust in their products they have to take all measures to prevent any kind of contamination.It is therefore important to address all personal hygiene issues because in food preparation and food manufacturing plants there are a number of personnel who can transfer contaminants to food. Contaminants can be transferred from the body, skin, mouth, hands or hair to the product or from clothing, footwear, utensils and other tools used in daily food preparation activities.

The basis of hospitality industry around the world is Food and Beverage and their production and service aspects. Therefore it is imperative for all establishments to not just set up their own means and measures to ensure food safety at all times, but also follow the direction of various government regulations put in force by specific departments, set up to monitor the same.

In the Indian context, food safety, while enforced and followed by all professional establishments, is a cause of concern due to the unorganized form of the industry existing across the geographic landscape of the country. Over the years the government has been taking numerous steps to ensure that there are proper laws and systems to set up guidelines and enforcement of the same like the Food Safety & Standards Act (FSSA) 2006.

The Food Safety & Standards Act (FSSA) 2006 consolidates the laws pertaining to the regulations to be followed by all food establishments across India, while also establishing the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which is the apex food regulator to lay down science bases standards for all articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption. FSSAI is empowered by and functions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Under the FSSAI guideline, food products are categorized under two heads, namely Standardised and proprietary food. The former are those food products for which standards are prescribed and do not require product approval prior to manufacture, sale, distribution or import and a first time manufacturer or importer only requires an FSSAI license to begin a food business.

Proprietary food products do not have standards owing to their safety parameters not being known or yet ascertained. While FSSAI presently has approximately 377, FCS will be built around 18 main categories to begin with, which include category 1-16 of different food kinds. These are supplemented with category 17, to cover those products which can’t be placed in categories 1-16 and a category 99 has been created to deal with substances added to food, such as vitamins, minerals, additives, etc. Having said that, traditional foods do not require product approval as they are being consumed over centuries, with their ingredients and preparation being known. However, if they use any new technology or modern method of preparation or make alterations to their ingredients or food additive, they have to apply for product approval from FSSAI.

The Indian food safety regulation, implemented by the FSSAI, is primarily based on Codex Alimentarius, which was formed with collaborative efforts between two sections of the United Nations: World Health Organisation (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), therefore adhering to international standards and guidelines (reference link). Based on these guidelines there are certain best practices put into effect by the FSSAI for each operator in the business of food to implement and follow. Some of these are:

• 1.Food served to the costumer should be safe from the three main types offood hazards, i.e. Physical, Chemical & Microbiological
• 2.Hand Hygiene of Food Handlers: The spread of germs from the hands offood workers to food is an important cause of food borne illness outbreaks and therefore important for the staff to always ensure hand hygiene while handling any sort of open / unpacked food items
• 3.Personal Hygiene like daily bath, trimmed and neatly combed and tied hair and clean nails, fresh and clean clothing and ensuring the head is always covered with a net or cap
• 4.Proper cleanliness of raw material like vegetables and meat under portable water and proper storage under advised temperatures for the respective raw material
• 5.Always partnering with a vendor / source with proven track record and one which is approved by FSSAI with license number
• 6.Always cooking at the optimal temperature
• 7.Processing, production, storage and distribution of vegetables and meat / poultry / fish products should be segregated
• 8.Daily cleaning, and in some cases cleaning after every use, should be carried in the production area
• 9.Holding of cooked food must be at their optimal suggested temperature of below 5⁰C for cold food and above 63⁰C for hot food
• 10.Storage practice and handling: food must be stored at right temperature (avoidkeeping food at danger zone or near extreme temperatures not suitable for the said product). Gloves to be used while handling ready to eat products and while doing butchery
• 11.Food handlers must always be in perfect health at all times while handling any kind of product / food item
• 12.Trainings: it is essential that all food handlers are regularly monitored and trained to ensure that they are aware about the food safety procedures and updates

While private organisations and Government are working towards ensuring higher level of food safety standards are maintained across various levels and business, there is also a need for people to be more cautious on what and where they consume food articles from, while being watchful of the conditions they procure their ingredients / good / products from. Some of the most common mistakes that we make in India, especially in the summer season are:

• 1.Drinking water from unknown sources and in an unpackaged state
• 2.Consuming water based products like lime water or ice from an unpackaged or unreliable source
• 3.Not keeping the body hyderated at all times
• 4.Not consuming enough curd or coconut water from a reliable source, which introduces friendly bacteria and rehyderates the system to fight with various ailments
• 5.Not following a healthy regime or eating on time, thereby exposing the body to numerous diseases and illnesses
• 6.Being aware of the ingredients / food items that one is allergic to. Some allergies are from birth, but today there are numerous cases which have come to fore where adults have come to develop allergies and most of the time they aren’t aware of the same
• 7.Always checking on the date of manufacture and date of expiry in case of packaged goods before procuring it
• 8.Always disposing off expired goods stored at home / office or any area where they could be consumed inadvertently from
• 9.Always ensuring that the containers of packaged goods are properly disposed off

Food safety and hygiene is an elaborate subject, where the Government and private business are taking the requisite steps to ensure that the highest quality ingredients and products are offered to the consumers, however it is also essential for the consumers to ensure that they take the requisite steps and procure food products from only reliable and accredited sources at all times.

Food hygiene and food safety forms an integral part of every catering industry and high standards are needed to protect health of consumers. When a food service opens its doors, a responsibility to serve “safe food” is incurred. According to the food business operator to assure long term success, it is imperative to value quality of the food and service being provided to the customers. And, in order to meet basic necessities, food safety body FSSAI is working together with the representatives of food business operators to provide healthy and hygienic food to the masses.

Ensuring food safety

To make the scene more accessible, food safety watchdog is bringing guidelines for all the food operators wherein they need to abide by certain parameters to serve health food under a hygienic and neat environment. In a recently held meeting where FSSAI has called food operators to discuss the way forward to deliver best foods to customers.

There are two major documents that need to be shown once a customer visit a restaurant or has asked owners to show it.

• FSSAI license: the government is planning to make it mandatory to show the food safety license given to a restaurant by the safety body to make sure people are satisfied with what they are eating.
• Customer Feedback: Customer feedback is always welcomed by the top restaurants in the country. Top brands that are running under the lines of global parameters are already taking care of certain feedback.

New Endeavours to Overcome These Challenges

And, with growing business food safety is becoming a major concern in the society. With lack of awareness about health and hygienic food, lack of adequate workforce, India being one of the top most countries in terms of food business is facing the hygienic issue. And, to overcome the lacunae, FSSAI is aiming to revise standards providing detailed requirements of food hygiene and safety in the food for various categories of FBOs. The hygiene standards will be classified into three categories.

Basic: These standards will cover the minimal basic food hygiene and food safety requirements that are mandatory for anyone working in the arena of food. These requirements will be suffice for FBOs such as retailers, storekeepers, transporters, petty business operators, etc.

“We can co-create the process wherein every food operator should come and abide by it,” shared Prakul Kumar, Secretary General NRAI which represents over 1400 restaurants in India.

Advanced: These standards will provide a detailed specification of food hygiene and food safety standards and GHP’s for the small restaurants and FBO’s involved in food manufacture/ preparation. Also, retailers, storekeepers, transport systems, etc. handling perishable food items frequently.

Adding to the same lines, Shivan Khanna of Taj Hotels shared,” We are already ISO 2200 certified hotels. We have regular internal as well as external audits on food safety hygiene training.”

Global: These standards will be at power with the international standards. These will be more detailed and stringent than other two groups. These standards will be mandatory for star rated restaurants and hotels, bigger chains of restaurants, FBO’s into export. Also, small restaurants and FBO’s can voluntarily opt for these standards to improve their overall hygiene and food safety.

Sharing his view on the food safety, Khurshid Alam Khan of ITC shared that ITC was one of the few hotels in India which followed all the global parameters in meeting the needs of food safety in India. “We are 5 per cent ahead of global average of food safety,” shared Khan who looks after the food safety issues at ITC.

Going forward, FSSAI is also planning to have one person at all restaurants and food outlets that are trained by FSSAI on meeting the best practices when it comes to food safety and hygiene. 

By Invite: 

Dr. Saurabh Arora- Founder of Food Safety helpline and Food Safety Mobile App 

Chocolates are regarded as world’s most popular snack food or a gift. An average American consumes over 4kg of chocolate annually, while in Switzerland, which is world’s leading chocolate producer, a Swiss consumes over double this amount. Indians also have a sweet tooth, and consume considerable amount of sweets, including chocolates.

But have you ever wondered that these chocolates may get contaminated even if one has consumed it for long.

A part of celebrations

In fact chocolates hold a special place in every celebration as they are not only eaten, but are gifted to many friends and relatives. Not only this, corporate have special chocolate packages made to gift employees, associates and clients, especially for festive seasons. However, not everyone is aware that chocolates can be contaminated or adulterated just as easily as other food stuff. In fact adulteration in chocolates has a long history and since they are a very popular food item, they have been adulterated by unscrupulous manufacturers for profits for centuries.

Imported chocolates have unique problems

Branded chocolates as well as the homemade chocolates have seen a spurt in sale in last few years because of rising incomes. The market for chocolates is one of the fastest growing markets in India. Urban populations prefer them over traditional Indian sweets. India has a few chocolate manufacturers, but a lot of chocolates are imported.  Imported chocolates most often are intolerant to India’s heat and with lack of cold storage conditions they melt and deteriorate, which could then become a source of microbiological contamination, if not stored at the right temperature.

Some leading brands in the US had their products contaminated with cadmium and/or lead. These products include Scharffen Berger Semisweet Fine Artisan Dark Chocolate, Dove Silky Smooth Dark Chocolate Bar, Ghiradelli Intense Dark 72% Cocoa Twilight Delight Chocolate Bar amongst others.

According to FSSAI, standard chocolates are not permitted to contain any vegetable oil and fats except cocoa butter. However, Codex permits 5 per cent vegetable fat in chocolates, but a lot of chocolate manufacturers allegedly add more than 20 per cent vegetable fat in the chocolates. Recently, FSSAI had published a proposed draft that will regulate sugar, salt and fat content in food products, which would be applicable to beverages as well as confectionery items like chocolate to prevent health hazards, like obesity, in children.

Contamination in homemade chocolates

Many people make chocolates at home as a home based industry. These chocolates are particularly favored during festive seasons. While homemade chocolates are very popular in some cities, they might not be regulated unlike chocolates made by leading chocolate manufacturers. There is no way to determine if those making chocolates at home have the license to make these products. Since they come under the unorganized sector, there  is also no way to determine if they are following the hygiene requirements as laid down in the FSSAI regulations.

• These chocolates could be subject to bacterial contamination like salmonella, unless the raw materials like skim milk powder, milk, eggs, cocoa, etc. have been adequately heat-treated, pasteurized and handled to keep them free from bacterial contamination.

• Personal hygiene is a major problem, especially since many chocolate products are finished by hand-dipping

• Cocoa beans, nuts and other ingredients can be contaminated by insects, rodents, and mycotoxins unless stored properly.

• If the machinery is not cleaned and washed thoroughly and sanitized it could lead to infestation by insects or microbial contamination

It is quite clear that all-time favorite –chocolates can also be contaminated, which is a real threat to our health. Since, young children consume large quantities of chocolates it is important to safeguard their health. Therefore, chocolate manufacturers should take utmost care in maintaining high standards of quality. Moreover, standards and regulations must be followed so consumers can be provided with safe chocolates and chocolate products.

An online petition was recently started, urging Zomato to ensure background checks and training for its delivery team to provide a safe food delivery option for women.

While Zomato functions as the technology enabler for online ordering and does not have its own delivery fleet, they do believe that background checks for all delivery personnel should be a basic hygiene factor for restaurant owners as well as last-mile delivery companies.

Pankaj Chaddah, Co-Founder Zomato said, “Safety of end consumers should be a collective responsibility of all involved parties and we should take it very seriously. Zomato does not employ our own fleet of delivery personnel, we just enable users to place their orders online at restaurants, and the restaurant employs delivery boys (or a third-party logistics firms deploys delivery boys), but we understand that this concern is a serious one. We are working with our logistics partners Grab, and Delhivery, to ensure police verification is done for all food delivery personnel, and with NRAI (National Restaurant Association of India) to advise restaurants to do so for their own delivery personnel as well. As one of the leaders in the food industry, it is incumbent on us to drive the importance of ensuring that safety of our users is not compromised and we are all collectively working towards this very important goal.”

Riyaaz Amlani, President NRAI said, "All our members are relentlessly working towards one goal – the growth and betterment of the Indian restaurant service industry. The food delivery segment is a huge chunk of the industry and we (the NRAI) will work closely with the restaurant partners to educate them on the importance of vetting the delivery staff they onboard, as well as the importance of asking their logistics partners to do the same in turn. The NRAI has been instrumental in providing the right guidance and advice to the Indian restaurant fraternity and will continue to do so in the future."

Pratish Sanghvi, Founder, Grab said, “We have mandated a background check and police verification for all our delivery personnel right from the onset. We understand the importance of this, and our responsibility in ensuring that we live up to the trust our partners and customers have placed in us.”

Since food safety concern is increasing day by day, the FSSAI has increased surveillance to act against entities selling contaminated packaged food, drinking water, adulterated milk and edible oils.

Following the Maggi muddle, the authorities have started to be strict to those entities which are found to be non-compliant with the food safety norms.

In the last few months, food safety has raised serious health concerns. Commenting on the same, Sanjay Dave, Ex Advisor, FSSAI & Ex chairperson, Codex Alimentarius Commission, said, “Consumer has the right to have safe food and this will also lead to a decline in food borne or waterborne diseases in our country.”

“It is Nestle which has opened our ears and eyes and even of our faculty members, towards the food adulteration act 2006,” shared Mamta Binnai, Vice President, ICSI, as Nestle noodles was at the centre of the country's food scare in the month of May when the local regulators reported some packets of the popular noodles, sold at roadside stalls across India, contained unsafe levels of lead. The major violations noted is the presence of Lead detected in the product in excess of the maximum permissible levels of 2.5 ppm, misleading labelling information on the package reading “No added MSG” and release of a non-standardised food product in the market, i.e. “Maggi Oats Masala Noodles with Tastemaker” without risk assessment and grant of product approval.

Biswajit Das, Advocate, Supreme Court of India said, “Maggie case in the Bombay High Court is one of the burning issues which have to bring about consultative process to improve in food regulation. According to me, there is an ambiguity in it and clarity of subject is important.” 

On 5th June, an order was passed to the instant noodle maker, retailers and distributors to stop the sale of Maggi noodles from the market for food safety issues and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that the Bombay High Court's verdict will not affect the government's case claiming Rs 640 crore in damages from Nestle for misleading advertisement and unfair trade practices.

The safety of all such products has not been assessed as per the Product Approval procedures. Pawan Dubey, Partner, Lex Boloster Global LLP says, “We find the regulatory system is not the same as witnessed during our practice. After enquiry, there is a huge difference in the approach.” The central food safety body has taken steps to ensure conformity of standards by various products in the market after the Maggi chaos.

According to the latest ruling, Nestle again can start making Maggi noodles in India from October paving the way for the snack to go back on sale by the end of the year. Therefore, the government will take the most appropriate and necessary steps in the best interest of the consumers.

“We have made sure about the quality of the food and that proper information is given to our consumers,” said Dave.

Food safety has become a serious public problem in a country like India. The main reason behind the same is the propagation of illegal, dishonest, and bootleg suppliers and loose government policies affecting the growth of industry and public health in general.

Clear and constant monitoring of food regulatory policy and their execution are both crucial for growth and should be the responsibility of any progressive government. Adding to the same thought, CS Pawan Dubey, Partner, Lex Bolster Global LLP shared, “There is a lack of clarity in the food environment, as food is essential and an indispensible requirement for the very existence of human beings, so food brings on table the safety concerns of the human being. Therefore, the same is expected from the regulatory.”

Meanwhile, Shri D. Raja, Joint secretary (LR), LAARDIS, Rajya Sabha, had this to say, “Food is an important subject. And I have a different approach i.e. from philosophy to ideology to law. Every human being produces more than he consumes by leading to surplus and that surplus is the problem. It leads to the formation of private property, capital. And we move from philosophy to ideology”.

Not only this, the food processing industry holds tremendous opportunity as it has high employment potential that can boost exports of agro-products out of the country and also provide better returns to farmers for their produce. However, this is possible only if food safety standards are effectively enforced in the country.

Since decades, food scandals have plagued in India. The continuing case of Nestlé’s Maggi instant noodles has thrust the issue of food safety into the national political spotlight. The additives such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is considered a possible health concern, have been detected in Maggi noodles. Even FSSAI discovered unhealthy levels of lead in the noodles, in a legal petition; the company argued that India’s testing system is flawed, leading to inaccurate findings.

There are additional cases like the rampant use of milk adulterants i.e. agents to induce thickness after water is added can cause short-term digestive problems and long-term chronic health problems. Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi, Member Lok Sabha, added, “The country that used to take pride in its cattle today is importing milk from other countries. So, standardisation of food is the most important thing to look at today.”

According to the head of a key panel of India’s national food safety authority, India’s food safety apparatus needs sweeping reforms to ensure that its norms are on a par with international standards, including an accreditation system that not only screens labs but also its personnel on a regular basis.

“Licensing is easy to achieve but to maintain the food quality is difficult. And that’s where we need to work. Like in Hindi there is a line, the last man is standing in the last row,” added Lekhi.

Thus, we can see that with food becoming a major concern for growth today, both government and the industry are focussed on delivering high quality ingredients on the plate.

Food safety has become a serious public problem in a country like India. The main reason behind the same is the propagation of illegal, dishonest, and bootleg suppliers and loose government policies affecting the growth of industry and public health in general.

Clear and constant monitoring of food regulatory policy and their execution are both crucial for growth and should be the responsibility of any progressive government. Adding to the same thought, CS Pawan Dubey, Partner, Lex Bolster Global LLP shared, “There is a lack of clarity in the food environment, as food is essential and an indispensible requirement for the very existence of human beings, so food brings on table the safety concerns of the human being. Therefore, the same is expected from the regulatory.”

Meanwhile, Shri D. Raja, Joint secretary (LR), LAARDIS, Rajya Sabha, had this to say, “Food is an important subject. And I have a different approach i.e. from philosophy to ideology to law. Every human being produces more than he consumes by leading to surplus and that surplus is the problem. It leads to the formation of private property, capital. And we move from philosophy to ideology”.

Not only this, the food processing industry holds tremendous opportunity as it has high employment potential that can boost exports of agro-products out of the country and also provide better returns to farmers for their produce. However, this is possible only if food safety standards are effectively enforced in the country.

Since decades, food scandals have plagued in India. The continuing case of Nestlé’s Maggi instant noodles has thrust the issue of food safety into the national political spotlight. The additives such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is considered a possible health concern, have been detected in Maggi noodles. Even FSSAI discovered unhealthy levels of lead in the noodles, in a legal petition; the company argued that India’s testing system is flawed, leading to inaccurate findings.

There are additional cases like the rampant use of milk adulterants i.e. agents to induce thickness after water is added can cause short-term digestive problems and long-term chronic health problems. Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi, Member Lok Sabha, added, “The country that used to take pride in its cattle today is importing milk from other countries. So, standardisation of food is the most important thing to look at today.”

According to the head of a key panel of India’s national food safety authority, India’s food safety apparatus needs sweeping reforms to ensure that its norms are on a par with international standards, including an accreditation system that not only screens labs but also its personnel on a regular basis.

“Licensing is easy to achieve but to maintain the food quality is difficult. And that’s where we need to work. Like in Hindi there is a line, the last man is standing in the last row,” added Lekhi.

Thus, we can see that with food becoming a major concern for growth today, both government and the industry are focussed on delivering high quality ingredients on the plate.

Today, an environment advocacy group termed the country's food regulator's move to reduce trans-fat content in edible oils as important milestone in controlling non-communicable diseases in India and urged to bring it to "near-zero levels", reported PTI.

Lately, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has reduced permitted trans-fats content in edible fats and oils in the country from 10 to 5 per cent.

"The five per cent limit is a step in the right direction. Although slowly, we have progressed from having a 10 per cent limit first set a couple of years ago. We should aim to reduce it further to near-zero levels," said Sunita Narain, Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

The CSE said, FSSAI in its latest notification on the issue has reduced the maximum permitted amount of trans-fats to 5 per cent (by weight) in hydrogenated vegetable oils, margarine and fat spreads and interesterified vegetable fat.

"Consumption of junk foods is also rising across all sections of society and age-groups. It is no longer limited to urban areas. Keeping this in view, the new regulation is an important milestone in containing the burden of non-communicable disease," Deputy DG CSE, Chandra Bhushan said.

With the consumption of trans-fats through cooking medium or ultra-processed junk foods was strongly linked with non-communicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been advising countries to limit its consumption while in a similar attempt, the US in June recognised the use of partially hydrogenated oils as unsafe and banned its use by food product manufacturers within three years, the CSE said.

In 2009, CSE study on 30 brands of cooking oils, found trans-fats contents in all vanaspati brands much higher than the prescribed standard.

In a latest update, the Punjab government has banned 16 samples of other food brands who have failed to meet the food safety standard of the state authority.

The government has banned over 16 brands of other food brands in Ludhiana which are being used by the locals in the state as a replacement of Maggi after the two minutes noodle haul.

According to the statement, the food products have been declared unsafe for consumption and packaging termed as misleading and misbranded by the State Food and Drug Laboratory.

After direction from FSSAI (Food Safety Standard Authority of India), the health department took samples of noodles from other brands, including Yippee, Knorr, Ching's and Top Ramen on June 8. "It was important to check the different varieties as some brands claimed to give flavour like that of manchurian, schezwan, Singapore curry, which are supposed to have ajinomoto or MSG. We took action following complaints," said Dr Kumar.

All the 16 samples failed the test and have higher content of monosodium glutamate (MSG). Also, their packets mentioned. No MSG added', which turned out to be misleading and misbranded. However, lead has not been reported in either of the reports. Pasta samples were also taken from different places, but their reports are awaited.

Earlier, on June 24, test reports had declared four samples of Maggi and its variants for containing high MSG content.

Dr Kumar said action will be initiated under Food Safety Act against the operators of these brands in city and the manufacturing unit.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has finalised 12,000 standards for food additives and ingredients in line with global safety standards Codex, in order to do away with lengthy process of product approval, reported PTI.

The move is expected to benefit food companies as they would not require seeking product approval from FSSAI if they comply with these standards.

At present, there are 375 FSSAI safety standards for food items but none for food additives and ingredients.

"FSSAI has approved 12,000 standards for food additives and ingredients. The Law Ministry is vetting the standards and a notification will be issued soon," said a senior Health Ministry official.

The new FSSAI standards are in harmony with the global food standards of Codex Alimentarius Commission, established by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Health Organisation, the official said.

FSSAI, under the aegis of Health Ministry, has fixed maximum limit for use of food additives in various food groups to ensure that the intake of additives does not exceed the acceptable daily intake. Similarly, it has set norms for use of ingredients in preparation of processed food items.

After the Maggi controversy, the FSSAI has stepped up measures to strengthen the quality standards for food products. It is reviewing the existing standards set for caffeine content, metal and toxic contaminants and other residues in the food products.

The regulator is also in the process of setting standards for imported food items to ensure safe products are sold in the domestic market.

The overall F&B scenario in India has evolved dramatically over the past decade. While in the past, there were only a handful of brands to choose from; now the consumers have difficulty in choosing from the multitude of brands on offer!

The F&B industry has also attracted good investments in recent years. So, with the booming of the sector, comes the issue of food safety. In order to ensure that the F&B market keeps flourishing, it is important to focus on the quality of food offered to the consumers.

It is of the utmost importance that the food we eat and the beverages we drink are absolutely safe for human consumption. Therefore, carrying out food safety checks is a mandatory requirement for ensuring food safety.

Today, food products need be tested for a large number of contaminants. Of these, contaminating metals are very important, as these have a deleterious effect on health if the levels are above the specified values. Many metals act as co-factors for enzymes involved in various metabolic pathways. It follows that large quantities of contaminating metals can have an adverse effect on these metabolic pathways, leading to health problems, especially upon continuous, long-term exposure.

The various types of metals, in particular, the heavy metals are widely distributed in our environment, and can enter our food chain though various ways. For example, heavy metals in the streams, rivers and lakes can accumulate in fish, which in turn are consumed by humans, leading to heavy metals entering the human food chain. This is only one example out of a myriad. However, regardless of the mode of entry into the food cycle, they disturb the normal functioning of the body metabolism and can accumulate in the body causing severe toxicity.

A few other metals, namely, sodium, potassium and calcium do not fall within the category of heavy metals, but are nevertheless important for the normal functioning of the body. Calcium is required for muscle contraction and transportation of molecules; while sodium and potassium are required for maintaining electrolyte balance within cells with reference to its extracellular environment. Deficiency of these metal ions can lead to various health problems. For example, calcium deficiency can cause osteomalacia or weak bones, while excess can cause toxicity. Deficiency of sodium and potassium can cause hyponatremia and hypokalemia respectively, while their excesses can lead to toxicity.

Safety limits for heavy metals recommended by FSSAI

To protect the consumers, regulatory bodies across the world have established regulations with stringent limits on the permitted levels of heavy metals in different items of food. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the apex regulatory body on food in India, has recommended safety limits for metal contaminants in food and beverages, which should not be exceeded. These are tabulated below.

Table 1: FSSAI recommended limits for metal contaminants in foods and beverages

How are metals tested in food and beverages?

The presence of heavy metal contaminants in F&B makes it important for the food industry to ensure that their products are free from these toxic elements by regularly testing their ingredients and products for compliance with the regulatory requirements.

Testing for metals in foodstuff essentially involves the following four steps:

·         Sampling: The objective of this step is to obtain a small and representative portion from the large sample in such a way that any subsequent test on the sample will give reproducible results.

·         Destruction of organic matter: The commonly used methods of destruction of organic matter can be broadly grouped into wet oxidation, dry ashing and microwave digestion.

·         Separation and concentration of the metal: Once the organic component is destroyed, the element of interest is concentrated by applying physico-chemical methods.

·         Measurement and determination of the metal: The concentrated element is then subjected to analytical methods to determine its actual level in the original sample of food.

Which method does the FSSAI recommend?

The FSSAI has recommended a number of methods for testing contaminating metals in foodstuff, which have been approved and validated internationally by leading agencies like the USFDA and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) of the EU. It is important to note that approval by international agencies in various countries means that the methods have been standardised and harmonised as per global standards. Therefore, when the Indian food products are exported to these countries and retested before distribution, they will pass the quality and safety checks easily. Some of the approved methods for testing heavy metals are briefly tabulated below.

Table 2: FSSAI approved methods for testing heavy metals

Most advanced method for testing metals

The most advanced method for testing metals, which is considered the “Gold Standard” is a combination of Microwave Digestion for sample preparation, followed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP MS) for sample analysis. The closed sample digestion technique of microwave digestion system allows for preparing the samples in a closed system at high temperature and pressure without losing any of the volatile analyte like mercury and arsenic, which are otherwise easily lost when the sample is digested using open digestion with acids or ashing followed by acid treatment. ICP MS gives the advantage of analysing all the metals at the same time with minimum manual intervention, which is required when analysing samples on an AAS with hydride generation and graphite furnace assembly. It also offers unparalleled low detection limits, in the parts per trillion levels range, allowing for the use of smaller sample quantities which can be properly digested giving better recovery and reproducibility of results.

Conclusion

From the foregoing discussion, it is evident that testing for contaminating metals is a very important aspect of maintaining food safety. These metals, particularly, the heavy metals should not exceed the permissible limits in food and beverages, as recommended by the FSSAI. Nowadays, there are a number of approved and validated methods that are at the disposal of the food analyst for testing metal contaminants in foodstuff. Importantly, more advanced and automated analytical methods like AAS, ICP MS, coupled with microwave digestion for sample preparation have immensely streamlined and simplified the whole process of food testing. This has resulted in generation of more robust data that are reproducible and at par with international standards, which has led to a new era in food testing services in India.

<p style="\\&quot;text-align:" right;\\"="">  By Invite: Saurabh Arora, Founder, Food Safety Helpline.com

Maggi noodles made in India by Nestle India ltd is safe to eat, said Food Standards Agency (FSA) UK on Wednesday giving magi a clean cheat over safety issues.

UK’s food safety watchdog collected over 900 samples of Maggi noodles, including one variety imported from India to check the lead levels after the controversy in magi noodles created in India over monosodium glutamate (MSG) and high lead content.

However, the report showed the lead levels to be within permissible limits.

Not only this, a recent mail written to Bloomberg from Nestle also mentioned that Australian and New Zealand regulators have also cleared Maggi noodles.

Meanwhile, India’s food regulator is also investigating whether chocolate makers have been using vegetable fats instead of cocoa butter, Bloomberg TV India reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified officials. Indian food regulations prohibit that.

Last month, maggi noodles were withdrawn from the markets over the safety reasons after the Indian food safety body declared the instant noodle unsafe to eat.

But on Tuesday Bombay High Court allowed maggi noodles to export its Indian made maggi, however, the ban on selling and producing of all nine variants of magi in India is still banned.

Made-in-India Maggi noodles are imported by Singapore, Canada, the US, the UK and Australia.

Indo Nissin, a subsidiary of Japanese firm Nissin Foods Holding on Monday announced the withdrawal of its Top Ramen noodles from market.

According to the statement issued by the company, the noodle product is pending with Food Safety Authority of India for approval.

“On June 8, FSSAI had come out with an advisory on product safety testing of all instant noodle products in India. At that time, we had sought clarification from FSSAI since Top Ramen product approval is pending with the regulator. They have requested us to withdraw the product until they give the product approval. We hope to get the approval soon from FSSAI and be back in the market,” shared Gautam Sharma, MD, Indo Nissin Foods.

Top Ramen is one of the largest noodles brand in the country after Maggi and Yipee noodles with sales estimated at close to Rs 150 crore.

However in the last one month this is the third noodle brand to go off the shelves. Earlier Nestle India has to recall its Maggi product and Hindustan Unilever which manufactures Knorr noodles discontinued production and sale of its noodle brand until the FSSAI approved its product application.

Meanwhile, Top Ramen is selling in since 1991, but after the food safety authority formulated fresh product approval guidelines in 2012-end, Indo Nissin had applied for approvals which it said haven't yet been cleared by the regulator.

"Our product has been extensively tested over the last few weeks after product safety concerns arose in the category. We have tested at two FSSAI accredited independent laboratories and shared the results with FSSAI a few weeks ago," added Sharma.

Adding to the same lines, he also added that the company is open to help all State FDAs and the FSSAI to address safety concerns and complete the testing process. Top Ramen was launched in the market about 24 years ago and is available in variants such as atta noodles and cup noodles.

FSSAI which has been setting safety measures for noodles and milk has now turning towards alcoholic beverages with plans to set up standards for drinks, including beer and whisky, reported PTI.

The Food Safety Standards Authority of India will come up with a draft notification on the standards of alcoholic beverages in next two months.

"Work is going on to prepare standards for alcohol and alcoholic beverages, in next two months the FSSAI will come up with draft notification seeking comments from the public," said a senior official.

According the official drinks like whisky, vodka, gin, beer and even breezer will come under the proposed standards.

Earlier this year, a meeting of the Central Advisory Committee had also discussed having standards for alcohol and alcoholic beverages.

It was decided that once standards for alcohol and alcoholic beverages were finalised it shall be intimated to all states and UTs so that they may suitably advise the respective excise departments.

In terms of packaging, FSSAI has already proposed that alcoholic beverages, pan masala and supari may not be treated as "unsafe food" for recall just because they carry a mandatory warning on their covers.

It is mentioned on pan masala, supari and liquor that their consumption is injurious to health.

The proposal has been made in the Safety and Standards (Food Recall Procedure) Regulations, 2015, which has been put up for public comments.

"In the case of alcoholic beverages, pan masala, supari, the mandatory mention of warning 'consumption of alcohol/ pan masala/ supari is injurious to health' may not be treated as unsafe food as part of any recall plan unless the beverage or food is determined unsafe as per the classification of recall making it injurious to health or even causing death," the proposal said.

These draft norms were put up for public comments on May 29 and the deadline ends on August 1.

As the food safety concern is increasing day by day, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has asked states to increase surveillance and act against entities selling contaminated packaged drinking water as well as adulterated milk and edible oils, reported PTI.

Following the Maggi fiasco, the authorities have started clamping down on those entities which are found to be non-complaint with the food safety norms.

"States have been asked to enhance the surveillance activities in respect of packaged drinking water, milk and milk products and edible oil. If required, the state food safety commissioners can also take action," a source said.

Packaged water, milk and edible oils came under the lens of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) after it decided to strengthen surveillance activities on such products.

Earlier this year, in a meeting with state food safety commissioners, the FSSAI CEO Yudhvir Singh Malik had shared concerns raised by the Parliamentary panel on consumer affairs regarding widespread incidences of milk adulteration.

"The milk, water and edible-oils were three big ticket items which were consumed by almost all sections of consumers and there is a need for increased surveillance of the safety of these items across all the states/UTs in the country," Malik had said.

FSSAI has also asked the commissioners to create awareness among the consumers regarding the standards and labelling requirements for packaged drinking water.

Earlier this month, the food safety watchdog has formed a 11-member panel for regulating salt, sugar and fat in food products sold or served at eating joints in the country.

On June 5, the FSSAI had banned Nestle's Maggi saying it was 'unsafe and hazardous' after tests found presence of lead and Monosodium glutamate above permissible limits.

Nestle India had also withdrawn the instant noodles brand from the market.

Later, FSSAI also ordered testing of noodles, pastas and macaroni brands such as Top Ramen, Foodles and Wai Wai sold and manufactured by seven companies, to check compliance with the norms.

Nestle India, which has been facing safety issue for over a month now has moved Bombay High Court by filing a case against the food safety authority of India, FSSAI.

The food major which manufactures Maggi instant noodle has taken the step after FSSAI has banned the production, distribution and sale of the instant noodle in India.

Nestle on Thursday approached the Bombay High Court raising issues of interpretation of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2011, whilst seeking judicial review of the Order dated 6th June, 2015 passed by the Food and Drug Administration in Maharashtra and the Order dated 5th June, 2015 passed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Commenting on the same Nestle India statement clears, “We are continuing the withdrawal of MAGGI Noodles products. This action will not interfere with this process. And we shall proceed further as per the order passed by the FSSAI.”

The issue started boiling in the Indian market when UP FDA in May has found high lead and MSG content in Nestle’s Maggi noodle found around the state, banning the product immediately.

On 5th June, FSSAI had asked Nestle India to "stop further production, processing, import, distribution and sale" of all nine variants of Maggi with immediate effect as they had been found hazardous to health and unsafe for human consumption.

According to the food safety authority, three major violations are, excessive presence of lead beyond the maximum permissible levels of 2.5 parts per million (ppm); misleading labelling information on the package reading 'No Added MSG' (monosodium glutamate); and release of a non-standardized food product in the market, Maggi Oats Masala Noodles with Tastemaker, without risk assessment and grant of product approval.

While, Nestle said the order to test the cake and tastemaker separately was "erroneous and liable to be set aside", and denied any "health risk or misbranding or violation of packaging and labelling regulations'' as alleged by the food safety division.

Nestle also went to the newly formed law firm of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and its partner Ameya Gokhale to fight its case and engaged senior counsel Iqbal Chagla to appear in court. Additional solicitor general Anil Singh, who now holds additional charge as the state's advocate general, will appear on behalf of the government authorities.

Meanwhile, the India issue is also affecting the other global markets as earlier Singapore has tested the lead content in the Maggi noodles, clearing sales of Maggi noodles imported from India after its own tests and now US FDA has ordered to test the instant noodle in the country.

However, Nestle does not import, market or distribute Maggi noodles in the United States. According to an Spokeswoman who told Reuters in an email query “We have been made aware that the FDA has taken samples of Maggi noodles manufactured in India from third-party importers' containers for testing, and we have asked the importers to advise us of the outcome of the FDA tests.”

Nestle India contributes to over 4.5 million retail outlets through its distribution channel, of which it gets to only a million stores directly.

Nestle India is recalling around 25,000 tonnes of Maggi noodles, adding up to 200-300 million packets and has asked its 4,000 distributors and sub-stockists to send back all Maggi noodles packets within 15 days, from the day of the FSSAI order on 5 June, according to the Confederation of All India Traders.

Not only this, Maggi issue has also brought several other brands under soup, as HUL’s Knorr is now next in the row to withdraw their product from the market. HUL has stopped manufacturing of its Chinese noodle under Knorr brand which remains pending with the FSSAI for quality approval.

““We have started the process of withdrawal and will complete the same at the earliest. The consumer can return the unopened & sealed pack to retailer who will return the money,” said HUL Spokesperson in a query.

Hence, we can see that ever since the Magii issue has heat the stove, many noodles, pasta and macroni brands are feeling the waves including HUL’s Knorr, CG Foods’ Wai Wai, ITC’s Yippee amongst others.

By Invite: Saurabh Arora, Founder of Food Safety Helpline.com

Some people would understandably say that it is the quality of food that makes a restaurant good or average. Food may be a crowd puller, but if the surroundings and premises of a restaurant are not clean and hygienic, then no matter how good the food you serve, customers will just not turn up. Cleanliness is not limited to the premises alone, but the discerning customer is bound to notice the tableware as well.

What’s on the table?

Many customers form an impression about a restaurant when they are waiting for the food to arrive. They will definitely notice if the glasses are greasy or finger marked or if the plates are cracked or chipped. If you want customers to come back, make sure your cutlery is in good condition. If there are flies in your restaurant or even a single cockroach under the table, it means there could be rodents in your storeroom. Take adequate measures to prevent the entry of birds, insects and rodents into your premises and place automatic door closures in your restaurant to prevent infestation.

Have you ensured cleanliness in all aspects?

In compliance to The Food Safety and Standards Act (2006), there are certain regulations that restaurants must follow in order to ensure the premises, surroundings and utensils are clean – Do you have posters in your kitchen that educate staff about the procedures to be used for cleaning utensils and for personal hygiene? Have you provided them with the hand washing material and appropriate cleaning material and hot water for utensils and cutlery?

Customers will definitely know how well a restaurant is following these regulations when they visit the restroom. The bathroom immediately reveals how well the hygiene factor is maintained. If the bathroom is clean and ordourless, then you can be rest assured that the kitchen – where the food is being prepared, will also be clean. Customers also notice the décor, ambience and the seating arrangements. If the tables are too crowded, it probably means the premises are not easy to clean. A restaurant that is stuffy, smoky, reeking of stale air and food odour indicates poor ventilation. Make sure your restaurant smells fresh by equipping the kitchen with proper chimneys and exhaust fans.

When appearance is important

The serving staff can make the eating experience a happy or a sad for any customer as they are the main point of contact. If they are well trained, look healthy and are fit and following all personal hygiene norms, it means the restaurant owner is keen to follow regulations.

On the other hand, if the waiters’ turnout is crumpled and dirty, it will be noticed and disliked by customers. Consciously or unconsciously they will look for others signs like whether the waiters are coughing or sneezing, smoking or chewing tobacco or paan when handling food.

Make sure that you have trained your serving staff in such a way that they do not touch their nose, mouth, hair, ears or other body parts. Get them medically examined to ensure that they are not spreading any contagious disease, and ensure that they are wearing gloves while serving food.

Inadvertently, customers also notice the kitchen when the door swings open to allow waiters to come in and out. They are sure to notice whether those who are preparing the food are wearing caps and aprons or not. Is their hair cut and nails neatly clipped? Customers may not visit your storeroom, but a food inspector might do so to check whether you have made provisions to store raw materials and finished products at appropriate temperature and have segregated food according to various categories.

Of notice boards, food and compliance matter

It has now become the norm in most upscale restaurants to display in its premises the medium in which the food has been cooked. This helps health conscious or allergic customers to make informed choices about the food they place on their plate. A good restaurant will also display a list of cooked or prepared foods on the notice board for the convenience of its customers. Before you serve any food in your restaurant, make sure it has been reheated to the recommended internal temperatures of 74°C. In case you prepare food early, serve it within four hours after preparation.

As a good restaurant owner, who likes to make sure that the food served is safe for the consumer, get the food items tested every six months for chemical and/or microbiological contamination from staff or NABL accreditation from FSSAI notified lab. This means that you should also have a water analysis report from a recognised lab.

If you regularly inspect food articles for quality and compliance, and buy food only from the licensed vendors, then you are one of those restaurant owners who care for the safety of its consumers and also for regulatory norms. Just to ensure you are always within parameters, make sure you are carrying out self inspection from time to time.

The author is the Founder of Food Safety Helpline.com and has developed an application called Food Safety Mobile App for the convenience of food business operators and hoteliers across India to get the latest updates, notifications in compliance with FSSAI act.

Also he writes regularly on topics such as Food Safety and Hygiene, Food Testing, food adulteration and contamination etc.

Talking to Restaurant India, Chef Johansen talks about how to keep food fresh in ships and how is the storage done.

Global food safety scenario

Concern for food safety has increased immensely over the years. The US Public Health Manual has been updated with many changes and increased sanitation procedures have been put in place too. Though, lately but Indian hospitality industry has also geared up for the food safety at their restaurant and hotel.

Food offered at cruises and keeping them fresh

The foods served on Royal Caribbean Ships are from all over the world. Each ship is customised to the region the ship is sailing in. For instance our ships sail in Asia and we enhance our menus with a selection of Asian cuisines including India, Chinese and Thai cuisines. We also have a large number of speciality restaurants onboard those are inspired by various countries. For instance, we have Giovanni's Table (Italian), Chops Grille (American Steak house), Izumi (Japanese Sushi Restaurant) and Rita's Cantina (Mexican).

The ship's galley is designed to provide the freshest possible food. In our provision area we have a butcher shop, a fish preparation galley and a galley where we clean and sanitise all produces before they are brought for preparation. The provision area is especially designed with cold holding at the correct temperatures for the best storage.

About supply chain

Once a menu has been designed, our shore side office will source for samples of the product we need, and they are brought onboard and tested. Once the perfect product has been found, it needs to be approved by our Corporate Chef at the head office located at Miami and then contracted with the supplier.

Kitchen designing for cruise

The galley on ship is really not designed as per the big hotels on land. Cruise ships are closely monitored by US Public Health which has very strict guidelines and the galleys onboard are designed to meet their requirements and standards.