AT A time when Indian honey is under the scanner for allegedly re-exporting cheap and poor quality Chinese honey, a private firm has become the first in the world to bag the True Source Honey (TSH) certificate. The certificate, a US industry initiative, is the authentication of the origin of …
On his focus areas as chairperson of Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) I would like to focus on building capacity in developing and least developed countries. Most of them do not understand the Codex document, what it contains and what is there between the lines. So, they do not know how …
CARE for some tea? Before reaching out for that cuppa here is some information: herbal brews and some tea brands contain ingredients unlisted on the packet. The unlisted contents include weeds that could result in allergic reactions. Teas are made from leaves of the plant Camellia sinensis, native to India …
A youth enters a south Delhi bar, greets the bartender and orders “the usual”. The drink, it turns out, is Red Bull plus vodka. Prod him a little and Manoj Joshi, a law student, says there is no better drink on the menu. It tastes great, he says, and will …
Once again there is a food safety scare. A deadly strain of E coli bacterium has hit Germany, where it has taken the lives of 25 people and affected another 2,300 till date. German food inspectors on the trail of the source of contamination have as yet made two errors—blaming …
Researchers and policy-makers around the world stress on reducing salt intake to control hypertension because its key triggers— stress and faulty lifestyle—are difficult to control. A human body removes extra salt through the kidney. When its intake is excessive, the kidney fails to perform its job and salt starts circulating …
In January, about 300 people in the US suffered health problems from excessive consumption of energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster; most of them were children and teenagers, as per the American Association of Poison Control Centers. The association has recently started tracking the toxicity of energy drinks that …
INDIA’S food regulatory authority is all set to notify a comprehensive food safety regulation by January 2011. The Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Regulation will integrate all previous food safety acts like the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954. But the draft regulations put up on the website of the …
THE Union agriculture ministry has refused to lower standards for imported milk despite some coaxing by the Barack Obama administration during the US president’s recent visit to India. The Department of Animal Husbandry said its milk import norms would remain unchanged. The US dairy industry had for long been pushing …
FOOD Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued an advisory stating that residues of antibiotics and pesticide are not allowed in honey. The authority said India follows stringent safety standards similar to the EU and the US, where use of antibiotics in honey is illegal. The move was …
THE energy drink that promises to give you wings is soaring high despite attempts by authorities to ground it. Red Bull has been pulled up on a couple of occasions for exceeding the prescribed caffeine limit in recent years. But the beverage manufacturer, Red Bull India Pvt Ltd, managed to …
Our control over our food and our health requires inventive institutional reordering and new ideas about the way food regulations work. Last fortnight I discussed the problem of antibiotics in honey. This contamination is harmful and shows complete disregard of the regulatory sy stem to mind our safety over business. …
Universally, honey is believed to be a natural product. Regulations across the world say as much. The Codex Alimentarius Commission is a global body set up jointly by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop food standards for international trade; it defines …
The journey of honey from bee farms to breakfast tables has become complex with time. From wild honey gatherers, honey supply has passed into the hands of cooperatives of individual beekeepers and then to big companies. The cooperatives could have helped beekeepers demand better prices, but they did not last …
Of late, honey is being associated with shady dealings, crime, and and a thriving illegal trade spanning the globe. One may wonder why honey, a natural product, is shipped illegally. The reasons become clear if one considers the stringent food safety regulations in Western countries and questionable beekeeping practices in …
The one kg jar of honey on Sangeeta Das’s kitchen shelf has many uses. Every morning she takes out a small quantity and puts it on the breakfast table. Her husband, Indranil, a media executive, likes a little bit of honey on his toast and the couple’s three-year-old son has …
CSE laboratory tests find high levels of antibiotics in well-known brands of honey sold in the market. Antibiotics are found in honey largely because they are used in apiculture for treatment of bacterial diseases. Oxytetracycline is commonly used to treat European foulbrood disease (EFB) and American foulbrood diseases (AFB) caused …
THE British Food Standard Agency (FSA) has been relieved of its task to decide what is healthy and what is not. The change, announced on July 20, follows FSA's unsuccessful drive to introduce "traffic light labelling system" for food items across Europe. The system would have required food companies to …
Labelling of genetically modified foods is a contentious issue and internationally there is sharp division on whether such labels ought to be mandatory. This debate has reached India where the government has proposed mandatory labels. Mandatory labelling aims to provide greater information and correspondingly more informed consumer choice. However, even …
