21 samples of paneer, mawa, milk cake fail quality tests
Dr Ravi Shekhawat, chief medical health officer (Jaipur I), said court proceedings will be initiated against the traders, with fines applicable in substandard cases. Prominent city shops were among those whose samples failed.
In Sikar, 13 out of 63 samples collected from March 2 to 12 also failed. These included paneer, yogurt, and milk-based products from various eateries and sweet shops across the district.
Chief medical health offficer Dr Ashok Meheria confirmed that complaints will be filed in court.
Officials emphasised that the substandard items pose potential health risks, and strict action will be taken under the FSSAI Act to ensure food safety compliance across the state.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
FSSAI seeks more time for front-of-pack labelling rules
The FSSAI has requested the Supreme Court for a three-month extension to finalize front-of-pack labelling (FOPL) regulations, which aim to introduce pictorial warnings on packaged foods. This move follows a Supreme Court directive and seeks to provide consumers with clear information about potentially harmful ingredients like fats, salt, and sugar, addressing rising health concerns. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads New Delhi: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has sought another three months' time from the Supreme Court to comply with its order on framing a stringent law on front-of-pack-labelling (FOPL).The food regulator had time until July to frame the FOPL is a part of proposed reform measures where the food regulator had suggested mandatory pictorial representation-such as traffic light signal or star rating-to inform consumers about how healthy a food item is. However, after years of discussion and stiff resistance from food companies, the proposal was put on the back April, the Supreme Court had directed an expert committee to submit its recommendations within three months on the proposed move to introduce mandatory warning labels on the front of packaged food items by amending the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020."An additional time of three months will be required by the expert committee to finalise its report," the food authority said in the writ petition. It has also listed the long and time-consuming procedure required to bring out the FOPL aims to provide consumers with easily understandable information-in pictorial form--about the nutritional content of packaged foods and warn about potentially harmful ingredients such as fats, salt and sugar, which are mostly responsible for cardiovascular problems, diabetes and other far, packaged foods companies in India are mandated to print nutrient information on the back-of-packs only. However, globally, it's the front-pack labelling which has proven to reduce consumption of unhealthy foods.
India Today
2 days ago
- India Today
Packaged food alert: Why India needs warning labels, not health star ratings
The Supreme Court, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) recently, set a three-month timeframe for the Centre to implement food safety norms in the country. The PIL, filed by the Pune-based non-profit 3S and Our Health, had raised concerns about food safety and the need for package labelling norms, especially around nutrients of concern—salt, sugar and fat—so that consumers could make informed government, in its reply, informed that the country's highest food safety regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), had received over 14,000 public comments from various stakeholders on the proposed labelling norms, and had started the amendment September 2022, FSSAI introduced draft Front-of-Package Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) guidelines and proposed an Indian Nutrition Rating or Health Star Rating model. This is supposed to be an FOPNL system that rates the overall nutritional profile of food, from a star to 5 stars. The more the stars, the healthier the this model work? George Cheriyan, working president of the Consumer Protection Association, thinks otherwise. He argues that companies can add protein or some vitamins to offset the negative impact of sugar or salt content in their food products and still manage a decent rating. For instance, if a bar of chocolate contains some nuts, it may get a healthy score without accounting for the presence of excessive fat and sugar. 'The entire purpose of warning about the presence of harmful ingredients gets ignored in this,' says Cheriyan. Cheriyan suggests India needs warning labels such as those used in Chile, where excess calories, sugar and fat are displayed in large black octagons on food packages, since literacy levels are low in the country and language barriers abound. Thus, warning labels should be in the form of symbols or emojis—just like the red dot currently indicating non-vegetarian food and a green dot indicates a vegetarian are enough studies to underscore the positive impact of food warning labels on public health. Data suggests that 18 months after Chile implemented FOPNL norms, including restricting advertisements for unhealthy products between 6 am and 10 pm, warning labels on packaged food, and a ban on selling junk food in schools, the consumption of sweet beverages reduced by 25 per cent. The study, published in medical journal PLOS Medicine, had tracked 2,000 Arun Gupta, convenor of the National Advocacy in Public Interest, a think-tank on nutrition, says interpretative labels don't work. 'Consumers take 6-8 seconds to choose the brand, and the star rating system doesn't empower them to make decisions according to their personal choices and health and lifestyle preferences,' he states it is time consumers be made king in the real sense. 'It is time to go back to that ethos,' he says. That mission can only be accomplished through a food labelling system that empowers consumers to make choices and take health into their own hands, he Sanyal, chief operating officer and secretary at VOICE (Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education), describes FOPNL as one of the most critical ways to curtail the rising consumption of ultra-processed foods in India. He says there is enough data to show how ultra-processed foods are impacting health and becoming was part of the FSSAI discussions on draft FOPL guidelines. He highlights that a more democratic dialogue is required to determine the right norms for the country. During the last discussion on the draft in 2021, he said, the participation in the meeting was heavily skewed in favour of the industry, with 25 representatives from industry associations such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), but only five from the other side—three from consumer organisations and one each from civil society and farmer producer says most of the regulations are limited to packaged food while there is also a responsibility to ensure food safety for unbranded products in the informal sector, which accounts for a much larger market than the formal sector in India. He shares how unbranded products or counterfeit brands are freely available in small confectionery shops along the highway or in rural areas. 'FSSAI needs to develop the intelligence-gathering mechanism to ensure that all regulations are implemented on the ground for all food products,' he to India Today Magazine- Ends
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Indian Express
BBMP launches Rs 2.9 crore initiative to feed stray dogs with chicken, rice
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has recently rolled out a scheme to provide daily nutritious meals to around 4,000-5,000 stray dogs across the city's eight zones. Branded 'Kukkir Tihar', the program is a one-year pilot, extendable by another year based on its success. The BBMP said the initiative is part of its larger 'One Health' program, which also includes vaccination and animal birth control (ABC) efforts. Civic officials said the program, estimated to cost Rs 2.8-2.9 crore annually, is aimed at curbing stray dog aggression, reducing bite cases – which currently range between 500 and 1,500 per month – and supporting rabies control efforts through better monitoring and vaccination. Under the scheme, each dog receives a meal weighing between 367 and 600 gram, comprising 150 gram of chicken, 100 gram each of rice and vegetables, 10 gram of oil, and a pinch of salt and turmeric, delivering 465-750 kilocalories per serving. These meals are prepared in centralised FSSAI-registered kitchens equipped with CCTV surveillance and are distributed at 100-125 feeding points per zone before 11 am daily. The BBMP has invited tenders to onboard vendors for food preparation and for maintaining cleanliness around feeding spots. However, Tamil Nadu Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram and many local residents have questioned the BBMP's priorities, arguing that funds would be better spent on sterilisation, vaccinations, or building shelters. Others have pointed out that the city spends Rs 22 per dog per day on meals, while the per-day mid-day meal allocation for a schoolchild stands at Rs 12.42. 'Is this true? Dogs have no place in the streets. They need to be relocated to shelters, where they can be fed, vaccinated & sterilised. Feeding & keeping them in a free roaming state in the streets is a huge health & safety hazard,' Chidambaram wrote on X. Reacting to the criticisms, a BBMP official said, 'The feeding program will also help in tracking, vaccinating, and sterilising dogs as part of Bengaluru's goal to eliminate rabies by 2030. Additionally, regular feeding improves the dogs' overall health, reducing aggression linked to hunger and aiding sterilisation efforts.' Bengaluru has an estimated 2.79 lakh stray dogs, with over 16,000 dog bite cases reported in May 2025 alone.
