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Cse In News

Randhawa hands over appointment letter to 11 assistant manager of Milkfed

CHANDIGARH:In the present time of COVID-19 when the whole country is reeling under economic slowdown in the Industry and Service Sector, Milkfed is growing by leaps and bounds and executing various projects to expand its handling capacities. This was disclosed here today by the Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa while handing over appointment letter to 11 fresh recruits in the field of Production, Quality Control & Procurement against the posts of Assistant Manager. He also launched four variants of Verka natural fruit ice creams on the occasion. Divulging further, the Minister said that the recruitments have been made through Campus Interview at GADVASU Ludhiana. These officers will be put on 2 year’s in-service training and thereafter they will be appointed as Assistant Manager in their respective streams, said S. Randhawa. The Minister further pointed out that development and expansion projects worth Rs.254 Crores are under progress at Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali and Patiala Dairies. Apart from this, Punjab Government and NABARD assisted Mega Dairy Project at Bassi Pathana with total outlay of Rs.138 Crores is likely to be completed by June, 2021. S. Randhawa further said that contrary to most of the ice creams offered by the various ice cream brands using artificial/synthetic fruit flavours, Verka natural fruit ice cream has been manufactured from the finest natural Fruit Pulp and is delicious and healthy. It will be available in four variant flavours i.e. Pink Guava, Strawberry, Litchi, and Mango at Rs. 40 for 125 ml cup, added the Minister. The Minister also revealed that recruitments to 125 posts have been made at Deputy Manager, Assistant Manager and Senior Executive level and in near future, Milkfed will initiate recruitment process to fill 540 technical posts. Emphasizing the quality control aspect, the Financial Commissioner (Cooperation) K. Siva Prasad said that the leading institutions of the cooperative sector viz. Milkfed, Markfed and Sugarfed have rendered yeoman’s service in ensuring supply of essential goods to the people during trying times of Covid-19. In his address, the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Vikas Garg disclosed that it is a matter of pride that the SOHNA Honey of Markfed figured among the 3 brands who passed the stringent quality control measures of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) which tested 13 brands. Managing Director Milkfed Punjab Kamaldeep Singh Sangha informed that Verka had also launched Natural Vanilla Milk last year. For boosting the immunity of people, Verka has launched the extremely popular Haldi Dudh recently, said the MD adding that for the convenience of consumers, the popular PIO has been launched in new PP Bottle and is available at all major retail outlets and verka booths.

Consumer Protection Body Asks FSSAI to Take Action Against Adulteration Reported in Honey Brands

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has asked food regulator FSSAI to take appropriate action against adulteration reported in certain honey brands and also extended cooperation for investigation for taking class action. Last week, environment watchdog CSE claimed that honey sold by several major brands in India has been found to be adulterated with sugar syrup. However, the companies have refuted the claims. In an official statement, the consumer affairs ministry expressed concern over the reported adulteration of honey. "It has been reported to the Department that most of the honey brands sold in the market are adulterated with sugar syrup. This is a serious matter as it will compromise our health in the troubled times of COVID-19 and add to the risk of COVID-19," the ministry said. The Department of Consumer Affairs asked CCPA to look into matter, it added. "The CCPA, in accordance with section 19(2) of the Consumer Protection Act 2019, after preliminary examination, has referred the matter to the FSSAI, the food regulator, to take appropriate action in the matter... "...and has offered to extend cooperation in investigation of the matter for taking class action as envisaged in section 10 of the Act," the statement said. A day after the CSE study was released, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) sought details of the tests, even as it raised questions over why its prescribed tests were not conducted. The FSSAI had stated that the CSE found the adulterants by using "the non-prescription" Trace Marker for Rice syrup (TMR) test instead of "a more sensitive" Specific Marker for Rice syrup test (SMR). The consumer affairs department further said it takes the consumer issues seriously. Recently, it took note of an incident where a 40-year-old man set himself on fire in a Rohini mall and got burn injuries after a mobile phone service centre allegedly refused to replace a phone he had bought for his niece, a class 12th student, for her online classes. The department took up the matter with the mobile phone company concerned. "The mobile company has informed that they have decided to compensate the consumer with Rs 1,00,000/- and a new Mobile handset," the statement said. It further said it was observed that some e-commerce entities were violating the mandatory requirement of declaration of product information on their platforms. "Therefore, notices have been issued to various e-commerce entities for non-compliances," the statement said. The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 are framed to regulate the pre-packaged commodities. Under these rules, the pre-packaged commodities have to comply with certain mandatory information on e-commerce platform by the seller in the interest of consumers. The Department of Consumer Affairs, under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, is the nodal department for consumer protection. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has came into force from July, 20 2020, which provides for a three tier quasi-judicial machinery to provide simple and speedy redressal to consumer disputes. The CCPA has been established to regulate matters relating to violation of rights of consumers, unfair trade practices and false or misleading advertisements which are prejudicial to the interests of public and to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumer as a class.

Honey adulteration | FSSAI needs to strengthen testing standards, says CSE's Amit Khurana

In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Programme Director of the CSE’s Food Safety and Toxins Amit Khurana said Indian standards are not enough to detect adulteration in honey. The Centre for Science and Environment's (CSE's) findings of adulteration in honey by major brands have sparked a silent tussle between the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the NGO. In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Amit Khurana, Programme Director of the CSE’s Food Safety and Toxins, said Indian standards are not enough to detect adulteration. “Indian testing standards are not good enough that is why most of the brands are there in India who have failed in advanced testing done in Germany.” He said strengthening these standards is required. “Despite set standards, we do not know whether the FSSAI has been testing. The results are not in the public domain," Khurana added. The recent findings by the NGO that honey, which is a natural product from bees, is mixed with sugar syrup made from rice, corn, beetroot, and sugarcane and sold as pure honey, do not bode well for the bee-keeping industry. The CSE food researchers took 13 bigger and smaller brands of processed and raw honey that are sold in India to check their purity. The study found that 77 percent of honey samples were adulterated with sugar syrup. Only 3 out of the 13 brands - Marico’s Saffola, Markfed Sohna and Nature's Nectar (one out of two samples) - passed all the tests. Brands that failed the purity test for honey include well-known names like Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath, Zandu, Hitkari, and Apis Himalaya. “Out of the 22 samples checked, only five passed all the tests. Honey samples from leading brands such as Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath, Zandu, Hitkari and Apis Himalaya, all failed the NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) test," the study said. Samples of these brands were first tested by the CSE at the Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (CALF) at the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in Gujarat. All the top brands passed the tests of purity, while a few brands failed the tests to detect C4 sugar. But when the same samples were tested using NMR in a specialised laboratory in Germany, almost all big and small Indian honey brands were found to be selling adulterated honey. Most companies refuted the adulteration claims. Dabur, in its statement to media, said: “Dabur is complying with the 22 parameters mandated by the FSSAI. In addition, Dabur Honey is also tested for the presence of antibiotics, as mandated by the FSSAI. Further, Dabur is the only company in India to have an NMR testing equipment in our own laboratory, and the same is used to regularly test our Honey being sold in the Indian market.”

Dust pollution unchecked in parts of Delhi

After the Delhi government launched the mobile app on October 29, about 1,700 complaints were received about illegal dumping of C&D waste by December 1. As per the government data, more than 1,650 complaints were received about potholes, 1,050 complaints about road dust and about 700 complaints about dust pollution due to construction activities in the same period. Though the government had announced a plan for edge-to-edge paving and greening of all roads, to control dust pollution, the work has not been completed. “The government is conducting regular checks. But the people should be also proactive and report violations on the Green Delhi app. We have a dedicated team working to solve issues,” the official said.

Kolkata: 14-fold rise in pollution in four months after return of cars

14-fold rise in pollution in four months after return of cars KOLKATA: The worst pollutant in Kolkata’s air — PM2.5 — has increased 14 times in four months. In twin city Howrah, it has increased 11 times during the period, undoing the cleansing of the ambient air during the prolonged lockdown just months earlier. Track the pollution level in your city Kolkata has experienced its worst week and peak in last two years so far with PM 2.5 level exceeding “severe” threshold at the city station at Rabindra Bharati University on December 4. Rest of the city remained in very poor category .There were three days this winter in Howrah and one day in Kolkata when the PM 2.5 levels were higher than Delhi. silent killer gfx “This is a typical and predictable winter trend when continuous emissions from local sources including vehicles, industry, construction, and episodic pollution from biomass burning get trapped due to meteorological changes. But this year, there is a higher pollution peak and substantial jump after the reopening of the economy,” said Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) executive director (research and advocacy) Anumita Roychowdhury. Analysis revealed that even though the overall average level of PM2.5 for the 11 months in 2020 was considerably lower than 2019, largely because of the unprecedented economic disruption during the summer lockdown and monsoonal reopening of the economy, the onset of the winter trapping pollution has forced PM 2.5 levels spiral upward in November and it has hit a record high in early December. In the absence of system changes in controlling pollution from vehicles, industry, power plants and waste, the transient change of the lockdown phases could not be sustained and air quality got more toxic with the onset of winter. Avikal Somvanshi, programme manager in CSE’s urban lab team of sustainable cities programme, said the share of PM2.5 was 50% higher than usually summer levels. The onset of winter has also seen the percentage share of PM2.5 increase to over 60%. The share of PM2.5 is generally highest on Diwali (it had reached over 80% in 2019), but due to lesser bursting of firecrackers this year, it remained in the mid 50s. This year, Diwali pollution from firecrackers was considerably lower. The average PM2.5 level on Diwali day in Kolkata was 89 µg/m3, down from 123 µg/m3 recorded in 2019. But, pollution did not dissipate and the daily PM2.5 level rose to 110 µg/m3 on November 17, 2020 due to meteorological factors. Also, unlike previous years, there was about 80% lesser change in hourly PM2.5 concentration between the afternoon and the night of Diwali (this is mostly caused due to firecracker bursting). The change in hourly PM2.5 concentration between afternoon and night of 2020 Diwali was 136 µg/m3, down from 642 µg/m3 in 2019 and 751 µg/m3 in 2018.

Honey, we’ve shrunk our food standards

A recent report by Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment claims honey sold by major brands in India is adulterated. That does set the cat among the pigeons. India is a major exporter of honey, and the report has a bearing on India’s reputation abroad. Further, it calls into question the efficacy of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI): all the brands in question bear its stamp of quality. In the interest of consumer welfare, Indian export growth and brand authenticity, the government must institute a thorough inquiry into the quality of the honey sold under different brand names in India. Indian standards for food are, by and large, on par with global norms. It is in enforcing standards that there is a lag. In part, this is because of a large and unorganised food industry that makes up the supply chain even for organised manufacturers, as we see in the case of honey (whether it is the use of sugar syrup or presence of antibiotics and other impurities). The FSSAI needs to step up its efforts to ensure compliance across the value chain. Further, it must educate the public on things such as the relevance of nuclear magnetic resonance testing for honey, especially when it is collected from multiple varieties of plants and is guaranteed to be non-homogeneous in composition. The demands of health and safety of consumers, the need to ensure confidence in products available in the market, and protection of shareholder value of companies manufacturing these products call for far greater focus on the manner in which food safety norms are implemented and compliance ensured. FSSAI must itself come under effective supervision, answering to a committee of Parliament. That would shore up necessary public faith in the regulator.

Bitter Marico-Dabur war over honey adulteration offers food for thought

The report on the adulteration of honey, brought out by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), has opened up a Pandora's box. What began as an investigation into alleged malpractices by domestic manufacturers has escalated into a full-blown battle between two prominent players in the category: Marico and Dabur. Marico made the first move, saying that Dabur's claim that its honey passed the German NMR test was misleading. The complaint, made to the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) on Thursday, was after Dabur released ads in national dailies in response to the CSE report on Wednesday where it was named for failing a foreign adulteration test. Dabur hit back, saying Marico's Saffola honey sample from the marketplace had failed the NMR test, prompting it to approach ASCI for misleading claims made by the latter. (NMR, or Nuclear Magnetic Resonance test, is an advanced test to detect adulteration in honey.) "We will continue to contest the matter in ASCI," Sanjay Mishra, chief operating officer, India sales and chief executive officer, new business, Marico, said. "If there is a threat to our reputation and any disparaging statement made, then we will decide on our future course of action. As of now, I can confirm that nothing has come from ASCI to us regarding the complaint they (Dabur) claim to have filed. According to ASCI protocol, an advertiser has to be informed within 24 hours of a complaint filed against it; that has not happened so far," he added. Brand experts say this is more than an advertising war. "The issue goes much beyond an ad war because it deals with people's health," says N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research, Mumbai-based brand advisory firm. "What goes into your food is a sensitive issue. I am of the view that the food regulator of the country must look into this matter closely," he said. This point is endorsed by Bejon Mishra, a consumer affairs expert, who was earlier a member of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). "Brands may say whatever they have to in defence of their products. But who should the common man believe? I'm of the view that the FSSAI should conduct an unbiased study of all brands to put things in perspective. This will go a long way in reposing faith in the category, " Bejon Mishra said. The FSSAI has already sought more details from CSE on honey adulteration, which it says has been provided to the regulator. While the FSSAI steps in to take stock of the situation, the war between Marico and Dabur is reminiscent of the bitter battle fought in the past in categories such as health drinks (Horlicks versus Complan), detergents (Rin versus Ariel) and hygiene (Dettol versus Lifebuoy). More recently, fairness creams saw battles between Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Emami over trademark infringement. But then categories with two strong incumbents lend themselves to such brand wars. "In Horlicks versus Complan, the fight was over who was more efficacious as a health drink. In Dettol versus Lifebuoy, the issue was about germ protection and in detergents, the point of contention was who was whiter, " said K V Sridhar, global chief creative officer, Nihilent Hypercollective. In the honey category, purity is the point of battle, something that both Marico and Dabur say is in their favour. "Dabur has cleared all the above FSSAI-mandated tests, including SMR (specific marker for rice syrup) test, besides voluntarily conducting NMR test periodically to ensure that our consumers get 100 per cent pure honey with no added sugar/syrups or any other adulterants, " a company spokesperson said.

Do you know what goes into your honey?

For the past year, Aseem Hattangadi, a home chef in Mumbai, has been buying honey from friends who aggregate it from a single, ‘clean’ source. The latter, coupled with tastings in places like Dubai, made him realise that brand is no longer important to him as long as the source is good, clean and preservative-free, and his purchase supports local producers. Last week, he realised the wisdom of his choice after reading a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report that alleged adulteration of honey with rice syrup. The CSE report has literally stirred the beehive. Out of samples of 13 brands, 10 allegedly contained traces of rice syrup and failed the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) test, which checks for adulteration and confirms the origin of honey. These two tests are not currently part of the parameters set by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). While the NMR test is not required by the Indian law for honey sold locally, it is necessary for export, according to a report in The Hindu. The CSE team alleges that honey is being adulterated with sugar syrups imported from China, now also manufactured in India. “The sugar syrups are sold on portals like Alibaba with names such as rice fructose syrup, tapioca fructose syrup, golden syrup fructose syrup, and more,” explains Sonal Dhingra, deputy programme manager, food safety and toxins, CSE. “These claim to pass all the adulteration tests: C4, C3, foreign oligosaccharides, SMR and TMR. And these are being imported under the HS (harmonised system) code of fructose or glucose.” These are also manufactured in India as “all pass syrup”. The past few days have seen a series of responses and refutations by various brands. FSSAI, while taking note of the study, has asked why its prescribed tests, such as the “more sensitive” Specific Marker for Rice syrup (SMR), were not conducted on the samples. All this begs the question: what is pure honey and what goes, or should not go, into it? “Everyone knows it is impossible to produce thousands of bottles of pure honey, with each one tasting the same. Agro climate leads to changes in the taste of honey, if it is all natural. To get uniform-tasting honey means some kind of manipulation has been done,” says Stan Thekaekara, a social entrepreneur associated with Just Change India, a producer company, incorporated in 2004, which aims to create an alternative economic structure based on a direct community-to-community model. Just Change has been working with the Kattunayakans, traditional honey foragers in the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, who scale 60-feet trees and cliffs yawning into deep gorges. It is part of the Adivasi Munnetra Sangam (AMS), a membership-based tribal organisation comprising 4,000 families. Gaurav Ladwal of the Ladwal Foundation, which works with Kumaon Organics in Uttarakhand, concurs that natural honey won’t taste the same across batches. He has known brands to mix 10 to 15 different kinds of honey, made of invert and artificial sugar instead of flower nectar, aggregated from across the country. These are then boiled together till the good bacteria is destroyed “and at the end all you are left with is sugar”. “The honey market is a bit murky and it is something everyone has known for a long time,” says Rohan Rehani, founder of Moonshine Meadery, which offers Moonshine Honey. He started the brand as a passion project while looking for honey to make mead and realised that the quality of commercial honey was simply not good. So, in 2016, Rehani enrolled at the Central Bee Research and Training Institute of India to learn beekeeping. He started the Moonshine Honey Project last year to work directly with beekeepers and build the brand’s own supply chain, encourage small farmers to become part-time beekeepers to supplement income, and to educate the consumer about good quality honey. Moonshine has now hired a full-time beekeeper, who goes from state to state, wherever flowering season is taking place. Today, a Moonshine honey bottle even contains the exact coordinates of where the bee boxes have been kept. “We have started with a small batch of 500 bottles to test the market," he says. "Since the feedback on our honey has been great, we're planning to scale up multifold the number of bee boxes we deploy in the field." And the extra honey will be going into Moonshine's mead making processes. In the case of natural honey, the flower has a huge impact on the taste, colour and viscosity, and this varies from season to season. Kumaon Organics has a variety which is made when a particular bee feeds on wild jamun grown in the Himalayas.

Bonphool honey wakes up and smells sales

Bottles of honey collected from the Sunderbans mangroves and packaged by villagers, who faced the double blow of the pandemic-induced lockdown and Cyclone Amphan, are finding more takers from across the country. The sale of brand Bonphool, has jumped after a study, led by the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, found that honey sold by major brands in India was “adulterated with addition of sugar syrup”, said a forest official. The honey-production programme, started by the state forest department, the panchayats and the rural development department in collaboration with WWF India as a means to generate alternative livelihood for villagers, who venture deep into tiger territory to collect honey or catch fishes and crabs, is barely a year old. On Monday, stocks of Bonphool were sold out on a popular online shopping platform. And the three cooperatives, set up jointly by the forest department, the panchayats and the rural development department and WWF India to produce honey from bee boxes, are working overtime to meet the demand that they had never seen before, the forest official said. Honey collectors have been going inside the forest despite the risks of getting mauled by tigers since ages. In fact, there is a popular saying: “Modhu khoja mane bagh khoja” (finding honey equates finding a tiger). According to forest department figures, at least five to six of these honey collectors (official figures) are killed by tigers every year. Bonphool sold 2,500 bottles per day on an average after the report was published last week, a forester said. As the demand soars, senior foresters are brainstorming to find out how to churn out more bottles and reduce time taken to pack each one before they are handed to the couriers for delivery across the country. The honey has had thousands of takers and has the likes of writer Javed Akhtar among its admirers. The demand for the honey started going up after a section of foresters started tweeting about the brand while focussing on the fact that they are collected from the mangroves of the Sunderbans. The programme was started by Santosha G.R., who was serving as the divisional forest officer of the South 24-Parganas, and a senior official of the panchayat and rural development department of the state government. The forest department had given 20 boxes each to 72 traditional honey collector families, who are called maulis in Bengali. It had also helped them to form three cooperative societies in the Jharkhali, Kultali, Nalgora areas and helped them secure soft loans from the state co-operative bank. The villagers have been trained in bee-keeping by experts from the Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Nimpith. Soumyajit Das, the special secretary of the panchayat and rural development department, said their sales counter on the ground floor of their office on Salt Lake was witnessing a steady stream of customers. “The response is overwhelming,” said Das. The department is setting up an app where orders can be placed. The forest department too has started a dedicated webpage for taking orders and residents of Calcutta can get theirs home delivered for free.

Honey adulteration: Centre for Science and Environment rebuts Chinese company's claim

NEW DELHI: The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Tuesday rebutted the Chinese company Wuhu Deli Foods's statement which denied having knowledge that their transaction had to do anything with adulterating honey with sugar syrup. In a statement, China-based Wuhu Deli has categorically denied that it knew the said syrups being solicited by the CSE investigators were to bypass the tests to prove the authenticity of honey in India. Its statement also mentions that the company believed the transaction had only to do with syrup, and nothing to do with honey. The CSE, in a statement, rebutted the claim, and said it is a fact that Wuhu Deli sent it a shipment of samples that contained syrup with the intention of helping it to bypass the honey testing protocols in India. "It is a fact that Wuhu Deli sent us a shipment of samples that contained syrup with the intention of helping us to bypass the honey testing protocols in India. It is unfortunate that because CSE is not a food importer, it did not have requisite clearances to import food products and had to cancel the shipment from Wuhu Deli. If we manage to get possession of this shipment, we will be happy to get its contents tested," the CSE said. Wuhu Deli was one of the companies that were contacted by investigators from CSE posing as a fictitious honey trading firm trying to find out if Chinese sugar and rice syrup could be brought into India and mixed with Indian honey, and whether this syrup-spiked honey would pass the Indian testing standards. CSE said that its investigators wrote to Wuhu Deli seeking syrups that could bypass the honey specifications as mandated by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSAAI). "We clearly wrote asking for syrups that could pass C3, C4 tests, including those for SMR, TMR, and foreign oligosaccharides," says CSE. "These testing parameters that CSE researchers mentioned in the email to Wuhu Deli are to specifically test the authenticity of honey in India – and not meant for that of sugar syrups or rice syrups (which Wuhu Deli alleges it thought it was dealing in). In fact, Wuhu Deli's response to CSE's request says -- in clear terms -- that its high fructose syrup could pass all these tests. Not just that, it also quoted prices for 10 container loads (200 tonnes) of this syrup that could bypass the above testing parameters for honey authenticity in India," the CSE said in its statement. The environment watchdog further said that it is common knowledge that Chinese companies have expertise in syrups, which when adulterated in honey can pass the Indian testing parameters. There are numerous sellers on online marketplaces like Alibaba who advertise this. Wuhu Deli is one such advertiser and has been rated by Alibaba as a 'gold supplier', it said.

Honey trap busted, locals feel cheated

Days after the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a not-for-profit public interest research and advocacy organisation, alleged that major brands, including Dabur, Patanjali and Himalaya, sell adulterated honey by mixing a special sugar syrup, The Morning Standard spoke to Delhi-NCR residents to know how they felt after knowing the truth. Preeti Singh, 45, Homemaker, Sukhdev Vihar I have been using Patanjali’s honey and have consumed 1kg since the pandemic began. I use it in my face packs, for cold and cough, and in shakes and food items. I am not shocked by the news as I was aware of these malpractices, but being away from my hometown I was unable to fetch honey from the farms. The one I use gets frozen when I keep it in the fridge and this is not the original property of honey. Monica Aaron, 58, Retired Teacher, Gurugram We have been a Dabur honey customer for a long time. Each family member’s daily consumption is one-two teaspoons. But the recent reports have been shocking as we don’t know what is fit to be consumed. We trusted Dabur, but now it will be difficult to trust big brands in the market. Ruhee Parvez, 33, Journalist, East Delhi I have been consuming Dabur and Patanjali honey all this while and had bought 500gm packing thrice. I normally add honey to my bowl of cornflakes. I assumed it to be healthier than sugar but I was wrong. So recently, I purchased a bottle of organic honey called Satvyk. Rajesh Kesari, 50, Physician and Diabetologist, Noida My family generally consumes a lot of honey. There are a lot of brands that claim that their honey is pure, has been gathered from the Himalayas, and is organic. But this revelation about the samples failing tests has left us feeling cheated. Many diabetics take honey instead of sugar, thinking it is safe for them. It is true that honey contain lesser amount of calories than table sugar, but these companies have dealt a blow to such unassuming patients by causing a further increase in their blood sugar levels. I strongly feel that the authorities should take strict actions against such manufacturers and not let them fool the public. Rinkoo Tulsian Shroff, 44, Fashion Designer, Delhi I have been consuming organic honey. My friends have a farm and they send it across. We consumed almost 2kg during the pandemic, as honey acts as an immunity booster. But only a few people know who is selling genuine stuff, the rest of the customer base is driven by the advertisements. I wish those who are selling the real products get to promote themselves. We can also use jaggery instead of sugar and even grow stevia in the garden. Vinod Kumar Julka, 65, Mayur Vihar Earlier, we used to buy Dabur, and then also started buying Patanjali. It’s our daily routine to drink lemon water with honey in the morning. But the latest report made us realise that we can’t trust the big brands. I have got to know that the beekeepers in Sunderbans don’t even get the right price for their honey. The government should promote local honey producers. I will also look for a local source of honey in villages through my contacts, and discontinue buying these brands.

Marico and Dabur lock horns over honey brands

Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands Dabur and Marico are on the warpath over each other’s claims about their honey brands, taking their dispute to the advertising industry watchdog, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). It all started when Marico filed a complaint on October 1 before the ASCI, against the ‘NMR tested pure honey’ claim by Dabur for its product Dabur Honey. The claim “NMR tested” was considered false by the council and misleading by implication and omission and upheld under Chapter 1.4 of the ASCI Code. Apart from that, Marico again filed a complaint before ASCI on December 3, challenging the claim made by ‘Dabur India Ltd.’ that “Dabur Honey had passed the German NMR test”. The complaint has been admitted by ASCI and taken on record for further hearing. Dabur said in a statement that Marico’s claim on the NMR test was misleading the consumers. On December 7, Dabur filed a complaint in ASCI against Marico after their Saffola Honey sample from the market failed the NMR test conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Dabur claimed that the test reports clearly indicated the presence of sugar syrup in Saffola honey. However, Marico dismissed Dabur's claim, contending that "Saffola Honey is compliant with each quality parameter mandated by FSSAI". According to the ASCI process, the advertisers are required to modify their claims or withdraw the advertisements. Their silent war intensified after the Centre for Science and Environment on December 2 reported about adulteration in honey sold by major brands in the country. The CSE said any claim by these companies of meeting all Indian standards "holds limited value" and was "jugglery" of language. Sunita Narain, Director General, CSE, emphasised that their investigations had revealed that the honey adulteration business was sophisticated and was designed to bypass the purity and quality standards laid down by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). When FSSAI asked CSE about an existing database for Indian honey for effective screening for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) tests, CSE explained that it had sent the samples for NMR tests to a top food testing laboratory based in Germany, which has the expertise and necessary database for NMR screening. FSSAI officials asked about the specific names under which the adulterants were being imported into India.

Govt tackles poor sanitation, to end open defecation by 2030

The Federal Government has set a 2030 target for the improvement of the nation’s poor sanitation and ending open defecation by providing adequate toilet and water facilities. Minister of Environment, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, disclosed this in Abuja at this years’ World Toilet Day, themed: ‘Sustainable Sanitation and Climate Change’ in Abuja He stressed that government’s attention has been drawn to the fact that climate change is getting worse. The minister explained that seven years ago, the United Nations raised the alarm that billions of people are living without access to safely managed sanitation. The threat, he said, underscores the necessity for global technological sound structures to be put in place for containment, collection and treatment of human waste for proper waste management and sanitary hygiene practices in the country. According to him, the commemoration presents an opportunity to bring to the front burner, the challenges of poor sanitation, open defecation and how climate change is threatening the sanitary system with associated health consequences. “Today, about 4.2 billion people of the world live without safe toilets and about 47 million Nigerians are still practicing open defecation, hence many people still use the bush, and water bodies as their regular means for excreta disposal”, he said. Abubakar further disclosed the ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Centre for Science and Environment on technology transfer, technical assistance, capacity building, and research on water, sanitation, and environmental management. The Minister of State for Environment, Mrs. Sharon Ikeazor, explained that sustainable sanitation begins with a toilet that effectively captures human waste in a safe, accessible and dignified setting. “The waste then gets stored in tanks, the next stage is treatment and safe disposal,” she added. She also noted that climate change is now threatening the sanitation system with associated health and environmental consequences, adding that everyone must have clean water and hand washing facilities to help protect and maintain our health securely. A representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Edwin Isoto-Edeh, said water, sanitation and open defecation in Nigeria was not encouraging, pointing out that there are more rooms for improvement to meet with the Sustainable Development Goals in 2030.