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HEALTH WATCH: IMPORTED PACKED FOODS
Lawless Lot
A study reveals violations by importers and highlights
the mess in our food regulations
By Anna M.M. Vetticad
That rugged-looking
ball of chocolate with a swirl of creamy goodness inside ... That layer
of rich brown sinful indulgence sandwiched between luscious round cakes
... Mmmm. But hold your horses. Before you mindlessly reach out for that
jar of golden honey from Britain or tuck in to those tempting sausages
from Denmark, remember, there's a downside to this deluge of global goodies.
A survey of imported packed food products just released by the Voluntary
Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education (voice), Delhi, finds that
a majority violate Indian laws: no date of manufacture on the label, no
best before/expiry date, no declaration about the use of non-permitted
colours, and worse (see box).
"The Government of India does not take
sufficient steps to enforce the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA)
Act, whether it is with domestic or imported products," fumes Sri
Ram Khanna of voice. The survey was commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture's
Department of Food Processing Industries (FPI). About time too. With the
post-WTO removal of quantitative restrictions (QRs) on imports, a flood
of such items is expected. And while the Government moves gingerly on
this front, the survey could startle consumers out of their stupor.
"Most Indian consumers don't bother to
check labels for things like expiry dates," Bejon Misra, author of
the study, contends. The result: food items past their date of use are
mistakenly bought, at times consumed. Making a mockery of common sense
and PFA guidelines, 10 items in the survey had labels in foreign languages
only. Chicken or chocolate? Open it to find out. The Health Ministry has
now begun efforts to acquaint Customs officials and importers with the
maze of laws governing imported food products. It also claims to be overhauling
the PFA Act, though that might take a year. As usual, the Government is
late off the starting block.
"We should have foreseen all this before
we started removing QRs," says Parna Dasgupta, secretary of the Confederation
of Indian Food Trade and Industry (CIFTI), an arm of FICCI. "Most
deliberations about WTO in the earlier years were confined to academicians,
the Commerce Ministry and intellectuals. We failed to drive home the implications
to those at the operating level." Anticipating the chaos, this January
CIFTI published a handbook that throws some light on the relevant laws.
Currently, importers of food products in India must wade through almost
a dozen laws including The Customs Act (1962), PFA Act (1954), PFA Rules
(1955) and Fruit Products Order (1955) among others. "There is no
dearth of rules and regulations," admits D.P. Tripathi, secretary,
Department of FPI, in a moment of unwitting self-deprecation, "but
there is a gap between what the rules are and what the implementation
is."
So many of the violations unearthed by voice
could be a result of ignorance, not insolence. Customs' ignorance included.
Last November, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued
a notification imposing compliance of all conditions of the Standards
of Weights and Measures Rules on imported products, as applicable to domestic
products; and made the import of 131 products subject to compliance with
the Bureau of Indian Standards guidelines, again as applicable to Indian
goods. Director-General of Foreign Trade N.L. Lakhanpal explains the need
for the notification: "In a sense, earlier too it was the responsibility
of Customs to check according to these laws, because all our laws are
supposed to be followed by imported goods, but since there were very few
food products coming in, it wasn't happening."
Customs passes the blame for its failure elsewhere.
"In these days of liberalisation, there will be a hue and cry if
we do 100 per cent checking. Such a fuss is made even about the random
sampling we do," says S.P. Srivastav, chief commissioner, Customs,
Delhi zone. Sri Ram Khanna of voice strikes back: "If this is their
attitude, our food adulteration laws are not worth the paper they are
written on."
Another major problem is the sometimes senseless
discrepancy between Indian and international guidelines. As a result,
many products in the survey might have been following reasonable rules
in their own country, but failed to make the grade in India. For instance,
to reduce labelling requirements, a number of countries would not ask
for the date of manufacture if the expiry/best before date is given: in
India, both are required. Domestic producers grumble about strictures
on additives which have been proved safe worldwide. An example: artificial
sweeteners are not allowed in any processed food product in India, except
in aerated beverages, pan masala, supari and pan flavouring material.
"You can't wake up one morning and say, we are opening up the economy,
then not provide a level playing field to domestic manufacturers,"
says an official spokesperson for Dabur (India). "You have to protect
domestic industry also."
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