India
oi-Gaurav Sharma
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has banned the sale of compounded hing made by Everest Food Products and Laljee Godhoo after their samples were found to be deficient in alcohol-soluble extract, as per lab tests.
The food regulator has asked both the companies to explain the deficiencies and submit action taken reports, apart from recalling the sub-standard products from the market.
India’s FSSAI banned Everest and Laljee Godhoo compounded hing after tests revealed low alcohol-soluble extract (0-3% vs. 5% minimum) and high starch levels, mandating product recalls and explanations.
The sale of their products has been prohibited till they comply with the food law specifications.
The action comes after the FSSAI conducted a surveillance in response to a consumer complain about the quality of hing being sold by companies in the market.
The samples of hing were collected from the manufacturing units in Mumbai and Umbergaon, Gujarat, from both the companies.
According to the Indian food law, compounded hing should have minimum 5 per cent alcohol-soluble extract.
However, the samples procured from Everest and Laljee Godhoo contained 0 per cent to 3 per cent alcohol-soluble extract.
This indicates that companies have been using 30-40 per cent less raw hing in the compounded hing.
Besides, the alcohol-soluble extract collected from six varieties of raw hing procured from Laljee Godhoo’s manufacturing unit had 15-32 per cent starch against the permissible 1 per cent as per the FSSAI regulations.
The FSSAI has also found deficiencies in three products of Everest – egg curry masala, chicken masala and garam masala. However, the sale of these products hasn’t been banned.
Meanwhile, FSSAI informed the Supreme Court about the warning label proposal for packaged food items, which is in the works.
The proposed warning label would be a bright red hexagon which would highlight the presence of ‘excessive’ levels of salt, sugar or saturated fats in the mentioned processed foods.
The proposal was sent to the Supreme Court by FSSAI last week after a Supreme Court bench led by Justice JB Pardiwala grilled the authority and the Union government for not notifying front-of-pack warning labels for processed foods, as mandated by the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2011.
