While voicing his approval for several consumer-facing initiatives, Ram Vilas Paswan said he would write to his counterpart in the health ministry calling for a statutory “not healthy food” message on packaging.
"In some countries, it is written on the label if junk foods are healthy or not. We do not. We have received suggestions if cigarette pack can carry a warning 'it is injurious to health', then why not ‘a not healthy food' warning on junk foods," said Paswan.
The minister also questioned how companies were approaching the inclusion of technical information on labels.
"The letters on labels and their size is so small that no consumer can read. We have been thinking on this issue for last two years. We need to increase the size of the label,” he said.
Turning to the issue of antibiotics in foods, Paswan also said that action need to be taken to stop their use of antibiotics in farming, and pledged to lobby the agriculture and health ministries on this issue.
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Bangladesh gets new regulator to oversee revised food safety law
Bangladesh’s new food safety regulator will commence operations in April with a brief to prevent the production and sale of adulterated food items, the country’s food minister has announced.
"The authority will inspect the factories, and take stern measures against the companies, which will not follow the safety rules,” said Qamrul Islam in Dhaka.
In February, the government began enacting the Food Safety Act 2013 and appointing members of the five-member Bangladesh Food Safety Authority, which will put an end to the previous, multi-ministry-controlled regulator which was seen to bring more confusion than satisfactory resolutions.
Previously, Bangladesh’s food supply was overseen under legislation that dated back to 1959 and was limited in scope.
The government framed the safe food act in October 2013 amid rising health threats and widespread food adulteration through the use of chemicals. But the law could not immediately be enforced owing to a delay in framing rules and forming a food safety advisory council and the BFSA, officials said.
The newly amended Act allows anyone to lodge a complaint with the chairman of the authority against food manufacturers and seek compensation.
It categorises 23 offences for which those convicted will face up to five years in prison and/or a BDT1,000,000 (US$12,800) fine.
Under rules governing the use of insecticides, hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals, those found to have caused adulteration beyond permissible limits face three years in prison and/or a fine of BDT600,000 fine. The same penalty applies to food service owners who are found to cause health hazards to consumers.
It also has a provision to penalise public officials who are found to have failed to discharge their duties as stipulated in the Act. Mobile courts are expected to be formed to hear criminal cases.
India’s dairy segment grows despite global slump
India has bucked the trend shown by the globally depressed dairy sector, and is expected to witness significant growth this year.
The largest producer and consumer of milk globally, India should see 15.6% year-on-year increase in revenues in the 2016 financial year, according to data by Research & Markets, an analytics firm.
While traditionally the country’s dairy sector has largely engaged in producing liquid milk, the past two decades have seen a change in demographic and dietary patterns and now value-added products have gained importance, with segments such as ice cream, yogurt, cheese and flavoured milk etc each seeing wide acceptance in the market.
However, during the last year, milk prices have increased due to a rise in cost of cattle feeds, with this milk inflation adversely affecting the margins of the companies involved in production.
With weak import demand and oversupply, global milk prices have remained low over the last year, exacerbated by a slowdown in China's economy, the abolition of the European Union's dairy-production quotas and Russia's ban on EU produce.
China's dairy sector, which was valued at US$40.6bn in 2013, is currently experiencing oversupply to such an extent that farmers are pouring milk down the drain and slaughtering cattle.
The sector is also suffering on account of the global fall in milk prices and the quality issues in domestic milk production. Locals who can afford it prefer to consume only foreign brands of milk and milk products, thereby causing a decrease in demand.
New app is latest attempt by government to bring technology to farmers
India’s agriculture minister has launched a mobile app to provide farmers with information relating to best cultivation practices, resource conservation, and new varieties of crops and farm machinery.
According to Radha Mohan Singh, the Pusa Krishi app will “fulfil prime minister Narendra Modhi’s call for taking technology from lab to land” while the government works towards empowering farmers through various initiatives.
Singh was speaking at a three-day farmers fair in New Delhi to celebrate the contribution of India’s farmers to agriculture.
The announcement follows the launch earlier this month by Modhi of another app, which provides data on weather and market prices as well as information on managing crop pests and diseases.