Tougher laws needed to regulate food industry

Only a few days back, the US government reached an out of court settlement with British Petroleum (BP) for a 2010 oil spill it had caused in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil major will pay $ 18.7 billion in damages.

Spewing 4 million barrels into the sea, the oil spill had caused 11 deaths and led to a massive destruction of the marine ecosystem. Instead of worrying about how the huge penalties will impact future investments, I remember US President Barack Obama saying soon after the oil spill happened: “Will make BP pay.”

And it did. This is how the world’s only superpower means business. 

While it may be perfectly right to feel outraged at the huge BP oil spill penalties when compared with the paltry compensation package of $ 470 million that Union Carbide was made to pay for the Bhopal gas tragedy, in which some 10,000 people had died, I thought over the past three decades India had learnt the lessons the hard way. The desperation of foreign investments will not be at the cost of human lives, food safety and the environment. After all, there had been heated debates on the questionable role of politicians, judiciary and the industry leaders in ensuring justice to the victims.  

But I was wrong. Following the recall of Nestle’s maggi noodles, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has accused the food regulator – Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) – for inculcating an “environment of fear” in food industry. Her ire was obviously aimed at the food safety organization which had imposed a ban on maggi noodles in June. Addressing recently the regional CII office in Chandigarh, and later in a detailed interview with a newspaper, she criticized the spurt in food safety tests which she believes is hampering more investments to come in. Her man argument was that there is no testing protocol for quality check on processed food. She also blamed the return of ‘Inspector Raj’ that is haunting the food industry.

Mrs Badal’s outburst against FSSAI comes at a time when a US study has found sugary drinks responsible for 184,000 deaths globally every year. Considering that the consumption of sugary drinks has multiplied in India over years, and knowing the damming health impacts, including fatalities, it leaves behind, I expected the Food Processing Ministry to launch a massive nationwide campaign to educate people about the dangers of consuming colas, and at the same time directing the manufacturers to ensure that the sugary drinks being sold are completely safe for human health. For instance, the well-known food writer Vir Sanghvi has in a recent tweet asked Pepsico to explain why the beverage company is using Aspartme in sugary drinks in India whereas  completely blacking it out in America?

The Diabetes Foundation and the Centre for Nutrition & Metabolic Research has pointed to the continuous rise in consumption of sugary beverages, including energy drinks. With per capita consumption of sugary drinks rising from 2 lit in 1998 to 11 lit in 2014, these sugary drinks are being blamed for an increasing number of deaths and disabilities.  Considering that Swami Ramdev has been repeatedly warning people against using these sugary drinks claiming that these sodas as good as toilet cleaners, I had expected the Food Processing ministry to be extra vigilant.

The task to ensure processed food is undoubtedly safe becomes more onerous and urgent in the light of the report submitted by the US President’s panel on cancer. It estimates that 41 per cent of Americans living today will suffer cancer in their lifetime. The report warns against the pervasive use of chemicals in processed food – including pesticides, insecticides and synthetic ingredients in the processed food. Fighting cancer therefore requires tougher laws and strict implementation of food laws. If the US food industry was responsive enough, the country wouldn’t have faced a cancer epidemic. But still, the food industry does adhere to the quality standards in US/Europe. Much of the problem in the developed countries is because of lax quality standards in view of the aggressive lobbying by the industry.

Following the maggi noodles ban, the FSSAI has drawn samples from some of the major brands like Hindustan Unilever, Britannia, Nestle India, Heinz India, MTR, Haldiram and others. Quality test of food products for safety certainly warrants urgency considering that food adulteration and contamination has become rampant over the years. With nearly 80,000 food processing companies in operation, including Big Food, and with hardly any quality laboratories to check what goes inside, manufacturers have had a field day so far.

It took 16 months from the day the first maggisample was drawn to the final test report. Woefully lack of adequate testing laboratories all these years has therefore been an easy escape route for the food companies to manage getting Scott free. A Zee Business report showed how 75 per cent companies, whose samples were drawn, escaped being penalized because of gaps in quality testing. In the past five years, only 25 per cent of the 53,406 companies whose samples had failed to conform to quality standards, could be penalized. The penalties of course are too low which does not provide any deterrent.

It is alright to decry ‘Inspector Raj’ but unless the inspectors draw samples regularly how will the food processing industry be made to clean up its act? In China, there exists one food quality laboratory for 0.2 million people. In India, one lab is available for 88 million people. The thrust therefore should be to increase the number of quality testing labs at a phenomenal rate. And I am sure the Chinese labs are not only for decorative purposes but for testing food samples. If the food industry is perfectly comfortable with regular food testing in China why it should cry foul in India?

The need for investment therefore should not be compromised in the name of tougher food safety laws as well as environmental norms. India needs responsive business, and all investments must respect the rights of the people. The food industry must be asked to adhere to the safety laws, and if it is unable to do so, be directed to pull down the shutter. #

Food industry must sticks to safety laws. Hindustan Times. July 16, 2015.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/food-industry-must-stick-to-safety-laws/article1-1369661.aspx

While Indian farmers are forced to dump tomatoes in the streets, Indian food processing industry merrily imports cheaper tomato paste from China

Not able to get the right price for tomatoes, farmers often resort to throwing away the produce -- The Hindu pic

Some decades back, soon after the Ministry of Food Processing was set up in prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's tenure, I was speaking at the M S Swaminathan Foundation in Chennai. While most speakers were busy hyping the importance of food processing in reducing food wastage, which I am not in disagreement, I stressed on the need to ensure that the nascent food industry focuses more on sourcing local farm produce in processing rather than importing the food concentrate. Illustrating the point I made, I gave an example of the orange juice being made available in tetra-packs.

At that time, I remember one of the popular orange juice brands had it written on the tetra-pack: "Made from freshly picked up oranges from California."

I am sure you will agree that if the orange concentrate is to be imported from California, all the talk of reducing food wastage becomes meaningless. Soon after my viewpoint was carried prominently by the media, the processing house at least dropped this sentence from their juice cartons.

Yesterday, on a visit to a food processing unit in Sonepat district in Haryana, I was shocked when I was told that tomato paste is being imported in large quantities from China. In fact, most of the big brands of tomato ketchup and tomato puree are using imported paste and pulp from China. This is happening at a time when farmers are repeatedly being forced to throw tomatoes onto the streets for want of buyers. This year too, when food inflation was at its peak, reports of dumping of tomatoes by farmers had poured in from several parts of the country, including Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

With tomato prices crashing to Rs 2 (and at several places to Re 1 per kg) farmers had no choice but to feed it to cattle or to throw it away.

This was happening at a time when the tomato processing industry was merrily importing tomato paste and up mainly from China. While politicians, TV commentators, editorial writers stressed on the need to strengthen food processing, not many know that the existing tomato processing industry was relaying heavily on cheaper import of pulp and paste. This is not the first year for such imports, a review of reports on Google showed that such imports are continuing over the years.

Not many know that the popular brands of tomato ketchup, tomato puree and even tomato juices that we consume at home are made from tomatoes imported from China, Nepal, Italy, USA and the Netherlands. In other words, we are inadvertently helping tomato farmers of the countries from where we import while our own farmers are left to die.

Just in one month, between Aug 28, 2014 and Sept 28, 2014, India imported US $ 376,009 worth of dried tomato and tomato products (like paste, pulp and juice concentrate) from China, followed by US $ 94,057 worth of imports from Nepal, and US $ 44,160 from the Netherlands. Some more research, and I find that in 2010 when traders were eyeing the market opportunities in Pakistan arising from devastating floods, the Indian processing industry was busy importing tomato paste from China. A news report in the Economic Times (Oct 20, 2010) quoted Pradeep Chordia, managing director Chordia Food Products Ltd saying: "We can't afford the high local prices so we imported 80 per cent of our requirement of tomato paste from China this year."

Another food processor, Akshay Bector of the Ludhian-based Rs 400-crore Cremica Group said: "There is a cost advantage in buying from China versus India where prices fluctuate." This company supplies to McDonalds, Taj Group, ITC Group, Jet Airways, Indian Airlines, and chains such as Barista, Cafe Coffee Day, Pizza Hut, Domino and Papa John's.

Go back a little more, and you find a lot of Indian companies importing tomato paste way back in 2005, and even before. No wonder, tomato farmers in India have been at a great disadvantage for several years now, if not decades.

I therefore have three suggestions:

1. Ministry of Food Processing should encourage food processors to mention on the label the place from where the raw material is being sourced. Traceability is now an important trade issue.

2. It should be made mandatory for the food processing units to source the raw material that is available in India, from domestic sources. This is the only way to develop the back-end infrastructure that will help reduce farm wastage.

3. A minimum support prices should be announced for tomato which should serve as a floor price for the markets.

Food processing does not make food available for the poor.

At a TV panel yesterday on food security I wasn't surprised when Amit Mitra, Secy General of the industry-lobby group FICCI, said that India ranks 66th among the 88 countries categorised in the IFPRI Global Hunger Index. This is happening at a time when 40 per cent of fruits and vegetables go waste due to improper storage and in transportation, and that too in a country which is the second biggest producer of vegetables.

This flawed arguement was very cleverly used to clamour for the urgent need to push in for food processing. Whether this will help in ensuring food security for the poor and have-nots is something that is very clearly ducked by the industry. No wonder, the Planning Commission is making available roughly Rs 1.50 lakh crores in the 10th and 11th Plan period for the food processing industry. It isn't therefore surprising when you hear radio advertisements telling you about Rs 50 lakh subsidy available if you set up a food processing plant.

When the issue was passed on to me, I made it abundantly clear that the statistical figure of 40 per cent existed when I was a student some 30 years back. I am sure ten years from now, we would still be quoting this data of 40 per cent wastage, with actually no body making an effort to find out whether the wastage has been reduced or increased. The figure of food loss is used by the industry to seek more subsidy, more funds. And the academicians, and the policy makers, ostensibly appalled by the extent of food wastage, and in their ognorance support the massive investment that is being made.

I was therefore happy when Swami Ramdev interjected and made it abundantly clear that the Patanjali Vidyapeeth in Haridwar had recently set up a food processing unit, probably one of the biggest in the country. But as someone who is actually engaged in food processing, it was revealing to learn that processed foods do not feed the poor and hungry. In fact, he said that the processed foods are expensive and therefore not an answer to the bigger question of feeding the country.

Only a few days, I was asked by a food processing publication to comment on Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget allocations for the food processing industry. Just to draw you back into what the Budget 2010 provided, Finance Minister did make a provision to set up 5 more food parks, and also provided some exemptions for the import of processing machinery. Fair enough.

The Finance Minister in my opinion has been more than kind to the food processing industry. He has allotted five food parks and given concessions on machinery for food processing equipments, which ofcourse would be welcomed by the industry. Considering the impact of the policies, I wonder how will it help in addressing the food challenge for the country. Now, I am aware that food waste has to be minimised, but why do it in the name of feeding the poor?

Often the industry quotes another statistics -- only 2 per cent of the food in India is processed, which is a pittance considering what the US and Europe does. This is something that I cannot digest. In fact, this is simply a misinformation campaign simply to hoodwink the gullible consumer to believe how urgent is the need to set up food processing plants.

Let us look at it dispassionately. In the Indian households most of the food is cooked and is processed at the home level. In other words, 100 per cent food is processed, the only difference being that it is done at the household level. The statistics that we quote are therefore misleading. If this food is not being processed by the industry, is there a problem? Does it mean that the processed food in the market would be more healthy and nutritious? If not, than why are we promoting a shift in our food cosumption habits and patterns just to expand the reach of the market?

In the US and Europe people increasingly rely on processed foods from the shops because they do not know how to cook. British food for instance is considered to be bland. In the OECD countries, the agri-business industry has over the years succeeded in building up the dependency for food supplied through shops. People have simply forgotten (and I am talking at the macro level) on how to cook at home and eat healthy.

I am therefore not surprised to know that in the US alone, more than than 4 lakh people die every year from obesity, and its related suffering. In other words, from eating the wrong food.

I am sure you will agree that there is no need for us to follow the US and European models and increase the sale of processed foods in the shops. There is no need for us to spread the faulty information and 'educate' the people (including the housewives) that they don't have to waste time in cooking, and that it is demeaning for the women to be in the kitchen. But yes, there is an increasing percentage of the neorich class that feels ashamed in spending enough time at home to cook, and it is this class or generation that suffers more from diabetes and heart-strokes.

With growing awareness over health issues, consumers in India (and elsewhere) should be directed to reduce their growing preference for processed foods. The other day, I picked up ready-to-serve paranthas from a departmental store in New Delhi. I had to throw them in the dustbin, they were so bad. I was amused to also find canned dal makhani on the supermarket shelves. Oh dear ! what an aweful taste (and I am not even talking about the harmful ingredients it carries). Please don't get me wrong. Some of you may find these products very useful, but I strongly feel that we need to educate the young on the advantages of cooking at home. It is not only economical, but also healthy and nutritious.

All industries thrive on subsidies and bailout packages. This is how the GDP goes up, and the Industrialists loot the State exchequer. I think the industry is capable of taking care of itself and does not need support or handholding from the government. The subsidy allotted for the food processing industry should be removed and instead it should be given to the farmers who are in any case dying. If the farmer welfare is given adequate consideration, the entire food chain would be safe. And if you and me shun processed foods, the industry will not be able to do damage to the present generation, and also save the future generations from the unhealthy and hazardous foods that are being marketed.

Swami Ramdev has already inspired the nation to take control of their own health in their own hands. We now have to extend this to the food that we consume. We have to take control of the food we eat. There is a need to build up a nationwide campaign on healthy cooking and healthy eating. As to the role the agri-business industry can play, I suggest we divert the attention of the food processing industry to focus on rampant food adulteration that prevails.

If the industry can somehow ensure that the raw material and the ingredients that we need for our daily consumption are safe and pure, believe me it would be no less than a revolution. At the same time, processing industry need not be always high tech and sophisticated in the manner that it bypasses some of the normal requirements that people have, like milk-based products (especially sweets) that are at present highly adulterated.

I am equally worried at the increasing dependence of the industry on imported fruit concentrates. If you import orange concentrate from Brazil/Chile and then provide juice in tetrapacks, this will not help reduce the 40 per cent fruits that go waste. In fact, the fruit wastage will increase. How can one justify that our own harvest of oranges/kinnows goes waste while the industry finds it convenient to import concentrates from abroad.