Food safety, the prime concern:

Check expiry dates, cautions Health Ministry

By Ranil WIJAYAPALA

The glamorous and glittering supermarkets mushrooming all over the country has become an appetizer for many who are frantically going behind attractive food items for their daily consumption.

But the question is whether we are selecting food items which are safe for human consumption, as ordinary people are not aware about the chemicals and the ingredients of the food items they buy from the market whether it is imported or not.

To find what kind of mechanism is available in Sri Lanka to ensure that the food items available in the market are safe for human consumption the Sunday Observer interviewed Director Environmental Health, Occupational Health and Food Safety of the Ministry of Health Dr. Ananda Jayalal.

Following are excerpts of the interview;

Q: Food safety is one of the key concerns in the developed world due to various factors. What are the key mechanisms Sri Lanka is having at present to ensure that the food items available in Sri Lanka markets are safe for human consumption ?

A: Food safety is a very important issue for everybody, because fatal diseases can be contacted and there can be very unpleasant situation like diarrhoea and the long consumption of such food can generate cancerous material inside human body. So food safety is a very important issue.

The Food Act of No. 26 of 1980 is the main legislature controlling the food safety in Sri Lanka. Under the Food Act the Minister of Health can issue food safety regulations from time to time in consultation with the Food Advisory Committee. At present there are standing regulations covering almost all the food. These regulations are mainly implemented by our Public Health Inspectors on the field. According to this system, Sri Lanka is divided into Medical Officers of Health and they are the authorised officers under the Food Act.

Under these Medical Officers Public Health Officers are operating. So they are authorised to enter a market or any other place where food items are sold and check what is there and take necessary samples and send them for laboratory analysis. They can prosecute the offenders in the Magistrates Court. They are authorised to do all these things. Under the Food Act the production, storing, transportation, exposure of food items for sale, and distribution everything is covered. Advertisement and labelling is also covered under this regulation.

Q: There are serious issues relating to the imported food items. The way they are imported, packaging and the ingredients of these food items have become big issues. What are the mechanism in place to ensure that food items which are imported to the country are safe for human consumption?

A: Under the Food Act, Director General of Customs is the authorised officer for the importation of food. So we assist the Director General of Customs by inducting food inspectors in the entry points such as Colombo harbour and air port. They are being asked to implement these regulations under the Food Act and they can inspect the food that is being brought to the country and take samples. For example milk powder, they take a sample for fat content and for three test and for radio active. So they have to send samples for the Government Analyst and to the Atomic Energy Authority. Once when those reports are cleared the consignment are released to the market. Every food is monitored like this.

Q: There are issues relating to the importation of food items in bulk form and packeted here in Sri Lanka. There is no guarantee whether they are bringing expired food items or not?

A: This is a very difficult situation to monitor. They import things like milk powder in bulk form and packed them here. Sometimes milk powder is produced in some other country brought to another country and packeted them and released to the market. Sometime these things are very difficult to monitor. But the manufacturer or the distributor of these food items are responsible for the quality of the food.

They are responsible when something happens before the expiry date they mention in the pack.

They should guarantee that the food is safe until such date they have expressed. They have the freedom to express the date of expiry and that is their responsibility. If we found that the food item is not suitable for human consumption before that date they can be penalised. There are instances where two of three things are mixed together and packed and released to the market. Then there are difficulties to check whether they are fit for consumption. Even then the manufacturers, distributor or the packer is responsible for the quality of the food released to the market. They should guarantee that until such date they have mentioned the food is safe for consumption.

Q: There are so many food additives used in the food items available in the market. In Europe there are E- numbers to mention the food additives included in the food item. What are regulations available in Sri Lanka to educate the public about food additives?

A: There are regulations with regard to food additives. Our standard are also on par with European standards. Most of the additives which are not allowed are not allowed in Sri Lanka also. There are chemicals that can be used for certain kinds of foods that cannot be used for other foods. There are restrictions also. We have clear regulations to say that these things can be added and things that cannot be added.

The labelling

The regulations say that the additives should be indicated on the label. Only thing is many are technical names and people are not aware of such things. Anyway our Public Health Inspectors and the Food Inspectors are aware.

In our programmes also we make them aware of these things.

That is why one PHI inspected some food items and filed action against the manufacturer of a popular brand of margarines.

Q: There were issues relating to the substandard storage of food items which have been contaminated and become poisonous to people. How are you monitoring those things?

A: There may be chemicals in the containers and packaging materials which can be entered into the food. That possibility is there. That is a issue discussed at the international level as to whether these packaging materials are safe or not. There is a possibility of some packaging materials entering the food or water. But usually that cannot cause sudden illness or sudden death but it can be carcinogenic.

Q: There are some food additives such as E- 621 MSG Mono Sodium Glutamate which are banned in certain countries but imported to Sri Lanka in popular brand names. What action can you take with regard to banning such harmful food additives? Is there any process to do so?

A: But I don't think it is banned abroad. There are international standards. For food there is an international organisation called Food and Agriculture Organisation, World Health Organisation joint Food Standard Programme.

It is called Codex. They meet yearly and update their standards for food. Most of the time we follow the international standards. Most of the time food additives we have allowed are approved internationally. Mono sodium glutamate for certain concentration they are allowed to use.

Q: The Health Ministry recently introduced regulations with regard to food packaging. What is the aim of this regulation and what are the packaging material which are harmful?

A:We cover so many aspects in this regulation. If you take one, the packaging should be upto international standards. Most of the time the chemicals and materials used in the package materials are not food grade matters. Under these regulations even the glue sticker in the bottled water should be food grade one.

The other thing is the chemicals in the container should not leak into the food matter. Packages used for any other purpose also cannot be used for food packaging. Another thing is toys which are stuck in to the food item as promotional matters. They can put them but the food should be separated from the pack.

The regulations aims at prohibiting the import, manufacture, transport, advertise for sale, sell, package, store, use or distribute food packaging material or article which under normal and foreseeable conditions, injurious to human health, deteriorate the organometallic characteristics of food or change the nature substance and quality of food.

Manufactures should be able to produce a certificate from the raw material used for the packaging are in conformity with the international standards.

The packaging material should not contain any substance of antimony, arsenic, cadmium or any other toxic substances.

These regulations are also aimed at prohibiting the use of any vinyl chloride plastics in coatings applied to fresh fruits in order to retain freshness or any bottle, box or other container made of or containing acrylonitrile plastics as a container.

These regulations also has prohibited the use of any package, appliance, container or vessel that has been used or intended to be used for any non-food product to or keep sugar or flour in any sack that has previously been used for any other purpose, use of any edible fat or any edible oil in any bottle or metal container that has previously been used for any other purpose, use of any plastic container that has previously been used for any other purpose unless the food has been packed in any extra wrapper of food grade material.

The use of any bottled drinking water in any container of not less than 18 litres in size that has previously been used for any other purpose and packing food in any package appliance, container or vessel that has been made from recycle plastic.

Q: Has the Health Ministry taken any follow-up action with regard to Court Order given against the manufacturer of a popular brand of margarine?

A: The case regarding this issue is not over yet. The Court has given an interim injunction. Court has given an order that the manufacturers should mention that the product is not suitable for children under three years.

At the moment there are a lot of agitation going on with the Attorney General and the Ministry of Health to implement that. The other thing is that they have been prosecuted under the Penal Code but not according to the Food Act.

In the penal code also there is a provision to take action against any food manufacturer if there is something harmful to the human life is found in food items.

Some Public Health Inspectors also use that provision to prosecute the offenders. Sometimes they use both the penal code and also the Food Act.

In addition to Food Act there are laws available under Consumer Affairs Authority by laws of the Municipal Councils and Pradeshiya Sabas. Some PHIs are making use of them also to prosecute the offenders.

Q: The Health Ministry is going to impose restrictions on importing food items which are closer to the expiry date. How are you going to implement that?

A: This is a very recent regulation we imposed under the Food Act and it will come into effect from August 1, 2011. From that regulation we intend to restrict the importation of food items which has less than 60 per cent of its lifespan when it is imported to the country. Sometimes they import very late and they will expire soon after being released to the market.

With the introduction of this regulation there is substantial time available for the consumers to consume it.

Q: Health Ministry is imposing many regulations with regard to the food safety. The complaint is that there is not enough strength to monitor whether these regulations are properly implemented?

A: We are progressing very well. There are enough Public Health Inspectors. We have around 1600 PHIs. One thing is that they have to attend to so many other activities such as dengue control activities.

When their areas are affected with communicable diseases, naturally they will focus their attention at controlling that. Therefore food control activities will suffer. But lot of things are happening with regard to the food safety which the public are not aware of.

If you go to a supermarket and ask they fear PHIs. Sometimes PHIs are having their regular visits to these supermarkets and taking regular sampling. But I agree that a lot more has to be done.

We will gradually make the public aware of the food safety measures. Now we are giving a lot of publicity for these activities. Sometimes government officials are not aware of these things. We are hoping to make people aware of these things.