CSE provides FSSAI details honey test probe
NEW DELHI: Environment watchdog CSE on Friday said it shared with FSSAI the details of its investigation into the “wellorganised” honey adulteration business.
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) had on Wednesday reported adulteration in honey sold by major brands in the country, adding that any claim by these companies of meeting all Indian standards “holds limited value” and was “jugglery” of language.
CSE Director General Sunita Narain emphasised that the investigations had revealed that the honey adulteration business was sophisticated and that it was designed to bypass the purity and quality standards laid down by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
The CSE said in a statement on Friday that it presented to the officials of FSSAI, including Chairperson Rita Teotia and CEO Arun Singhal, the details of the investigation, including the stepby-step developments which brought the food fraud to light.
“CSE also showed how Chinese companies were openly advertising products to bypass standards on their website; how it had contacted these companies; and how it had procured the sample,” it said.
The environment watchdog said the FSSAI officials asked about the specific names under which the adulterants were being imported into India.
The CSE explained that on online trade portals, Chinese companies (the same companies that were exporting to India) were using ‘fructose’ and ‘glucose’ as the key words. The watchdog also provided information about the fact that fructose and glucose were being imported into India - 11,000 tonnes in the past few years. And that the bulk of this was from China. The CSE said the FSSAI officials wanted to know about the tests conducted on the deliberately adulterated syrup samples, which CSE had procured from China and from a factory in Jaspur in Uttarakhand.
In India, the syrup was called “all-pass syrup”, CSE explained to FSSAI. The environment watchdog said FSSAI representatives enquired why CSE had not asked for ‘SMR’ - specific marker for rice - in the spiked samples that were sent to the National Dairy Development Board laboratory in Gujarat for testing.