Oman issues new food safety law

Muscat: Oman has promulgated a new Food Safety Law - the latest in a series of legislations aimed at safeguarding public health and strengthening consumer safety. .

The Food Safety Law, issued on Saturday via a Royal Decree empowers the Minister of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources to issue the necessary regulations in support of the law, which comes into force roughly six months from now. .

The Omani government has been taking steps to build its legislative, enforcement and diagnostic capabilities in dealing with threats to public health and consumer safety stemming from the import and consumption of unsafe food. .

These risks are not only associated with expired and improperly preserved food, but also from the potential use of unsafe food additives. .

Likewise, food imports from countries reporting outbreaks of epidemics, such as avian influenza are subjected to rapid import restrictions. .

The new law provides a legal basis for the government's plans to establish a food management regime. This new system aims to ensure safety along the entire food chain. .

The Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources, the nodal agency for the enforcement of the new law, has outlined a national framework to ensure the safety of food. .

Envisaged as part of this framework is a national food and drug authority. Its goal is to raise food safety to international standards. .

Abu Dhabi intensifies inspection of restaurants

Abu Dhabi: A wound on a finger, no gloves, no uniform or hairnets - this was how workers were caught preparing food at "grade three" restaurants when inspected by Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority recently.

Chicken was being kept on the kitchen table at room temperature, instead of a refrigerator. Although it is mandatory to use stainless steel kitchen utensils, two outlets were still using aluminium utensils. These two outlets already had two warnings earlier.

The two restaurants will be closed down, until they fix the violations, a senior official told Gulf News.

Excuses

When we issue warnings and 'violation', they always give excuses and ask for more time but after closure, they fix everything within 48 hours," said Mustafa R. Al Gazali, Manager of General Food Inspections at the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) who led the inspections at Al Khatim on Abu Dhabi-Al Ain highway.

"After the closure, the outlets have to pay a fine of Dh100 a day up to four days and afterwards a fixed fine of Dh10,000," Al Gazali said.

Inspections at outlets on highways have intensified, as large numbers of people eat at highway restaurants, said Mohammad Jalal Al Reyaysa, Manager of Communication and Information Department at ADFCA.

An Indian restaurant was using a wooden table instead of a stainless steel one. Its floor and walls were dirty. The drainage pipe was not properly closed and covered. An old and filthy container was used to keep some food items. A Pakistani restaurant had an unclean kitchen with no ceramic tiles on its walls.

"We insists on ceramic tiles on kitchen walls for better hygiene as it can be cleaned easily," he said. "There was no proper ventilation and lights in the kitchen. A worker with a wounded finger was still preparing food. We always warn workers with injuries on their hands or skin diseases to stay away from work," said Mohammad Ali Mashjari, an inspector.

Some personal belongings such as bags and shoes were found in the kitchen which is illegal. Chicken, fish and vegetables were kept together without a partition in a freezer with a broken door. "It will cause contamination," said Mashjari.

Ministry to ban high-fat snacks at UAE school canteens

Dubai: The Ministry of Education will revise the list of food that can be served at school canteens and ban fast food from September.

The ministry will closely monitor the sort of food offered in public as well as private schools.

According to Ahmad Abdul Rahman, director of student activities at the sports and health programmes department in the Ministry of Education, the percentage of obesity in the 740 public schools in UAE is estimated to be more than 20 per cent.

With the introduction of the Al Haraka Baraka programme (Movement is a blessing) in early 2006, 30 public schools in the country succeeded in integrating the philosophy of physical activity into the students' daily lives.

The Ministry of Education already has a list of food and drinks permitted in schools. But the problem is that we never had a strong monitoring body to closely inspect the sort of food offered and circulated among pupils," said Abdul Rahman.

The current list will be revamped and expanded to ban snacks rich in fat such as fried burgers, fries and pizzas. Schools will be forbidden from serving chocolates in canteens, said Dr Osama Alalla, nutritionist and exercise physiologist and health expert at MoE.

The new standards will be implemented in all schools. Obesity levels are high among students in private schools, said Abdul Rahman adding that they will closely monitor the eating habits of students at five pilot schools.

With the cooperation with Mars GCC, Arab Nutrition Centre and King Saud University, the Al Haraka Baraka programme is becoming popular with more than 15,000 children partaking in the activities.

Because of the programme's success, plans are now underway to revamp and re-launch it later this year, said Christine Greeves, Corporate Affairs Manager of Mars GCC.

Abdul Rahman said 60 per cent of public schools lack physical education facilities such as gymnasiums. He said the programme does not require any high tech equipment, it basically aims to introduce the philosophy and culture of physical activity.

"The biggest problem is that more than 80 per cent of our children do not bother to eat breakfast before coming to school, which is very essential to boost and nurture their brain activities during the day. They consume chocolates and sweets instead of complex sugars such as fruits, dates, and almonds," said Dr Alalla.

For the 2007-2008 academic year, six outstanding schools were recognised for their achievement in implementing the programme.

IFC stake in Modern Dairies

The World Bank Group's private sector funding arm International Finance Corporation (IFC) will be acquiring 46.50 lakh shares of Haryana-based Modern Dairies for Rs 27.90 crore. The dairy firm has entered into a 'Subscription Agreement' with IFC in this regard, Under the agreement, IFC would be subscribing up to 46.50 lakh shares at Rs 60 each, Modern Dairies said in a filing to the BSE.

A meeting of the allotment committee of the directors of Modern Dairies would be held on July 8, to allot the said number of shares, subject to the receipt of subscription amount from IFC. The agreement was signed pursuant to the approval from the shareholders of Modern Dairies and IFC board's consent.

Tetra Pak marks World Milk Day

Tetra Pak Arabia, the leading food processing and packaging company, celebrated 'World Milk Day' with a day of fun-filled activities at Seef Mall.

World Milk Day is held every June 1 and was set-up by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation.

The activity is part of Tetra Pak Arabia's ongoing drive to raise awareness about the health benefits of packaged milk products in the region.

"We believe it is our responsibility to enlighten the nutritional and healthy aspects of consuming milk on a daily basis" said Tetra Pak dairy category manager Jesus Ortega.

Tetra Pak made Bahrain part of its regional campaign which also includes Kuwait, UAE and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The company celebrated World Milk Day with primary schools in the UAE by bringing to life a Tetra Pak milk day mascot in the form of Cosmic Cow - an animated character that children could easily identify with and learn from.

Starting from June 8, Cosmic Cow has been visiting various schools in the UAE and educating children on the importance of milk consumption, especially milk protected in carton packages.

Cosmic Cow interacted with over 1000 children through interactive games such as cowculations, cow skittles, cosmic rings, competitions, story narrations and plays.

Each pupil learnt how Cosmic Cow was born, had their picture taken and was presented with a goodie box containing healthy and nutritious milk from Tetra Pak Arabia's local and regional dairy customers like Lacnor, KDD, Nadec and London Dairy.

In Bahrain, the event was hosted by Radio Bahrain DJ Krazy Kevin and featured milk-themed activities such as 'pin the tail on the cow,' milk drinking and best milk moustache competitions.

Free samples of Awal milk were handed out to children and parents at the event.

UAE looks abroad for food security

Dubai: The UAE is actively looking at acquiring farmland in Vietnam, Cambodia, Africa and South America in an effort to ensure the availability of food stocks, according to the UAE Minister of Economy.

Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri said that different opportunities are being explored in these countries to stabilise the availability of certain agricultural products in the UAE.

"We discussed this thoroughly under the government's plan for the UAE, with Sudan, Egypt, countries in the Far East and some Arab countries, which have agricultural lands. This is part of our strategic investment in general," Al Mansouri said.

The minister was speaking on Tuesday during a media tour of the Union Cooperative Society in Al Awir and Carrefour in Deira City Centre.

He toured the supermarkets to check certain commodity prices are still at 2007 levels, in line with recent agreements signed between the Ministry of Economy and Carrefour, Union Cooperative and LuLu Hypermarket Group.

The supermarkets had agreed to freeze prices of some basic food items at last year's level as part of government efforts to limit the effect of inflation of consumers.

"These are the ones [supermarkets] who we signed an agreement with and we follow up and make sure they are enforcing this [prices] from their side," the minister said.

Al Mansouri also predicted that inflation, estimated to be at 11.1 per cent last year, will go down towards the end of this year. The minister said that there were "many factors" contributing to inflation worldwide, including oil prices, political situations, exchange rates and agricultural production.

Can't say what's wrong with milk food drinks

THE survey results for the milk food drinks (MFDs) category has all the key players shocked; without an exception, all MFD brands have registered a decline in rank. Many brands in the category, especially the top two - Horlicks and Bournvita, registered impressive growth over the last four years, only to experience a slide this year. Last year's category leader, Bournvita, drops eight places to No 19, while Horlicks drops six spots to No 18. Bournvita had a meteoric rise from No 33 in 2006 to No 11 last year, when it finally managed to wrest the leadership position from Horlicks for the first time.

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare's other key brand in the category - Boost, has dropped 27 ranks from No 99 in 2006, while Heinz's Complan has a rather more tenuous grip on the Top 50 than it used to - down to No 49 from No 38. Shubhajit Sen, executive vice-president - marketing, GlaxoSmithKline, confesses to being surprised at the results: "The category probably had the best 12 months of this millennium. It's growing fast, new users are getting recruited and we are expanding geographies. I can't think of any obvious reasons for the drop." Sanjay Purohit, executive director - marketing & international business, Cadbury's shares Sen's views. "I'm unable to explain it in any sense. The category has seen the highest levels of growth - close to 20%. From our visibility, on air and in the minds of consumers, and in all our tracking studies, I'd have thought that Bournvita would have held its position or grown. I don't know if this is a correction of the climb from No 33 to No 11," Purohit ventures.

All the key brands have been fairly active in the marketplace. Horlicks, as a brand, touched Rs 1,000 crore last year and had a slew of new products under the brand name. Boost hired a new brand ambassador in cricketer MS Dhoni, and launched biscuits. Sen says, "Boost has grown more than 20% last year; it's growing more than its historical average." Cadbury's too, has been no slouch on Bournvita, with a rise in on-air advertising, a successful programme association on Pogo with The Bournvita Confidence Academy, a packaging redesign and the 5-Star Magic variant. Purohit says, "The category is historically known to be heavy on promotion and less on brand building. But the accent of our work has been on fundamental brand building rather than anything else." Sen surmises that the less than spectacular showing could be because "a lot of the growth has happened in the lower town classes, and if you've followed the same methodology as last year, maybe that has an implication. It could also be because other categories have taken a bit of mind space."

However, marketing consultant Nabankur Gupta of Nobby Brand Architects sees this as something of a natural development: "I'm not at all surprised. These brands are registering fast growth. But what happens is a lot of FMCGs move towards the commodity space. From an initial user's perspective, it's an innovative product. But with usage, it drops from being something of value to something of a commodity." Gupta believes the brands will continue to grow even as the brand value of the product will decline. He concludes, "As the economic health grows, volumes grow but brand aura comes down."

Non-colas, milk drinks slip in brand value

While the cola brands have done well in the survey, with the exception of Sprite and Maaza, the non-colas have slipped, according to the survey of Most Trusted Brands.

MANY may consider '13' to be an unlucky number, but not Pepsi. Not this year, at least. The cola brand, which has been on the ascendant in the last three years of the Most Trusted Brands survey, breaks into the Top 20 this time - at No 13. Slice and dice the data further by looking at the categories of carbonated soft drinks (CSDs), fruit drinks and juices in isolation, and Pepsi's position becomes even stronger: it's way ahead of rival Thums Up, ranked No 25 overall.

Colas as a category may be taking the backseat globally, in terms of consumption trends and health perceptions. But in this survey, both Pepsi and Thums Up have gained ranks over the previous year, while Coca-Cola clings on to its No 42 position from last year. However, when it comes to most other cold beverages, it's a different story. Even Frooti, the mango drink from Parle Agro, slides 14 spots to settle at No 37 - although the brand is still placed third in the cold beverages hierarchy, ahead of Coca-Cola. And Mirinda, Limca, Fanta and Mountain Dew are all also on slippery ground. "The results could possibly be co-related to the inclusiveness of a brand's promise," says Shripad Nadkarni, founder- director, MarketGate Consulting. Pepsi and Coke, for instance, are always considered more inclusive and talk to a larger audience than, for instance, lemony drink Mountain Dew, which is targeted at a niche segment of thrill seekers or 'the adventure-hearted'.

The other aspect that could have an influence on the results is the communication spends of the respective brands. "Continuous and consistent media visibility is one of the key building blocks of trust. It ensures that the brand is always within the consumer's radar. Absence or disappearance raises suspicion levels among consumers. A brand that's visible is always trusted," says Hari Krishnan, vice-president, JWT, the advertising agency that handles a bulk of PepsiCo's communication in India. According to category observers, at least 60-65% of total ad spends of the cola majors are allocated to the top three-four beverage brands. It's not surprising then that Pepsi, Thums Up and Sprite (up to No 76 from No 95 last year) are the three brands that have gained ranking, even as Coke has held its ground.

The width of usage in the category, the relative market share or the brand's dominance, the intensity of competition, the choices available in the category and the consistency of positioning - all contribute to the brand's trustworthiness, adds Nadkarni. A Coca-Cola spokesperson agrees: "A unique portfolio mix, backed by consistent messaging and clearly defined postioning has helped brands to strongly connect and engage with consumers; the result naturally being reflected in the trust rankings."

But according to some industry experts, Coca-Cola could be guilty on the count of inconsistency in its communication - or rather, a lack of single-mindedness in its messaging. They point that while Pepsi and Thums Up and even Sprite have been reinforcing a consistent brand message through communication, the only time Coca-Cola was consistent was during the days of 'Thanda matlab…' between 2002 and 2004. Incidentally, back then, Coca-Cola's ranking in the Most Trusted Brands survey was No 25.

The good news for Coca-Cola India, though, is that its mango drink brand, Maaza, debuts this year at No 50 - while PepsiCo's Slice, which was also introduced in the survey for the first time, opens at No 176. The other good news, for both cola giants, is that the adverse effects of the infamous 'pesticides controversy' appear to have worn off. "The entire episode of a lack of trust in carbonated soft drinks is over. The survey proves that consumers have wholeheartedly accepted colas once again," says an executive close to the action.

Whisky in tetra pack

Vijay Mallya's United Spirits has started selling four of its most popular brands - Bagpiper, Director's Special, Gilbey's Green Label and McDowell's No.1 Celebration - in polythene pouches. The new packs have been designed by packaging major TetraPak of Sweden. Vijay Rekhi, president and managing director, United Spirits, said: "We are looking at building the franchise of the pack by leveraging the 'anytime, anywhere' benefit and infusing it with a young and trendy image. Tetra pack is unbreakable and is easy to carry and dispose."

The pacjk is 50% lighter than the 180ml bottle and is tamper proof. The company saves 20% on cost as compared to glass bottles. The new packs reduce breakage costs and use 50% less space on shelves and godowns.

Liquor manufacturers are also bullish on promoting high-end brands through premium packaging or limited-edition gift packs. Besides introducing limited-edition and special gift packs for its Jojnnie Walker brand, Diageo has introduced a range of products to go with each brand's segment. For example, it has introduced Red Label in an ice tray pack. Its Black Label VMM pack is inspired by the shape of the MP422 Formula1 car.

Ban on milk powder export likely

The Centre is considering a fresh ban on export of skimmed milk powder. "Concern has been raised on the recent price increases resorted to by major liquid milk marketers. The agriculture ministry has been asked to assess the situation and suggest appropriate measures.

The Centre had, on April 17, withdrawn the 9% Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) benefit on casein exports, along with 5% concession given on the free-on-board price for export of skimmed milk powder (SMP)and other milk products under the Videsh Krishi Upaj Yojana scheme. Further, on April 29, it announced a reduction in the basic customs duty on SMP from 15 to 5% (on imports of up to 10,000 tonnes under the tariff rate quota regime) and on butter oil from 40 to 30 %.

After wheat, rice, edible oils and pulses, milk has somehow emerged now on the Centre's radar. This is even more so since milk and dairy products have a combined weight of 5.05% in the overall wholesale price index (WPI).

The industry holds that if the Centre wants to keep milk prices under check, it should discourage export of ingredients and extractions, so that dairy farmers get cattle-feed at affordable rates.

Task Force set up to attract investments in food processing

The Centre had set up a task force to attract investments to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore for modernisation and value-addition in the food processing sector during the 11th Plan, said Subodh Kant Sahai, minister for food processing industries. Speaking to newspersons after an interactive session with various food processing industries in Kochi last week, the minister said the volume of investment in the food processing sector would fetch more returns to the farmers and they would be able to plough it back into farming activities. Sahai said India had to build its food processing industry in a big way as 70% of the population depended on agriculture. The food processing industry, according to Sahai, is presently growing at 13.5% as against 6.5% clocked in 2003-04. Market-driven farming would provide farmers a bargaining capacity and this would lead to economic sustainability, he added.

Sahai stressed the need to amend the APMC Act to facilitate contract or cooperative farming in the country. He said the cluster farming approach would provide an opportunity for a third party to invest in the food processing sector.

The minister said 2008-09 was being celebrated as the Food Safety Year and that food safety was a major concern in the food processing industry. He said the setting up of the Food Quality and Standard Authority of India would serve the purpose of making Indian food processing industry quality conscious and competitive in the area.

Sahai said his ministry was ready to fund a second marine park and a second rice value-addition cluster in Kerala provided there was initiative either from the state government agencies or private investors. The focus ion the 11th Plan was on marine, coconut and spice sectors and Kerala should be able to tap the potential in these areas.

The minister talked about the issue of high rate of 20% tax prevalent in Kerala. He recommended zero per cent tax on perishables and a maximum of 4% on non-perishable items. He called upon the industry to approach the state government to get the tax reduced while promising that the Centre too would request the state government to consider lowering the taxes.