The Hindu Business Line : JPC report upholds CSE findings

THE Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report on pesticide residues and safety standards for soft drinks, fruit juice and other beverages, was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday.

While upholding the Centre for Science & Environment (CSE)'s claims of pesticide residue in soft drinks, the JPC report has called for India-specific food standards.

The report has divided its recommendations into two components — qualitative (detection and identification) and quantitative (estimation and confirmation).

On the qualitative aspect, the committee is of the view that the CSE findings are correct on the presence of pesticide residue in carbonated water in respect of the three samples each of the 12 brands of PepsiCo and Coca-Cola. The CSE tested 36 samples for 32 commonly used pesticides in India.

The committee, however, notes that 19 of the 36 samples came from one bottling unit in Jaipur, 15 from one bottling unit in Ghaziabad, one from a bottling unit in Jodhpur and one from a bottling unit in Mathura.

The JPC notes that the CFL-CFTRI, Mysore and CFL in Kolkata analysed independently samples of the same 12 brands, and both labs also detected the presence of organochlorine and organophosphorous pesticides residue. The presence of pesticide residues, therefore, is a common scientific finding of all three labs.

As for the varying results, the committee attributes this to variation in different batch numbers, manufacturing locations and dates of collection and analysis.

Soft drinks: Noting that the soft drink industry is unregulated, the JPC feels that explanations tendered by PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are unsatisfactory in the context of pesticide residues in their brands.

The Committee says that the existence of a bottlers' agreement cannot absolve the producers and marketers of their responsibility.

"Whether its own bottling units or franchisee bottling units, it is the absolute responsibility of the brand owner to ensure that the consumers get a product which is in conformity with the prescribed norms of quality and safety. The Committee recommends that the onus for maintaining the quality should lie with the parent companies/ brand owners," the report states.

Ticks off Ministry: Ticking off the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the JPC report notes that whatever action has been taken recently by the Ministry is only as a result of the findings of the CSE. The Ministry did not take the opinion of the Central Committee on Food Standards (CCFS) - a statutory under the PFA Act — for laying down standards for various food items.

Norms: As for norms, the report notes that carbonated beverages cannot be clubbed with fruit juices. Criticising the Government's contention that pesticide residues are removed during washing, peeling, cutting and extraction of juices, the committee has asked it to separately formulate pesticide residue limits for juices and other beverages, independent of norms for soft drinks.

The Committee recommends that India should formulate its own food standards based on stringent scientific criteria in keeping with internationally acceptable norms.

The JPC also drew attention to the quality of ground water. It observes that cola companies are extracting huge amount of ground water but are not being charged adequately for it.

The committee desires that the Ministry of Water Resources pursue the issue with States and impress upon them the need to regulate water, particularly for commercial purposes, and also fix the price for water.

The Committee notes that at present there are neither sufficient number of laboratories in the country nor are they adequately equipped. It recommends upgradation and accreditation for all food labs.

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