The Hindu Business Line : Who will mandate norms

THE draft guidelines on the pesticide residue limit circulated by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) may not cut much ice as soft drink manufacturers are likely to seek refuge in the multiplicity of Government departments prescribing norms on the issue.

The companies claim that there is confusion over the draft being circulated ahead of the Health Ministry guidelines.

PepsiCo chief, Mr Rajeev Bakshi, told Business Line, "Will the BIS mandate on finished product norms or the Central Committee for Food Standards (CCFS) do that? We are already meeting the norms mandated by the Health Ministry on water used to make our beverages. And now, BIS comes out with some draft... Let BIS and the ministry sort out who will do what."

The norms prescribed by BIS are usually voluntary while the guidelines formulated by the CCFS under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act are mandatory.

Mr Bakshi added that nowhere in the world were there any finished product norms for soft drinks. He said that while carbonated soft drink companies were happy that the Health Ministry had mandated water norms that are on par with the "best in the world", he doesn't know what to say on finished product norms until it's clear who is issuing them.

Coca-Cola was quiet on the BIS norms but reiterated that its products manufactured in India "are world class and safe".

Dabur Foods said the company was currently looking at the fine print of the BIS draft.

However, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) with consumer groups such as the Consumer Co-ordination Council (CCC) and Concert welcomed the BIS draft regulations.

Ms Sunita Narain, Director, CSE said, "These draft standards are the first in the world and hopefully will become a model for other countries to emulate."

Interestingly, the BIS' committee on carbonated beverages worked with representatives from the soft drink industry, industry associations, consumer and environmental groups, leading agricultural scientists, nutritionists and toxicologists before formulating the norms.

The BIS, in its draft for ready-to-drink non-alcoholic beverages, prescribes not only the maximum pesticide residue permissible but also proposes limits on caffeine, pH value or acidity and toxic substances.

While the maximum residue limit has been set at 0.0001 mg/litre for individual pesticide and 0.0005 mg/litre for total pesticide content, restriction on pH levels in soft drinks has been fixed at 2.3-8.5. The draft also seeks to cap the caffeine limit in soft drinks to 145 mg/litre.

Earlier investigations revealed that Mountain Dew had the highest caffeine content. But Pepsi's Mr Bakshi's said, "We meet all norms on caffeine. Mountain Dew is perfectly within limits."

After receiving feedback from the public, the BIS' sectional committee on carbonated beverages will take up the standards for further discussion. Once the draft has been finalised and approved by the Food and Agriculture Division Council of the BIS, the proposed standards will be recommended to the Health Ministry.

Ministry to take up field study

THOUGH the BIS has come up with the final product norms for pesticide residue in soft drinks, the Health Ministry is likely to finalise a set of regulations after completing its own field-studies.

Sources in the Ministry said that while the BIS norms are not mandatory on the companies, any rule under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act is mandatory and hence requires greater study.

"Our study is going to be broad based as any rule that we notify can be appealed at the courts. Therefore, we will come up with guidelines after a detailed study," said sources.

"Since water constitutes 89-90 per cent of the soft drinks, we have already addressed this by extending the packaged water norms for carbonated drinks as well," they added.

Incidentally, the Health Ministry notified the same norms proposed by the BIS for water.

Meanwhile, a sub-committee under CCFS has already decided to start nationwide monitoring of soft drinks for pesticide residues. An expert group will work on the modalities of this exercise.

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