Soft drinks contain two key constituents

The health ministry's pesticide residue sub-committee was entrusted the job of fixing a pesticide residue standard for soft drinks. The committee, in March 2004, called "stakeholders' for discussions. Interestingly, for this health ministry sub-committee the only worthy stakeholders were industry. Of the 21 invited, only five responded and only two made written submissions.

On July 26, 2006, the Lok Sabha passed the much controversial Food Safety and Standards Bill, 2005. But will it ensure your safety?

In December 2005, CSE's Pollution Monitoring Lab decided to check whether the samples of soft drinks available in the market are within the limits prescribed by BIS or not. A total of 57 samples, of 11 brands of Pepsi Co and Coca Cola available in the market, were collected from 12 different states of the country.

Rising incomes and urbanization, an expanding domestic consumer base concerned about food quality and safety, and rapidly growing agricultural exports have been important drivers for the increased attention to food safety in India.

The new MRL Regulation on pesticide residues in food could be a great progress towards better protection of children and consumer in general, but there are a number of open questions how the EU and the Member States will implement this Regulation. Therefore, civil society must actively watch the development in the next years.

Bad regulation equals contaminated imports

This paper discussed the distribution of pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals in water, sediment and prawn from intensive prawn ponds (n = 8) near the Kolleru lake wetland, India and assessed the quality of prawn for human consumption and also discussed the possible effects of these pollutants on pond environment and aquatic environment.

Janhit Foundation took up a study in November 2005 with the aim of confirming the continued presence of some

Spices form an important ingredient of food as well as herbal teas in India. Indian spices such as Cloves and ginger are famous all over the world for their natural aroma, flavor, taste and medicinal value. Due to the therapeutic uses of these spices, they are commonly used as herbal tea ingredients in India. since these spices serve as raw materials in the preparation of herbal teas in India, they should be free from contaminants.

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