Millions of Indians are facing a new health risk. Increasing water scarcity is forcing farmers to grow vegetables and fodder using untreated sewage waste water across urban and rural cities.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FAAI) has in the past issued several warnings on pesticide residues and crop contaminants, including aflatoxins, patulin and ochratoxin in Indian fruit and vegetables. These pesticides are known to adversely effect the nervous system and can result in lung damage and cancer

JAIPUR: The state government on Tuesday filed a detailed compliance report before a division bench of Rajasthan high court elaborating on the action taken against suppliers of adulterated milk in various parts of the state.

The court will give its final verdict on May 21. A division bench of high court, while hearing a suo moto PIL in March, had asked additional advocate general S N Kumawat to file the action report on the campaign against adulterated milk in Rajasthan.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed a six-member committee of experts to frame guidelines to deal with the presence of pesticides' residue in vegetable and fruits across the country by August 17.

A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice Rajiv Shakdher passed the direction while hearing a suo motu petition in the matter on the basis of a media report alleging presence of pesticides' residue in fruits and vegetables in the Capital.

Unauthorised manufacturing units mushroom as consumption goes up by 15%

Areas abutting the city are increasingly dotted with packaged drinking water industrial units. A minimum of 30 plants have come up over the last year in the neighbouring districts. The rising demand for water this summer has also paved the way for the sale of sub-standard quality of water and operation of unauthorised units.

New Delhi: Eminent scientist M S Swaminathan has conveyed his inability to chair a panel on checking pesticide residues in the capital. In a communiquésenttothe government, Swaminathan said he was tied down with work and he won’t be able to become partof the panel.The government on Monday informed HC aboutthedevelopment after whichHC askedittofinalize another expertfor the panel.

Madhya Pradesh tonight became the first state in the country to impose a ban on the sale of gutkha containing tobacco and nicotine products. The order came consequent upon the Supreme Court order upholding gutkha as a food product under the food adulteration laws of India. The government banned tobacco content in gutkha by issuing a notification under the existing laws of the country. The ban will be effective from April 1, 2012. Sources say the move will go a long way in preventing a range of oral cancers.

Forget the sales pitch on the box and read the fine print. Is the promised 'low-fat' low enough, the 'multigrain' whole or refined?
Sugar-free’ cream cookies, ‘wholegrain’ cereal bars, ‘all-natural’ fruit juice: it’s hard to ignore the screaming labels on superstore shelves, but can you take them at face value? Usually not, experts say.

Diet experts have said Indians are consuming junk foods more often than in the past, and have warned that this poses a major risk to their health. Deputy Programme Manager at the Food Standards and Safety Authority of India (FSSAI) Savvy Soumya Mishra said that merely criticising international fast food chains for spoiling Indian dietary patterns is not enough. She said that fast food had reached rural markets in the form of potato chips and soft-drinks and wished remedial measures are taken.

CSE study says fast-food firms misleading consumers, demands stricter labelling firms named deny charges

Fast-food meals and snacks in India contain dangerous levels of trans-fats and salt, an analysis from the combative Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has found. A single packet of potato chips can meet half the daily requirement of fats in a person; a packet of instant noodles has half the salt a human body can absorb in a day.