The government has issued a draft notification to amend the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules, 1955, to regulate the presence of poisonous metal and pesticide residues in beverages, including soft drinks.
Under the proposed amendments, the ministry of health and family welfare has suggested more stringent limits for the presence of pesticides, insecticides and heavy metals in all kinds of beverages.
The notification proposes to extend the norms for pesticide residues that have been notified for bottled water, and will come into effect from January 1, 2004, to beverages as well.
While the standards for lead have been raised by 50 times from 0.5 ppm (or mg/l) to 0.01 ppm, those for copper have now been raised 0.05 ppm from 7.0 ppm in the existing standards which is 100 times more stringent than the current norms.
In case of arsenic, the standards for both soft drinks and carbonated water have been raised to 0.05 ppm from 0.5 ppm.
The notification also proposes standards for the presence of cadmium, mercury, chromium and nickel in all beverages, including soft drinks, as per international norms.
CSE welcomed the stringent norms by saying these metals have remained totally disregarded -- particularly in the case of soft drinks -- by existing standards.
The notification, which was issued on August 26, 2003 by the ministry and was published in the Gazette of India, has been put up for public response before these standards are notified under the PFA Act.
In a press release, CSE said the draft notification is an important step in ensuring that regulations on this "food" industry are tightened and made health-based. "This is the imperative, as CSE has always pointed out," it added.
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