India Bans Silver Leaf Varakh On Food

Author(s): Pravin K Shah
Publisher: JAINA Education Committee

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FSSAI of India bans Silver Leaf (Chandi ka Varakh) of Animal Origin in Food Items (Version-2)
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has banned the use of any material of animal origin in silver leaf (chandi ka warq/Varakh), commonly used in confectioneries (sweet meat) and sweets like barfi for decoration and also in paan and packaged supari.
This news is reported by the Times of India-Aug 2, 2016 and we have provided some links of actual news from various newspapers at the end of the e-mail.
The FSSAI authority of India has banned this item because in the manufacturing of silver leaf (Varakh), cow's or buffalo's intestine (ox-gut) is used which is obtained from the slaughterhouse. The intestine (oxgut) is smeared with blood and mucus when is pulled out from the slaughtered animal by the butcher and sold as is to the Silver Leaf (Varakh) manufacturers. The small thin strips of silver placed between layers of intestines and continuously hammered for up to 8 hours a day for few days until the desired result of the glittering foil is obtained.
The FSSAI Official said that this manufacturing process is offensive and unhygienic posing potential risk to consumers. Moreover, such silver sheets do not carry any green dot or maroon dot. Hence consumers fail to differentiate between a vegetarian and non-vegetarian product.
There were also concerns that the silver leaf (Varakh) contained heavy metal traces such as nickel, lead, chromium and cadmium - which are harmful for health.
These are the main reasons the FSSAI authority of India has banned the Silver Leaf (Chandi ka warq or varakh) on the food product. Veggie Silver Leaf (Varakh)
Recently several companies have advertised that they produce the Veggie Varakh without using cows' intestine. They use the machine for hammering and patented synthetic material to replace the leather (cow's intestine) which can take intense hammering of the machine for several days. This process is very costly and hence in the country like India, one can easily obtain false certification and sell the regular nonvegetarian Varakh as cheap veggie Varakh. Also the function of Varakh is to decorate the food/sweets only. It does not add any nutritional value to it. The best alternative is to avoid Varakh on the food.
Where to Report/Complain about Violators
FSSAI encourages to post complains/comments about food safety issue related to adulteration, contamination, poor quality, improper packing, insufficient information on label, misleading advertisements, incomplete information about food, clarification from food operator on license, etc." by going to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) website http://www.fssai.gov.in/ or click the link http://www.fssai.gov.in/Feedback.aspx and Fill in online the "Consumer's Complaints / Suggestions / Queries Form"
The FSSAI will be every much happy to help you as well guide you. Please insert your e-mail and identify yourself to receive a suitable reply.
India is the World's Largest Beef Exporter CNN money news of August 5, 2016 published that India is the world's largest beef exporter. The article indicates that the large number of animals are needed to keep India's huge domestic dairy industry going. Because of the existence of this huge dairy industry, there are plenty of grown-up cows and buffaloes are available to slaughter for beef. The dairy cows and buffaloes are significantly cheaper than the animals