Food regulator FSSAI has asked food vendors and consumers to immediately stop using newspapers for packing, serving, and storage of food items citing significant health risks. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is closely working with state food authorities to monitor and enforce the regulations, it stated.

FSSAI CEO G Kamala Vardhana Rao has “strongly urged consumers and food vendors across the country to immediately stop using newspapers for packing, serving and storing food items.” He expressed concern over the use of newspapers for wrapping or packaging food and also pointed out significant health risks associated with this practice.

“The ink used in newspapers contains various bioactive materials with known negative health effects, which can contaminate food and lead to health issues when ingested,” FSSAI cautioned on Wednesday. Additionally, printing inks may contain chemicals, including lead and heavy metals, that can leach into the food, posing serious health risks over time, the regulator said.

“Moreover, newspapers are often subjected to various environmental conditions during distribution, making them susceptible to contamination by bacteria, viruses or other pathogens that may transfer to the food, potentially causing foodborne illnesses,” FSSAI said.

The body has notified the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging) Regulations, 2018 which strictly prohibits the use of newspapers or similar materials for storing and wrapping food. As per this regulation, newspapers should neither be used to wrap, cover, or serve food nor be used to absorb excess oil from fried food.

Singer Arijit Singh beat global superstars such as Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Eminem to become the third most-followed musician on Spotify. The ‘Chaleya’ singer is currently trailing behind Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande, according to India Today.

According to the latest report shared by the platform, Arijit Singh has earned the third spot and has about 86.4 million followers on Spotify.

Meanwhile, Billie Eilish has 84.7 million followers, followed by Taylor Swift, who has 83.1 million followers. Arijit Singh surpassed Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, in terms of the number of followers on the music streaming platform.

Arijit has also surpassed Drake, Eminem and Justin Bieber, who hold the sixth, seventh and eighth positions respectively. The Weeknd, Rihanna, Adele, BTS, Bruno Mars are also among the top 15 most followed artists on the platform.

A police complaint has been filed in West Bengal against two girls who uploaded a Facebook video mocking the National Anthem. It purportedly showed the girls singing the National Anthem using wrong lyrics, while sitting and holding cigarettes.

After deleting the Facebook account, they reportedly went live on another social media platform and said the video was “made for fun”.

With inputs from News18