Generally packaged foods are considered to be safe though in the recent months there has been much talk about them being unsafe. Mostly it is the shops that sell loose products that have the maximum adulterants. FSSAI could be vigilant and alert about controlling adulteration in foods but somehow the cases of food adulteration are quite extensive throughout the country.
Cases based on adulteration complaints are of two categories. Those that come under the category of unsafe foods are heard in criminal courts. Cases that fall under the category of misbranded or substandard come under the banner of civil cases. The most adulterated foods are milk, ‘paneer’ and ‘khoya’ during the festivals. Also the use of non-permitted colours is quite common in India, additives that have not been standardised are also used frequently and certain foods contain chemicals. FSSAI is monitoring the food articles being sold in the Indian market to see if they meet regulatory standards for labelling as well as chemical & biological parameters.
According to the Annual Public Laboratory Testing Report for 2014-2015; it can clearly be seen that there is a large extent of adulteration pan India. A total of 68197 samples were collected of which a total of 60548 samples were analysed. The number of samples that were found to be adulterated and or Misbranded stood at 12077. Criminal cases that have been launched against the offenders amounted to 1989 cases while 7241 civil cases were launched. There were 1355 convictions in all and penalties were imposed on 2682 adulteration cases. Money that was raised from penalties imposed on offenders amounted to Rs.10, 64, 03,414.
The maximum number of samples were collected from Uttar Pradesh (14173) and out of the samples collected and tested 4119 samples were found to be adulterated. This was followed by Madhya Pradesh where 1412 samples were found to be adulterated or misbranded out of the total 9131 analysed. In third place was Maharashtra with 1162 samples that did not meet safety standards or were misbranded out of a total of 6985 samples analysed in laboratories.
FSSAI regulations have ensured food safety to a large extent since they were formulated but unless food producers and manufactures follow regulations food adulteration is difficult to control. Consumers are the ones who have to bear the brunt of the adulteration as they pay dearly for the adulterated foods.
Maertin says
good article!
Dr. Saurabh Arora says
Thank you!
SATYA PRAKASH says
Parliament question was related to Pesticide residues found in fruit and vegetables.
FSSAI cleverly misguided to Minister/ Parliament by giving of substandard foods/ adulterated foods.
further, it was disclosed how many samples were not found adulterated by Referral Labs out of total samples analysed by state Governments.
Hence figure must be only regarding Pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables.