Conduct regular checks, enforce food safety laws
Intensify Inspections
Food adulteration—the practice of adding inferior or harmful substances to food items for profit—remains a persistent problem in many cities. Despite the significant health risks posed by adulterated food, including food poisoning and long-term complications such as cancer, the issue continues to grow. Commonly adulterated foods include milk, spices, oils, and sweets, which often contain harmful substances like synthetic colours, chemicals, and cheap substitutes. These substances frequently go undetected by the naked eye, making it challenging for consumers to distinguish between safe and unsafe food. In response to rising public health concerns, the Ludhiana administration recently launched a sampling drive to address this dangerous practice. Authorities should increase regular and random inspections, with strict penalties enforced for violators.
Novin Christopher
Food Safety Measures
The district administration must enhance enforcement by conducting regular inspections of food markets, restaurants, and production units, while imposing strict penalties for violations. Public awareness campaigns should be launched to educate consumers on how to identify adulterated food and report violations. Rapid testing kits must be distributed to both consumers and vendors to enable quick detection of food adulteration. A dedicated hotline or mobile app could also be introduced for consumers to report food safety complaints. Furthermore, food handlers and vendors must undergo regular training on hygiene and safety standards to ensure compliance with regulations. Ensuring food safety requires a comprehensive approach, including strict enforcement, public awareness, rapid testing, and vendor training.
Parmeet Kaur
Ensure Compliance
Food adulteration refers to the process of degrading the quality of food by adding or removing substances that alter its natural composition or quality. The sale of adulterated food items presents significant health risks to consumers. To address this, the food safety wing of the health department should intensify awareness campaigns and conduct inspections at various establishments, including eating joints, school and college canteens, street vendors, restaurants, hotels, sweet manufacturers, milk suppliers, and other food enterprises. This ensures that these businesses provide safe and healthy food products to the public.
Officials must ensure that these establishments comply with the guidelines of the Food Safety Standards Act, 2006. Food packets should be checked for batch numbers, manufacturing and expiry dates, and nutritional values. If any substandard items are identified, appropriate action should be taken.
R.S.SEMBHI
Centralised Approach
To effectively combat food adulteration, particularly in sweets and other food items, there are several measures that can be taken. First, there should be one government agency responsible for controlling the supply of raw materials to sweet shop owners. This centralised control can help ensure that only safe ingredients are used. Government agencies should also regularly take food samples from shopkeepers to test for adulteration. If any food item, especially sweets, is found to be adulterated, the officials responsible for overseeing these establishments should be held accountable. Packaging should also play a key role in ensuring food safety. The contents of different items used in each gram of sweet or food should be clearly mentioned on the packaging. Additionally, workers involved in packing sweets or food must wear clean uniforms and gloves to maintain hygiene. It is crucial that they avoid chewing tobacco or any other intoxicants during food handling.
Dr Mohd Saleem Farooqui
Impose High Penalties
To effectively address food adulteration, regular and surprise inspections must be conducted to ensure compliance with food safety standards. Individuals or businesses engaged in malpractices should face significant penalties. Public awareness campaigns are essential to educate consumers about food safety, and home-based adulteration testing should be promoted for easier detection. Strict enforcement of food safety laws is crucial, and digital platforms such as social media should be utilised to spread information on safe food practices. Hazardous chemicals that pose a risk to health should be banned, and self-regulation among food businesses should be encouraged by offering rewards for maintaining safe food practices.
Prabhnoor Kaur
Address the issue
Adulterated food products pose a significant threat to public health, leading to issues ranging from mild discomfort like diarrhoea and nausea to severe health conditions such as allergies and diabetes. This growing problem is widespread across Punjab, particularly in Ludhiana, where greed and disregard for ethical values have led to the rampant sale of adulterated food. Many individuals, driven by a luxurious lifestyle, ignore traditional ethical practices, thereby compromising their own health. All stakeholders must take responsibility and address this serious issue. Recently, the Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiana directed the health department to launch a special drive to collect food samples from dabbas, street vendors, and restaurants. Local authorities should inform the public about simple physical and chemical tests to detect adulteration in food items. Sukhdev Sharma
Educate consumers
To effectively tackle food adulteration and ensure the safety of consumers, a comprehensive strategy is required. First, regular inspections should be conducted at every stage of food handling—production, distribution, and retail. The use of modern technologies like food scanners or chemical tests can help detect harmful substances quickly and efficiently. Strict enforcement of food safety laws, coupled with severe penalties for those found guilty of adulterating food, is also crucial. Raising public awareness is equally important. Educating consumers on how to identify food adulteration and understand the risks involved will empower them to make safer food choices. Workshops, community events, and online resources can all contribute to spreading vital information. Technology can be leveraged as well. The government could introduce apps or tools that allow both consumers and food vendors to test food for adulteration in a quick and simple manner.
Prabhjot kaur
Revoke licences
The government must prioritise enhancing regulatory enforcement to combat food adulteration. This includes imposing harsher penalties, such as significant fines and the revocation of licenses for offenders. A dedicated task force should be established to conduct frequent, unannounced inspections, utilising advanced testing technologies to detect adulteration. Publicly sharing inspection results and naming violators will serve as a strong deterrent to others. In addition, the government should launch a nationwide campaign to empower consumers with the knowledge they need to identify food adulteration. This initiative should educate the public about common adulterants found in specific food categories and teach simple at-home tests, such as detecting water in milk or fake colors in spices.
Tamanpreet Kaur Khangura
Strict laws for safety
To effectively combat food adulteration and ensure safe and hygienic food, a comprehensive approach involving government action, technological advancements, and consumer awareness is essential. First, strict policies and laws for food safety, such as the FSSAI in India, must be rigorously implemented. Heavy penalties and strict punishments should be enforced for those found guilty of adulteration. Additionally, the frequency of random checks at food markets, restaurants, and factories should be increased to ensure compliance. Public awareness campaigns should be ramped up, utilising social media and TV ads to educate consumers about food safety and how to identify adulterated products. Moreover, maintaining proper hygiene in food preparation is crucial—this includes thoroughly washing vegetables and fruits.
Japleen kaur
Strict licence policies
The fight against food adulteration requires tough laws, surprise inspections, and an informed public. While food testing is crucial, surprise inspections at factories, food courts, and markets are essential in preventing adulteration. Enforcing strict licensing policies and imposing heavy fines for adulteration will discourage malpractices, and a fast-track legal system will help ensure quicker resolutions. Public involvement is also key—initiatives like “Food Safety Volunteers” and mobile testing units can significantly improve monitoring efforts. AI-powered systems can aid in detecting adulteration, while QR codes on packaging can offer instant quality checks for consumers. Educational campaigns in schools and public spaces can teach people how to identify adulterated food and make safer choices. Additionally, promoting organic farming will not only improve food quality but also expand farmers’ markets.
Sneha Bhaskar
Label expiry dates
In any business or service, ethics serve as the foundation for success. However, in today’s competitive world, many are focused solely on maximising profits, often resorting to unethical practices like food adulteration. Adulteration of products such as oil, milk, and ghee is particularly rampant during festivals, with consumers being the primary victims of these foul practices. To curb such practices and protect consumers, a dedicated monitoring and controlling agency should be established by the local government. Regular inspections of businesses involved in food production and sale must be carried out, with heavy fines imposed on those found guilty. Additionally, the agency should issue a certification confirming that products are pure and free from adulteration, allowing consumers to make safer purchasing decisions. Furthermore, it is essential that expiry dates are clearly labelled on the packaging of sweets and other food items.
Farzana Khan
Robust monitoring system
Food adulteration is the deliberate act of lowering the quality of food by adding or replacing components with undeclared substances, or by removing valuable ingredients. This unethical practice not only affects food quality but also poses serious health risks to consumers. To effectively combat food adulteration, a multi-faceted approach is necessary, focusing on strengthening rules, enhancing enforcement, improving infrastructure, supporting research, and ensuring safety at every level of food production and distribution. Increasing the frequency of inspections at food establishments is critical. More food safety inspectors should be trained, and robust monitoring and surveillance systems should be implemented to detect adulteration and ensure compliance. Upgrading laboratory facilities for testing and analysis is essential to effectively detect adulterants. Jaspreet Kaur
Upgrade laboratories
The district administration’s efforts to launch a special sampling drive to check food adulteration and ensure consumer safety are commendable. However, additional measures are needed to make this initiative more effective. Regular and surprise inspections of food markets, grocery stores, and eateries should be conducted to detect and prevent adulteration. Strict enforcement of food safety laws, with heavy penalties for violators, will act as a strong deterrent. Strengthening food testing infrastructure is also essential. Establishing mobile food testing vans and upgrading laboratories will enable quick and accurate identification of adulterants. Providing certification to vendors who meet hygiene standards and promoting ‘Clean Street Food’ zones will further enhance food safety.
Akash Kumar
Regular Inspections
The district administration has rightly initiated a sampling campaign to check food adulteration, a much-needed action to protect public health. Some unscrupulous individuals adulterate food to make easy profits, without considering the severe health risks their products pose to consumers. Adulterated food can lead to various diseases, and this practice must be stopped. The sampling campaign should not only target smaller food vendors but also include reputed establishments. No individual or agency involved in selling adulterated food should be spared from inspection. Those found guilty must face heavy penalties, including fines or immediate confiscation of adulterated products. Food adulteration checks must become a regular practice, not just a one-time campaign. The food department has appointed individuals for this important task, and their services should be fully utilised. If they fail to perform adequately, they should face consequences such as removal from their position or heavy fines.
Gautam Dev
Health is Wealth
Food, being the foundation of our life, should be provided safely to consumers. While newspapers often highlight the Food Department’s actions against adulteration during the festive season, such efforts are rare throughout the year. Given that “Health is Wealth,” it is crucial to continuously address food adulteration by conducting frequent checks and imposing heavy fines on wrongdoers. A comprehensive rulebook should be established to regulate this malpractice, and any violators should face severe consequences, including the closure of their shops by the Food Department.
Kamaldeep Kaur
Multi-faceted approach
In addition to the special sampling drive, the district administration should implement a multi-faceted approach to combat food adulteration and ensure food safety. Public awareness campaigns are essential to educate consumers on how to identify adulterants and choose safe food sources. Strengthening regulatory measures with regular inspections and random checks at markets, food processing units, and retail outlets will help detect and eliminate adulterated products. Collaboration with food safety bodies like FSSAI will reinforce stringent regulations and penalties. Furthermore, providing training programs for food vendors and handlers on hygiene practices and food safety standards can significantly reduce contamination risks. Establishing traceability within the food supply chain, from production to consumption, will encourage accountability.
Jasmeet Kaur
Wear gloves and caps
With the Holi festival approaching next month, the district administration has launched a special sampling drive to check food adulteration and ensure consumer safety. Health department officials are collecting samples from canteens, street vendors, bakery manufacturers, restaurants, hotels, and milk suppliers. Officials are also inspecting food manufacturers to ensure that workers wear gloves and caps and maintain clean environments. This proactive step by the district administration is a wise move to prevent food adulteration. The sampling process should be efficient, with strict penalties for violators, including hefty fines, jail time, and immediate license revocation.
Sucha Sagar
Mobile testing units
The fight against food adulteration requires a multi-pronged approach, including tough laws, surprise inspections, and an informed public. While food testing is essential, surprise inspections at factories, food courts, and markets play a key role in preventing malpractices. Strict licensing policies, heavy fines for adulteration, and a fast-track legal system will help discourage wrongdoers and ensure quicker resolutions. Public involvement is crucial, with initiatives like “Food Safety Volunteers” and mobile testing units enhancing monitoring efforts. AI-powered systems could detect adulteration, while QR codes on packaging provide instant quality checks. Educational campaigns in schools and public spaces can empower consumers to identify adulterated food.
Sneha Bhaskar
Promote organic farming
A special committee should be formed to conduct surprise inspections of food manufacturing units, with proper sampling and testing carried out. Only those meeting safety standards should receive certification, and strict actions must be taken against violators. Public awareness campaigns are essential to educate citizens about the dangers of adulterated food. Simple techniques for identifying common adulterants should be shared, and citizens must be encouraged to report any suspicious activities. Promoting organic farming will help reduce chemical use in food production, while regular lab testing and a transparent tracking system should be implemented to ensure accountability in the food supply chain.
Kirandeep Kaur
