Sample testing slow, crackdown on food adulterators fails to serve purpose

Tribune News Service

Patiala, October 14

The festival season has already started, but the Health Department's pace in collecting the food samples have been slow. Notably, the Health Department has collected only 24 food samples in October given that Diwali festival is just a fortnight away.

The raids by the officials of the department at this stage seems to be an eyewash, as lab reports examined by state food testing laboratory will take at least 15-20 days to check the food samples. By the time the results will be out majority of the adulterated sweets would have been sold out.

The Health Department seems to have giving laxity to the food adulterators to play with the health of the city residents, say the city dwellers. Meanwhile, the District Health Officer (DHO) Satinder Singh on Monday raided sweet shops in Rajpura town of the district. During the raid, the Health Department collected 11 samples from Bikaneri Mishtan Bhandar, Bihari Lal Sweets and Anand Sweet and bakery.

The samples collected, included two samples of khoya, two of kalakand, two of gulab jamun, while one sample each of milk cake, barfi, rasgula and milk.

Besides, during the raid, 10 kg of chamcham were destroyed at Anand Sweets as sweets were infested with insects. The food handlers were apprised about the cleanliness on the premises. The collected samples will be sent to the state lab for the testing.

Experts believe that the raw materials, including khoya, have already reached the sweet shops. The department should have intensified its drive much earlier to collect food samples, especially, of khoya and milk products.

It is pertinent to mention that last month Patiala police had seized huge amount of spurious desi ghee. The report had revealed that Palm oil was used as an adulterant to manufacture the ghee, which was being supplied to sweets shops in the city.

Defending the timing of the raids, DHO Satinder Singh, said, “The bulk manufacturing of sweets have just started, therefore, there is no delay in collection of the food samples. Moreover, we will be collecting food samples daily until Diwali. A lab report takes usually 14 days to reach the district office from the state lab. We can only take action on the basis of lab report”