HYDERABAD: The Telangana government will overhaul the food safety department, health minister Dr C Laxma Reddy said a day after TOI reported how pharmacy stores and malls were openly selling hundreds of food products that have been rejected by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
"We will take serious action against food adulterators. Not just this, we will also review the performance of the food safety department and ensure that food products rejected by FSSAI are not sold in the market," the minister told TOI on Friday.
The decision has come in the wake of increasing evidence that the severely understaffed food safety department, comprising 20-odd food safety officers (FSOs) and nine food safety designated officers (FSDOs) for the entire state, are risking people's health by their lackadaisical approach towards their duties.
In fact, almost a month before the Maggi noodles saga unfolded, an FSSAI circular dated April 21, 2015, signed by Rakesh Chandra Sharma, director (enforcement), had asked states to periodically keep a watch on the updated list (rejected/unapproved/recalled products) on the FSSAI website and take necessary action against violators as per relevant provisions of the Food Safety Act, 2006'.
For the record, FSSAI rejected 444 food products till May, making their sale in the market illegal. It also issued dozens of "recall orders" every month. However, FSOs and FSDOs in Telangana seem to have paid no heed.
On Thursday (June 11, 2015), FSSAI issued a recall order on an energy drink after its scientific panel red-flagged the combination of ginseng and caffeine and directed the Pune-based manufacturer to stop manufacturing with immediate effect'. Last month, FSSAI asked a popular direct marketing company to recall six variants of its multi-vitamin products from the market.
But, ask the city's FSDOs about how many of these products were seized from pharmacy stores and supermarkets or what mechanism they are using to prevent the illegal sale of these products, one would draw a blank.
The shortage of staff is definitely compounding the problem. For example, there has been no full-time FSDO for a large district like Ranga Reddy since December 2014. "I am holding charge of both Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda districts. So, there is some difficulty in operating at the ground level," said J Lakshmaiah, FSDO, Nalgonda.
Efforts to contact Dr K Amarender Reddy, who is in charge of food safety inspectors working in the districts, were in vain.
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