The India Today Television team requested Ramesh Chand, food inspector, FSSAI, Pilkhuwa, for help because their product had excessive amount of lead in it, to which the inspector assured them it would not be a problem.
Sting operation team posed as owners of a namkeen brand and requested Ramesh Chand, an FSSAI food inspector, to help pass their product that had excessive amount of lead in it.
Even as India's favourite Maggi got pulled out of shelves owing to its high lead content, illegal approval of unsafe food products goes unchecked under Food Safety & Standard Authority (FSSAI) with its food inspectors subtly encouraging bribery. This was revealed by a sting operation carried out by India Today Television.
The investigation team reached out to Pilkhuwa in the western Uttar Pradesh district of Hapur, 60 kilometers away from the national Capital.
The team posed as entrepreneurs willing to launch a namkeen brand - Sharmaji Ki Bhujia. The team requested Ramesh Chand, food inspector, FSSAI, Pilkhuwa, for help because their product had excessive amount of lead in it, following which, Inspector Chand assured them that excess lead would not be a problem.
In the very first meeting, Chand not only agreed to pass the samples, but he also promised to do so without conducting any tests. However, he demanded a fixed price - only Rs 20,000 a year - a nominal sum is all it takes for an FSSAI food inspector to bypass tests and let deadly and dubious food samples pass.
"When you make money by selling your product, just pay me Rs 20,000 on a yearly basis," Chand told the team. He also agreed to travel with the team to Bulandshahr to introduce them to other food inspectors, who would help them pass the proposed toxic namkeen. When the team halted at a local restaurant in Bulandshar, inspector Chand also discussed how passing such products was a well-established practice. He revealed how milk samples from one of India's best known companies had been dismissed by deliberately adulterating it. The milk was safe, but the company did not agree to bribe the inspectors and so the product suffered consequences.
"We tampered with the seal and added adulterants to it and then send it to the testing laboratory.
Similarly, the FSSAI food inspector in Bulandshahr, Shiv Das Singh also agreed to help sell the proposed lead-filled samples, saying, "No tests would be required. I will introduce you to four more people, who are known to us. You will face no problems at all," he said. He also demanded Rs 20,000.
Ramesh Chand further revealed that when it came to big, established brands there sometimes was pressure from the top power centres to declare food samples unsafe. "Maggi is an international brand, there may be a possibility that someone asked for donation and the company denied. Laboratories and samples lie under the government - it can do anything," said Chand.
The team moved ahead to Mukhteshwar, where they met KT Singh, the food inspector in Mukhteshwar. He explained how the presence of lead is examined in food samples. All that mattered was ensuring that those overseeing the test were taken care of. "You support us, we will support you," said Singh. Further, the team also discovered that it was possible to disturb a competitor brand by getting its samples failed in the test. A food inspector in Lucknow was not only prepared to fail the namkeen sold by the investigation team's competitor brand on spurious grounds, but he also promised to help generate massive media coverage.
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