The incidences of adulteration in edible items increases during the festivals like Holi. The increased demands of milk, its products and other edible things during the festivals of Holi make the adulterators more active during this time. The spurious condensed milk (Mawa), milk, Ghee and butter are the targets of the adulterators during this period of time. Large supplies of such products are made from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh where many clandestine units of these spurious milk products are situated.
In modern times the old practice of preparing sweets at home is fast vanishing and people are dependent on sweet shops for their Holi sweets. The Dietician of the associated hospital of Government Doon Medical College (GDMC), Richa Kukreti said that sweets should be prepared at home so that the chances of eating contaminated stuff are minimized.
The district Food Safety department is also on its toes to prevent the adulteration in food products. However the department’s work is hindered due to shortage of staff. The distirct food safety officer Anoj Thapliyal said that a special vigilance programme is being undertaken in the district in view of the festival of Holi. He said that the teams of the department are visiting shops selling food products and collecting samples.
Thapliyal informed that the teams have collected samples of Mawa, Milk, Edible Oil, Salt, sweets, spices from Hanuman Chowk, Chakrata road, Rajpur road, Dharampur, Vikasnagar, Sahaspur and Rishikesh. He informed that the department has sent the samples to the Rudrapur lab for testing. It is pertinent to mention here that the Rudrapur based testing lab is the only lab in the state to check the food adultration.
The overload of work in the lab ensures that tthe reports take at least six to seven months to arrive due to which the action on perpetrators of adulteration is delayed.
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