Spurious food threat to public health

Severe manpower crunch in Food Safety branch of Health Department hinders monitoring of food quality 

Guwahati, Oct 8: At a time when incidences of food adulteration in the State are on the rise, the Health Department’s Food Safety branch tasked with monitoring food quality in the market is ill-equipped to handle the situation.

Owing to severe manpower shortage, the Food Safety branch has been almost rendered redundant even as its skeletal staff are hard-pressed to discharge their duties. 

Of the total sanctioned posts of 59, as many as 21 posts are currently lying vacant. 

In fact, sources pointed out that the actual requirement for sanctioned posts is much higher considering the State’s burgeoning population. “Our actual district-wise staff requirement is much more. But, now even many existing sanctioned posts are lying vacant,” a source said.

And not without reason. As per rules, a designated officer of rank not below Sub-divisional Officer should be appointed in each district. But the State’s 33 districts have only 5 sanctioned posts of Designated Officers, of which 4ur are currently vacant. 

Requirement for officials in each district is much more than the current sanctioned strength. For instance, Kamrup (Metro) district does not have any sanctioned post of Senior Food Safety Officer. And there are only two sanctioned posts of Food Safety Officers in the district, which is considered “insufficient” by the sources.

Even the existing strength has not been filled up for some years now, the sources confirmed. Of the total sanctioned posts of 18 Senior Food Safety Officers, 7 are vacant. Similarly, out of 36 sanctioned posts of Food Safety Officers, 10 are vacant.

The Food Safety branch is tasked with conducting periodic checks of food quality like whether these conform to safety norms set by the government from time to time. Its staff is mandated to conduct tests of food samples collected from the market. But with severe manpower shortage, it is anybody’s guess as to how things are currently functioning in the State, though the branch claims of doing its best under severe constraints. 

And the information definitely does not augur well for a State as it comes at a time when reports of substandard and spurious food often emanate from different areas. 

Sources fear public health may be compromised to greater degree in coming days as chemicals proven to be carcinogenic like calcium carbide are rampantly being used in fruits and vegetables, while those tasked with monitoring food quality are hamstrung to discharge their duties.