FDA’s testing van still lacks equipment

AURANGABAD: Seven months after getting the mobile food testing van, the Aurangabad division of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is waiting for the equipment, apparatus and kits required for on-the-spot testing of adulterated food samples. 

Four vans were sanctioned in August 2014 for food inspectors in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad divisions to ensure speedy testing of suspicious samples. However, the van in Aurangabad division lacks testing facilities like advance equipment, apparatus, centrifugal machine and kits required to check food adulteration. 

Chandrashekhar Salunke, FDA joint commissioner (Food), Aurangabad division, said that the process of purchasing the equipment is in progress. 

Sources said that the van was supposed to be equipped with all the facilities so that the food safety officer (FSO) and a chemist can collect the samples on the spot and test them immediately. This would not only save time but also help in curbing supply and distribution of the adulterated food. 

This facility would enable the FDA to get reports within 15 to 20 minutes which otherwise take 15 days to one month. But the van arrived only with an inverter facility and is being used for transportation service, they said. 

"Lack of adequate laboratories and manpower is putting a burden on the existing labs. The food samples collected by the FSOs are sent to labs of FDA and the state health department. The labs must submit the analysis within 14 days but due to the lack of manpower and infrastructure, it is not happening," said a food safety officer. 

Though the van lacks equipments like a lactometer which is used to test adulterated milk, refractometre to test oil, apparatus to check solid not fat in milk products, moisture analyser, alkaline kits and many chemicals, Salunke said that they are using the mobile apparatus available in the Aurangabad FDA laboratory. 

"Utilising the van, the officials conducted a surprise inspection drive in Beed district in September 2014 to crackdown on transportation of adulterated milk. They tested about 50,000 litres of milk, of which one sample was found to be of poor quality," said Salunke. 

Since August to March 31, 2015, the FDA officials have tested 53 samples of milk, of which 44 were found fit for consumption, two were unsafe, while seven samples failed to meet the standard criteria, he added.