With several controversies around lead in Maggi, detergent in Mother Dairy Milk, larvae in Nestle NAN PRO 3 baby milk powder etc, concerns regarding food quality and safety are sky high.
According to a report in Indian Express, Dr Satya Prakash letters to government authorities brings to fore the sub-standard ways in which food in labs are tested. Dr. Satya Prakash is former director of the Central Food Laboratory in Kolkata. His letters throw light on how ill-equipped our food testing labs are and highlight the disconnect between regulations and reality in food safety.
In his latest letter dated June 12, to Health Minister JP Nadda and Prime Minister's Office, Dr. Prakash has stated that the labs run by states across India and also those run by Centre are ill-equipped to test the quality and standard of even common food items including fruits and vegetable, milk and carbonated beverages. He also mentioned that India is yet to lay down a proper "science-based standards" to test instant noodles.
Dr. Prakash rightly also added that the test parameters for instant noodles that was sent by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to state laboratories did not cover MSG, the flavour enhancer, microbiological examinations and pesticide residue tests.
"The business of instant noodles is around Rs 1,700 crore and (these) are consumed basically by the children. Hence there is an urgent need to prescribe standards for noodles," Dr Satya Prakash wrote in his letter.
The letter was written a week after Maggi was recalled from across the states in the country.
Dr Prakash retired in 2009. He also held additional charge of the Central Food Laboratory in Ghaziabad. He had written to the UPA government officials back in 2011, stating that no standards for processed cheese products had been laid out.
When contacted by Indian Express, in an email he replied: “I stand by what I had written to authorities for improving the working of existing food laboratories… so that the country may get state-of-the-art laboratories duly accredited by NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories).”
In a 2012 he had written to then health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, pointing out six referral laboratories under the ministry which weren't equipped enough to test various food categories.
Here's what he had written in 2012:
Fruits and vegetables
No central or state food lab is NABL-accredited "for analysing/monitoring pesticide residues in fruits and vegetable products… as per the validated method prescribed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare." This included names of 36 state food labs that confirmed in RTI replies that they were not testing for pesticides in fruits and vegetables.
Carbonated beverages
Theses were not being tested by central or state labs, because of lack of “imported sophisticated instruments as required” after guidelines on tests were issued in 2008 which mandated testing at a minute level of 0.001 parts per million. The only centre in India that can conduct these tests is CFL in Mysore.
Milk and milk products
No labs tests are conducted for “pesticide residues, heavy metals, microbial contamination, mycotoxins, veterinary drugs and melamine… essential parameters to declare the milk safe”.
Lack of competent staff and poor working conditions
Dr. Prakash's in his letter in 2012 and 2013 also wrote about the 'working conditions, functioning of the labs which were directly under the ministry and how it lacked competent staff who couldn't even analyse samples as per rules.
His letter in 2013 addressed to then health secretary stated that no state lab was NABL-accredited for testing pesticides."Pure gases required for pesticide residues analysis are not available even in Kolkata; it has to be procured from Mumbai only. Thus, any one imagines the condition of State Laboratories situated in small cities/towns.”
About Raxaul and Sonauli, Dr Prakash wrote, “No chemical or glass dealers are available. All the supplies are to be procured from outside to run the laboratory.” He also highlighted poor power supply in the interiors: "If electricity is available, the voltage will be so low that you cannot run the sophisticated equipment." Service centres of suppliers of foreign sophisticated equipment are situated only in the metros, he added.
The World Bank had approved a project on Food and Drug Capacity Building from 2003-08 and released money worth crores for upgrading Indian labs. However, in letters to health ministers in the last four years, Dr Prakash wrote that in most state and central laboratories, "highly sophisticated equipment" supplied under the project were "not opened or utilised at all".
Dr. Prakash's letters show us the grim reality of how there are no rules or standards that the Indian labs follow to test food products that millions of people across the nation consume.
It highlights the fact that our labs lack technical, competent staff, facilities, expertise and sophisticated equipment to test food items being consumed all over India. The rules and regulations in the country are so lax and standards of food testing so low that products that can cause serious health hazards are being sold in the open.
Safety is a serious concern and how soon will the government take measures to improve the situation is a question still to be be answered.
No comments:
Post a Comment