While the J&K Food Control Organization has swung into action following directions of the High Court and announced a crackdown on milk adulteration, it has however once again banked on inadequately equipped Food Safety Lab here for testing samples instead of ensuring fool-proof scrutiny of samples outside the State.
As the state health machinery embarked on the ‘special drive’ to check the menace of adulteration in milk and milk products, the exercise seems to be headed nowhere. The samples lifted during the drive have been sent for testing to the Food Testing Laboratory in Srinagar, a facility with poor infrastructure and manpower. The department, as per the officials, is ‘following the rules’ in doing so.
Two days back, the High Court in a PIL on Food Safety said it was ‘shaken’ by the statement made by food commissioner that there is ‘no paraphernalia available in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the mandate contained in provisions of Jammu and Kashmir Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.’
However, the department has put all its faith in this rickety lab and entrusted it with testing of milk samples lifted during the drive. The blatant violation of court directions as well as apathy to public health can be gauged from the fact that samples of packaged milk lifted as per directions of Judicial Magistrate Budgam were also sent to Srinagar lab for testing while bypassing the Court order which directed that Commissioner Food Safety will ensure that samples of milk and milk products, as well as other edibles are sent to ‘Referral Lab Kolkata for opinion and action as warranted under law.’
Assistant Controller JK DFCO, Irfana Ahmed said that the FSSA did not permit that food samples to be sent directly to an accredited or referral lab for testing. “We are following the statutes of FSSA 2011. It says that a sample can be sent to a lab other than the state lab only if the officer concerned is not satisfied with the test report,” she said.
Healthcare experts have expressed concern over JK DFCO resorting to what they called ‘turning a blind eye’ regarding the lack of infrastructure to check milk safety. “The officials, despite being aware of the limitations of the Srinagar Food Testing Lab, have not pre-empted that the reports will be ‘misleading’ and turned a blind eye towards the need of the hour,” said a senior specialist in GMC Srinagar.
He added, “Desperate times should have called for desperate measures but for the organization has started taking refuge in rules.”
JKDFCO said that during the three days of special drive that commenced from April 25th 2016, 105 samples of milk were lifted and sent for testing. These samples were taken from milk suppliers en-route to various urban areas. Earlier, this month, as per the court directions, 46 samples of packaged milk and milk products were sent for testing.
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