The food safety department officials have been on their toes for the last few months because of a spurt in cases related to violation of the food safety rules. With social media also working overtime, officials say that it has become difficult for them to keep up with the pace as they are acutely short of staff.
If it were the Lassi shops in Kochi last month, this week, it was repackaging of food items past their expiry date. Senior officials with the department, who didn’t want to be named, said that they don’t even have half the staff or infrastructure that the excise department enjoys and yet they have a large work portfolio. “Everybody wants to ensure safety of food. It is high time that the government gives us the adequate staff and infrastructure to handle the challenges.”
According to the food safety rules, an assembly constituency should have a food safety officer. However, there is a shortage in many districts. Officials said that in districts which have corporations and municipalities, there is a need for at least two assistant commissioners - one to handle the licences and another for monitoring and surveillance. “We need at least two vehicles - one for the squad and one for department officials. Now there is a Quick Response Team which often hires vehicles when it goes for conducting checks,” a senior official said. There are only three squads in the state - one in each region as of now.
The department gets side-lined as it comes under the health department and is not considered an independent vertical.
“We also have a shortage of testing labs. As of now, there are only three laboratories in the state. Every district should have one lab, so that the samples are checked fast. Speedy disposal of cases is yet another issue as RDO, burdened with revenue complaints, is the appellate authority,” said a senior official.
The Panangad police team headed by sub-inspector Rejin M Thomas has intensified the search for Siva Subrahmanyam, suspected to be the master brain behind this repackaging of food items past their shelf life at a warehouse in Nettoor.
"The well-equipped unit has all modern equipment to repack food items manufactured by major brands. We also suspect they were engaged in manufacturing duplicates of brands with high market demand,” he said.
The police have registered a case against Karwar Alliance Pvt Ltd over the incident. The samples have been sent for detailed lab tests. "We have registered a case against the firm for forgery and cheating,” said Rejin M Thomas, Panangad sub-inspector.
Food inspector Zakkeer Husain said the firm was repacking products with fancy names like choco-vita, malto-vita etc and selling it under the offer ‘buy one, get one free’. “There were also free gifts bundled with the products which are aimed at enticing the customer,” he said.
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