Kashmir has no microbiology lab to check food quality

Official announcements confined to papers

SRINAGAR, Aug 4: Despite multiple announcements by the government, Kashmir valley has no microbiological laboratory to check quality of food items.

There has been an increased flow of poor and substandard food products in the Valley. To stop this, the government announced several times that microbiological lab will be made operational shortly. Despite these announcements, the much needed facility is yet to be made available to ensure hygienic and good quality food to the people. 

The microbiological laboratory according to an official of Food Safety Department would ensure that meat and poultry products are manufactured to "their standards, stored and shipped under proper conditions, and comply with the regulations of their destination market". He said there has been an increase in the sale and intake of misbranded food items in the Valley. "Out of the samples collected from the market in the last one year, 50% were either substandard or unsafe for consumption," the official said. In 10 months till May, official figures of the Food Safety Department reveal that out of 1351 samples of different food items collected by food inspectors from the Kashmir division, 330 were found unsafe, 106 substandard, and 204 were misbranded. In Srinagar district, the Food Safety Department had collected 445 samples for testing, while 135 food items were found to be "misbranded and substandard". An official said there is no analytical laboratory to ensure superior hygiene, quality, and meat safety. "Retailers sometimes sell dead animals, and there is no way for us to know the state of meat," the official said.

The High Court has stressed the need for prohibitory measures for the strict implementation of Food Safety and Security Act, which essentially prevents food adulteration in the state.

In an article last year, Dr. Fayyaz Ganie - the veterinarian and founder of Truevet Biosciences - a Srinagar based biotechnological company had said that all over the world a comprehensive approach to meat safety is applied from the farm to the customer. This includes "inspection of meat before and after slaughter, testing for germs, and detection of organic traces".

Meanwhile, a senior official of Food Safety Department, said that government has taken several measures to ensure people get hygienic and good quality food.

Asked about the absence of microbiological laboratory in the Valley despite multiple announcements by the government, he said, "The microbiological lab will be made operational soon in Dalgate."