MADURAI: The food safety officials on Wednesday gave the higher secondary school students in the district a taste of ‘rapid’ tests that can be used at home to verify the quality of ingredients in their everyday meals.
Hundreds of students from across the district attended the two-day awareness camp titled Detect adulteration with rapid test (DART) beginning on Tuesday, with a view to sensitising them on simple tests to ensure food quality.
Split into eight sessions, the programme was held in four places like Usilampattti, Thirumangalam and a few schools in Madurai, with the rules allowing only a team of four students with a teacher from each school in the camp. They will then hold sessions in their respective schools and spread the word. Among the practical sessions are those explaining the tests that can be conducted to detect adulteration in milk, oil, honey, tea powder and dhal, and detect artificial colours to shine vegetables and fruits.
A session saw the official let a drop of milk fall on polished slanting surface and checked whether it either stayed or flowed slowly leaving a white trail behind. While adulterated milk will flow out immediately without leaving a mark on this surface, the pure one would either stay or move only slow.
The official said using similar tests on various food materials at home, one could determine their quality of the food they take every day. District food safety designated officer Dr M Somasundaram said awareness was also given on checking the ingredients of a product, expiry date and approval from food safety department before purchasing food materials.
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