BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha State Food Commission has urged the government to strengthen food testing facilities in the state.
In a letter to the health and family welfare department, the commission's chairperson, Ranglal Jamuda, while describing the current situation of food testing facilities in the state, has asked for immediate recruitment of additional staff and opening of more food testing laboratories.
"There is only one state public health laboratory in Bhubaneswar. Even this is not well-equipped. It is under-staffed. Though the building has been constructed for installation of necessary equipment, procurement is progressing at a slow pace," reads the letter of Jamuda.
He said the sanctioned technical positions were grossly inadequate and that the field formation of the food safety organisation was weak. "At the district-level, only one post of food safety officer has been sanctioned. In many districts, this post is vacant," stated the chairperson in his letter to the department.
According to the National Food Security Act of 2013, food samples from different government schemes, including mid-day meal, should be collected on each working day and sent for a test to the food testing laboratory. Besides, officials should collect samples from other food business operators to check their quality.
"The enforcement is very weak in the absence of adequate staff and logistics. The staff at the district-level do not get vehicles to undertake tours. The situation is such that the test reports for even the limited number of mid-day meal samples are received after six months," another commission official said.
The commission chairperson in his request to the health department commissioner suggested that besides strengthening the existing laboratory, steps should be taken to set up more laboratories at the medical colleges. There could also be well-designed courses in each medical college so that the passouts could help strengthen the system, Jamuda said.
Besides testing food samples from government schemes and private food business operators, the State Food Commission is also entrusted with the task of collecting water samples to check their quality. "There has to be a policy decision at the government-level to make the system effective," social worker Alok Kar said.
A senior health and family welfare department official said they had received the letter from the commission and forwarded the same to the government for consideration at a higher level.
"The matter will be discussed and adequate steps will be taken to strengthen the food testing facilities in the state," the official said.
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