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Bill will be drafted to curb food adulteration menace: Health minister
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Wednesday, 23 July, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Abhitash Singh, Mumbai
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fiogf49gjkf0d The health ministry would soon draft a Bill in order to curb the increasing number of food adulteration cases across India.
In a telephonic conversation with FnB News, health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan stated, “We are also planning to draft a strict Bill
on food safety law in consultation with the ministries of food processing industries, consumer affairs, food and public administration, commerce and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the country's apex food regulator,
to curb food adulteration in the country. It would be approved by the Cabinet and enacted in Parliament.”
“The new Bill would
draft a stringent action against those found to be involved in food
adulteration. Prosecution and fines will be imposed against the
culprits. FSSAI, in order to succeed in its role as a watchdog for food
standards, would have to equip it with the required resources like
manpower and finance, so that it may uphold the cause of public health,”
he added.
“In consultation with FSSAI, we would form an advisory committee,
which would be headed by the food minister and include other ministries
like the health, food processing and agriculture ministries, which would
assist to implement the new Act efficiently and monitor the activities
of all the food traders to prevent the food adulteration in the
country,” said Dr Vardhan.
He added, “The stern provisions of the
law would not be enough to stop food adulteration, but its success
would depend on the strict enforcement of that law. We have framed many
good laws, but they often fail to successfully combat many social
menaces because of the lack of enforcement. To be instrumental in
stopping food adulteration, we would have to implement the law with
strict enforcement as soon as possible.”
According to data available with the government, over 20 per cent of the food items served in hotels, restaurants and fast food outlets across the country are either of sub-standard quality or adulterated.
The adulterated and sub-standard quality food cases are on the rise across the country, and the data clearly proved that out of 46,283 food samples, which include milk, milk products, edible oil and spice samples collected and sent for tests to various government laboratories in 2013-14, as many as 9,265 samples were found to be adulterated and misbranded.
As far as adulterated or sub-standard food is concerned, the leading state is Uttar Pradesh. In 2013-14, about 2,930 vendors were prosecuted, and as many as 1,919 of them convicted, while in 2012-13 about 2,551 cases were registered, and there were convictions in 1,010 cases. The food safety department of the northern state collected fines worth over Rs 9 crore in the two financial years.
Maharashtra is in second place. The state FDA carried out 2,557 prosecutions and convicted 66 offenders. Haryana was third, with 260 cases in 2013-14; 166 convictions and fines worth Rs 27 lakh being imposed on the offenders. Uttarakhand registered 122 food adulteration cases, Jharkhand 99, Bihar 90 and Delhi 61. The fines imposed on offenders in these four states exceeded Rs 12 crore.
When quizzed about the steps to be taken by the health ministry in order to curb food adulteration, Dr Vardhan informed, “We keep regular checks on food products and are also concerned about the health of the consumers.”
“The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the country's apex food regulator, undertakes regular surveillance, monitoring and sampling of food products under the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006 in order to eliminate the food adulteration in the country,” he added.
“State food safety officers collect random samples of food items and send it to the laboratories recognised by the FSSAI for analysis, and in cases where samples do not meet or not conform to the provisions of the Act, actions are been taken against those offenders,” he added.
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