Special Kits to Detect Adulteration in Food

BY: STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Aug 16, GANDHINAGAR, AHMEDABAD, INDIA (EXPRESS NEWS SVC.) — Adulterators Beware! The state Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) has come out with special testing kits to detect adulteration in consumer foods such as milk, edible oil, ghee, tea leaves, iodised salt, sweets, soft drinks and juices.

The FDCA has prepared as many as 1,200 such kits to create consumer awareness across Gujarat under the Centre-aided capacity building project. These kits, each containing testing chemicals and equipment, will be distributed among consumer protection groups, science schools and colleges, and also district supplies officers (DSOs) and the FDCA's district offices to help local consumers detect adulteration in food items.

Announcing this here on Wednesday, state Health Minister Jay Narayan Vyas told mediapersons that the main objective of preparing and distributing such kits was to create awareness among consumers on quality goods, and also help them detect and check adulteration in the essentials they use on a daily basis.

Vyas said at least 21 primary tests on consumer goods could be conducted through the kits, each costing around Rs 700. He said if required, more such kits would be prepared by the FDCA and distributed among NGOs working for consumer protection and other bodies.

Since the kits are cost-effective, even the consumer can put it to his/her domestic use. “The FDCA has also published a booklet in both English and Gujarati, cautioning the consumer against how food and drugs are adulterated,” said Vyas.

He added: “It also contains details on how such testing kits could be prepared for household use. We will put this on the FDCA’s website too, to help the consumer prepare such kits on his own.”

Dr. S Murli Krishna, the state FDCA Commissioner, said the adulteration tests are being carried out in the three official laboratories in Vadodara, Bhuj and Rajkot. But this innovative concept of preparing testing kits is aimed at getting the adulterated consumer goods examined instantly, and also encourage its propagation at the household-level across the state.

“The FDCA will launch this programme in close coordination with the state Consumer Affairs department, for the common man can easily seek legal remedies by approaching the taluka and district-level consumer forums in case of complaints regarding adulteration,” said Dr Murli Krishna. He added that this innovative programme would certainly work as a deterrent against adulterators.