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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Slack food safety could be risking public health: CAG -Zia Haq

Slack food safety could be risking public health: CAG -Zia Haq

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published Published on Dec 21, 2017   modified Modified on Dec 21, 2017
-Hindustan Times

Audit report says most food testing labs in country are ill-equipped.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), India’s constitutionally mandated federal auditor, has cited serious lapses in enforcing food-safety norms in the country, which, it said, could be putting public health at risk.

A majority of the country’s food-testing laboratories were poorly managed, the report said. It found that 65 of the 72 state-wide food laboratories were not accredited to the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), as required. “Consequently, the quality of testing by these laboratories cannot be assured,” the CAG report said. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the national regulator, relies on these laboratories to confirm safety of food items.

Over 50% of licenses granted to manufacturers were issued on the basis of incomplete documents, which suggests they may not be fully complying with safety standards. From popular snacks to savouries, all foods found in stores possess the FSSAI’s licences.

In 2014, a state-level food laboratory in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur had found Swedish food giant Nestlé SA’s popular instant noodles brand, Maggi, to be unsafe. Nestlé SA had, at the time, claimed its product was safe and that there were “issues of interpretation” by Indian food inspectors. Samples tested were found to contain monosodium glutamate or MSG in Maggi.

The samples were then sent to the Kolkata-based Central Food Laboratory in June 2014. The Kolkata lab took almost a year to come out with a verdict, which said the samples not only contained MSG but also lead. This prompted the FSSAI to order a recall of Maggi in June 2015.

“Most of the state food laboratories entrusted with food testing and certification functions, were not only ill-equipped but also did not possess the NABL accreditation,” the CAG report states.

A range of issues afflicts these laboratories, including lack of trained manpower, which hampered “effective fixing of science based food standards and their enforcement”. The FSSAI’s office did not respond to queries on the CAG report, including an email sent to the CEO’s office.

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Hindustan Times, 19 December, 2017, http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/slack-food-safety-could-be-risking-public-health-cag/story-4PjXaUII2Obrw1Gv5i6ucP.html


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