M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, June 7: On World Food Safety Day, people, in general, are advised to be aware of food safety and not to put public health at peril.
The joint appeal was made today by civil surgeon Dr Ashok Kumar, additional chief medical officer cum designated officer of food safety Dr Anil Kumar and Palamu food safety officer Madam Gulab Lakra.
The designated officer of food safety Dr Anil Kumar said there is a strong need to make more and more people aware of food safety.
He said children and the younger generation are most inclined to eat junk food, not realizing that junk food rusts their internal mechanisms. He agreed that junk food is sold most pompously through the most lucrative advertisements.
He said there is a law to enforce penalties, cancellation of food licences etc but he said he is of the opinion that people in general should be first made aware of what food safety is and what effects it will have if food safety is compromised.
Dr Anil Kumar said 70 per cent of the milk products here are substandard as seven samples of milk out of the 11 samples collected from eleven khatals have failed milk tests.
Civil surgeon Dr Ashok Kumar said, “It’s time to check adulteration in paneer and khowa, the much-in-demand thing.”
The civil surgeon said in the same vein “The state food safety team has not its jurisdiction of checking foodstuff either put on sale at the railway platform or in the long-distance running trains. The railways have their own mechanism for it.”
On the suspected cases of food poisoning, Dr Ashok Kumar said it’s always a trying time for the doctors to pronounce food poisoning cases and so it is advised in general to have proper food for one’s health.
Explaining adulteration, the designated food safety officer Dr Anil Kumar said “Let people understand that any mixing of external things in food is not only a case of adulteration as even extracting out something from the food also comes in the category of adulteration. If urea is mixed with milk, it’s adulteration. Again if the fat of the milk is extracted, then also it is an adulteration. So both these acts are under the provisions of the food safety act.”
He said there is a great economy of street food as people know at what corner of the street they will get the right taste of food but let people know that the safety of street food matters most and there should not be any compromise with it.
Dr Anil Kumar said what would one say when turmeric is polished yellow for sale. Similarly, rotting palwal is made greener. Here comes the yardstick for food safety.
District food safety officer Gulab Lakra said we have lodged 17 cases for food quality in 5 or 6 months. Five cases of it are in the CJM court here.
