PATNA: Bihar Dietetic Association (BDA) on Wednesday said people of the state were forced to consume substandard food as there was no regular inspection against adulteration in Bihar.
The association members alleged that the Combined Food and Drug Laboratory at Agamkuan in Patna to check food adulteration has been non-functional for the past many months. "Nobody checks if the norms for food safety are being followed by vendors or the companies that provide processed food in the state," said association's secretary Sudhakar Mishra. The samples from Bihar, he claimed, are sent to Kolkata for test.
Mishra requested the state government to get regular inspections conducted by the health department's food safety wing to ensure that the companies with the licence to manufacture processed food were selling items as per standards fixed for them.
Talking to newsmen at a workshop conducted at Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH), he said, "People in India focus only on quantity and not on quality of the food they consume."
The association, he said, wants to ensure that the food being consumed is checked for adulteration.
Sources in the food safety wing said there were only 14 food safety officers for 38 districts in the state. The official also said although the laboratory faced problems in the past as well, it had been functional for the past six months with regular inspections being carried out for adulteration. "The allegations are not true," an official said.
Food safety inspector Mukesh Kashyap, when asked about routine inspections, said as per the norms followed by the food safety wing, every food safety officer collects 10 samples from different areas every month for routine inspection. "Inspections are also carried out extensively during festive seasons," said Kashyap.
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