Food adulteration

Last week, the J&K high court sought monthly reports as regards action taken by the authorities against those indulging in food adulteration. The last time the government filed such a report was on 23 September 2019 and the J&K’s top court had observed then that the government action “shows a hopeless state of affairs.”

The issue has been on the court’s radar for quite a sometime and its intervention led to the creation of infrastructure and recruiting of the staff in the department meant to effectively deal with a very important issue.

Due to lockdown on account of August 5 2019 decisions and present pandemic, the issue did not attract the same focus as before. However, the last week’s order by the court is significant in the sense that it has brought the issue is back to focus. Unfortunately, the problems which plagued the system still exist so does the problem of adulteration.  One cannot say with certainty that the complaints of past have gone or still exist. However, there have been appalling instances of food adulteration. For example, reports suggest, mustard oil was being mixed with potentially dangerous substances. Then reports surfaced milk is being thickened with urea, detergent powder and other such stuff. There were also reports that fruits and vegetables are being artificially coloured and chemicals are being injected by unscrupulous people for profit. Not long ago we came across reports that some unscrupulous elements are involved in adulteration of spices with various adulterants laced with dangerous dyes. Apart from lifestyle, the source of most of the diseases is the quality, and kind of food people consume.

It is a fact that the equality of the food available in the markets is deteriorating. It is now a recognized fact that deteriorating food quality has brought terrible results to fore.

The studies show a sharp rise in dangerous diseases like cancer, largely attributed to food. The experts have been stressing the implications of junk and packaged food. What has also come under focus is that spices, pulses, red and white meet, available in the markets need a strict vigil. Today we are again confronted by this threatening scenario that adulteration poses.

Beyond doubt, the food items available in the markets pose a threat to health of people and the concerned authorities need to devise mechanism with renewed focus.