Food and Drug Administration collects food samples, but where are the results?

ALLAHABAD: Raids by sleuths of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on eateries and sweetmeat shops garner a lot of attention and bring immediate publicity for the raiding party. However, the entire exercise turns into a damp squib once the supposedly spurious samples are collected and sent laboratories for testing. This is because details of the test report remain confined with official quarters and are never made public, leaving the common man guessing or oblivious of what they were being served at the shops.
During the last few years, there has been an exponential rise in cases of food adulteration by unscrupulous traders and vendors which in turn brought the FDA on centre stage with their raids making big news. Premises of prominent eateries and shops were raided on receiving any report of contamination and this was fairly frequent during Diwali this year when the department swooped down on eateries after receiving the slightest of complaints.
Talking to TOI, chief food inspector Harimohan Srivastava said that at majority of these establishments, the complaints were found to be genuine as the teams found the food items unfit for human consumption. On their part, the raiding teams collected samples and sent them to the laboratory in the state capital.
However, what is problematic is the fact that laboratory report of the samples rarely becomes public even as anxious consumers remain clueless about credentials of the shops, says consumer rights and social activist, Dr S P Singh. He says, "We have every right to know whether samples sent for examination cleared or failed the test conducted by the lab. This will enable us to remain alert while making purchases in future. But sadly, this is never followed in practice by the authorities concerned."
Saumitra Singh, a lawyer, says, "Ordinarily, consumers are less bothered when it comes to adulterated food items seized from roadside vendors. But when it comes to samples of food items collected from reputed shops, the outcome of test reports is definitely awaited with interest. This is because one would go for purchases in future with caution and skip items whose genuineness is doubtful," he said.
When the attention of the chief food inspector was drawn to the issue, he said, "It takes more than a month to receive the report about tests conducted on food samples sent from the city. If the sample fails the test, a notice is issued to the shop owner. If the latter is not satisfied, he can get a referral test conducted at Central Food Laboratory, Kolkata by depositing a fee of Rs 1,000. As far as taking action against errant parties is concerned, he said it is decided by higher ups in the food department whether to refer the matter to court. Up to 10 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) and fine up to Rs 10 lakh can be imposed by the prosecuting authority. So far, more than 20 cases have been decided and fine to the tune of several lakhs has been realized by the department.
He, however, accepted that the department lacks an effective mechanism to make the reports public and said only those who seek the information are provided the same by the department.