Jaipur : Rajasthan High Court has expressed concern over many fatal diseases including cancer due to adulteration in food items. The court took suo motu cognizance and directed the Central and State Government to make strict laws and take effective steps to prevent adulteration. Along with this, notice has been issued to the Ministry of Home, Health, Agriculture and Food Supply of the Central Government, Food Safety and Standards Authority and Chief Secretary of the State, Additional Chief Secretaries of Home, Food Safety and Health Department and others and asked for reply. Apart from this, it has also been asked to take regular samples of food items and submit the investigation report to the court at the end of every month and give information about the steps taken to prevent adulteration. Judge Anoop Kumar Dhand took suo motu cognizance of the dangers of adulteration on Monday. Regular work started in the High Court after summer vacation on Monday itself. The court called upon all the senior advocates of Jodhpur and Jaipur, the President of the Bar Council, Vice President, President of the High Court Bar Association and other lawyers to cooperate with the court for taking strict action against adulteration, while a copy of the order has been sent to the Health Ministry and the Chief Secretary for compliance.
I don’t have time to learn about food
The court said, today we have become so busy in completing our daily tasks that we do not take time to know about food. We do not even know whether what we are eating is safe or not. The government should show seriousness on this matter to save the lives of people. Due to adulteration, kidney, heart and liver etc. organs are getting affected and people are also becoming victims of malnutrition. Adulterated and substandard food is a big challenge for the society. Cancer patients are increasing not only in the country but in the world. Despite this, traders are selling food items by mixing cheap and substandard things to earn profit at low cost.
The bill is on hold
The Food Safety Act-2006 is not enough to stop this problem, because this law does not apply to the unorganized sector, hawkers etc., but only applies to processing units. Apart from this, there are also less labs to test samples. Due to lack of technology, food authorities are unable to keep proper monitoring. The central government is alert in this matter and the Ministry of Health also prepared the Food Safety Standards Bill in 2020, but it was shelved. It is the responsibility of the government to protect the lives of citizens. Since this subject is in the concurrent list, the central and state governments should take steps to prevent adulteration by making effective laws.
20% of food is unsafe
The court said that as per the records of the Health Ministry, 20% of the food items being sold are adulterated or of unsafe quality. As per the survey of Food Safety and Standards Authority, 70% of the milk is adulterated with water and there is also evidence of detergent being mixed in milk.
The High Court gave this instruction
The state government should not limit the war against purification campaign to festival or wedding season.
-To control and monitor adulteration, committees should be formed at the state level under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary and at the district level under the chairmanship of Collectors.
The Central and State Governments should take steps to strengthen the Food Security Act, 2006.
The State Food Safety Authority should identify high risk areas and time regarding adulteration.
Adequate equipment and resources should be provided to the laboratories.
The numbers of other responsible officers including Food Safety Officer and toll free numbers should be published on the websites of Central and State Government.
