'We, The Human', a public Charitable Trust Channi Himmat Jammu on Thursday expressed deep concern over day by day increasing use of poisonous toxic chemicals in food, milk and milk products by few greedy elements, especially, during on-going festive season.
Trust's vice -chairman and retired principal secretary Law K Y S Manhas while addressing the press conference here at Press Club said, "The poor implementation of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 and the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 that created the food regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), coupled with law enforcers (food inspectors) and deficiencies in the testing laboratories, lead to persistence of menace of food adulteration."
One of the members of the Trust,Dr Sadiq Nargal said, "Worst is the role being played by the enforcement agencies which have adopted indifferent approach and have failed to set up required infrastructural facilities to curb this menace of adulteration in the state."
He further alleged that Food Safety Tribunals are not fully equipped with requisite manpower despite J&K HC directives. Only recently, on June 4, 2018, the HC directed the state government to comply with the court directions on curbing the food adulteration menace or face appropriate orders but nothing has been done on the ground so far.
He added, "the Legal Metrology Department has kept a criminal silence over non printing of mandatory information on sweet boxes sold by reputed big sweet vendors in Jammu, especially, viz date of manufacturing, date of expiry, composition, colours and preservatives used etc.
The Trust members appealed the divisional commissioner Jammu to form special squads of food technologists to keep a special check over quality, information about composition etc in all milk and milk products including sweet vendor shops.
