Mobile food labs in 13 dists to combat adulteration

New Delhi: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), in collaboration with the food and drug department, is taking strong action to curb food adulteration in the state.

To this end, mobile food laboratories will soon be deployed in all 13 districts of the state, enabling on-site testing of food samples at a nominal fee of Rs 50.

Addressing the issue of delayed sample testing, two new mobile food analysers have been received from the Central government in Dehradun.

Currently, food samples from all 13 districts are tested at the State Food and Drug Laboratory in the US Nagar district headquarters, Rudrapur, which has the capacity to analyse approximately 3,000 samples annually. However, the backlog of about 500 pending samples and the consequent spoilage of some samples necessitates a more efficient system.