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Ahead of the festive season, you must be scared after reading headlines of multiple food poisoning and adulteration cases across India. In the last week, 750 kg of fennel seeds were seized, food safety authorities have been inspecting sweets shops, restaurants have been reported to flout safety norms, and task forces taking new safety measures.
Amid this, the government of Andhra Pradesh is showing a way to expedite the process of examining produce sold by vendors and branded shops across the state. The authorities will ensure that all the surprise inspections of shops and restaurants are done with results in just a few minutes. Therefore, they introduced ‘Food Safety on Wheels’.
Andhra Pradesh Government Launches Food Safety On Wheels
The idea of ‘Food Safety on Wheels’ is simple yet effective. When food security task forces collect samples from inspected shops and restaurants, they send these samples to labs where a team of scientists check them to identify if the sample qualifies safety checks or if verify the type of adulteration in it.
The downside to this method is the time required to conduct these tests and deliver the report. If the vendor is selling adulterated food products, the team the report will announce it, many customers could get affected by the food.
Amid Dussehra and Diwali festivities, ‘Food Safety on Wheels’ will check the quality of water and food in the restaurants. The labs are established inside automobiles which will check one shop after the other, especially in large crowds.
These mobile labs will pick up food items like sweets sold by shops, even in pandals to let the public know the quality is good for human consumption. N. Poornachandra Rao, Food Safety Joint Controller, was quoted saying, “We have launched the mobile food safety lab to test the quality of food and water in eateries located in the main centres of the city, and the public can avail of its services free of charges.”
If this service succeeds, it could be revolutionary and pave the way for other state governments to adopt similar measures, especially when Diwali 2023 reports highlighted adulteration in ghee, paneer, milk, curd, sweets, main course meals, and processed foods. This will alert the vendors, and they will try to stay on top of their game by following measures while the fear of losing business will linger around their necks.
