Food adulteration an international concern: Roy

Addressing a workshop on one of the pivotal issues ‘Adulteration and its impact on health’, Minister, Food, Civic Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Saryu Roy said that the problem of adulteration has become an international concern that needs immediate attention from all section society. Roy was speaking at a workshop organized by Indian Institute of Natural Resins and Gums (IINRG), Namkum here on Tuesday.

In the presence of over 135 government employees including senior scientists, Roy brought into limelight some basic facts about the main reasons behind adulteration. “People who thinks and never give second thought while buying branded products must understand the facts that even those items are adulterated. Ancient traditions must be smoothly blended with the scientific solutions to curtail the impact of adulteration,” he said.

Citing example of Indian business cultural ‘Shubh- Laabh’ which stands for pious and profit, Roy said, “The concept of ‘Shubh-Laabh’ has just turned into greed where businessmen earns hefty profits putting the lives of the consumers at stake. Legal provisions are there to curb these bad practices yet efforts must be made to eradicate its root cause understanding all its pros and cons.”

The Minister on the occasion assured to implement the new consumer protection Bill which is pending in the parliament with utmost sincerity after getting parliament’s consent. Notably, the first consumer act which was passed in 1954 was amended in 2006 and got implemented in 2010. The new consumer Bill which was introduced in Lok Sabha recently has the provision of establishing an authority to safeguard consumers’ rights and also has the provisions for penalty and jail terms in case of adulteration and misleading ads by companies.

Taking the discussion ahead, Dr. Tilak Raj Sharma of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences said that it is not during the packaging and marketing point of time when adulteration process begins but in this era from the time of planting saplings, unaware farmers starts using chemical contents which is hazardous for human health or else any living creature. “The farming practice here has involved use of different types of chemical fertilizers which need to be checked. High use of chemicals has severe impact on soil and can turn the cultivable land barren,” he said.

IINRG, Director, Kewal Krishna Sharma, RIMS Superintendent Vivek Kashyap, Sr Technical Officer cum Secretary of Organsing Committee Anjesh Kumar alongwith other eminent persons were present on the occasion.