Misbranded, unsafe food items being sold in UP: FSDA

The month-long campaign by the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) to check quality of packaged drinking water, ice-creams, cold drinks, milk and milk products sold in the state revealed that 53.6% were sub-standard.

Additional chief secretary FSDA, Anita Bhatnagar Jain, who executed the, in a press statement said 3.4% samples were not safe for human consumption, 11% were misbranded.

“In all, 1,601 samples were collected. These included 155 of drinking water, 285 of ice-creams and kulfi, 35 of milk and milk products and 691 of other food items,” she said.

Maximum misbranded items were found among the packaged drinking water samples (65.6%) followed by cold drinks (31.2%). Misbranded means the manufacturing/packing date or batch number are not printed hence the expiry date cannot be ascertained. A water bottle can contain fungus or bacteria after expiry date.

While 66.3% of the milk and milk product samples were found substandard, 57.5% of the ice-cream and kulfi samples too were found substandard, indicating a health risk for consumers. In all, 9.1% ice cream and kulfi samples were found not safe for consumption.

“Samples were tested in six designated labs and sent to labs in secret manner so that no one could know which sample is going to which lab,” said Jain.

DATA REVEALS

Maximum misbranded items were found among the packaged drinking water samples (65.6%) followed by cold drinks (31.2%).

Misbranded means the manufacturing/packing date or batch number are not printed hence the expiry date cannot be ascertained.

While 66.3% of the milk and milk product samples were found substandard, 57.5% of the ice-cream and kulfi samples too were found substandard.

First Published: Aug 09, 2019 21:57 IST