GUWAHATI: The food safety standard in Assam has been falling consistently for the past three years, a sign that does not augur well for the public's health, especially in terms of food-borne illness.
According to the latest report of the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI), during the evaluation conducted in 2019-20, Assam scored 39.6 points out of 100 in food safety. The score declined to 35 points in 2020-21 and 22 points in 2022-23. Sources attribute the falling food safety standard in the state to a lack of regular food quality control measures, a lack of awareness, etc., in rural areas when compared to their urban counterparts.
According to a report, thousands of people die in India every year due to food-borne illnesses like typhoid, bacillary dysentery, gastroenteritis, E. coli diarrhoea, hepatitis A, and food poisoning. The primary responsibility for checking the food's quality lies with the Health Department and the district authorities. These two authorities need to raise public awareness, take stern action, and conduct regular monitoring against adulteration of food. However, they fall short of doing enough to check the menace, leading to a consistent fall in food safety standards in the state.
According to sources, the major problem in rural and remote areas is that the consumers there bargain on the price line, not on the quality, and this leads to a section of traders glutting the daily and weekly markets with duplicate products. Due to a lack of awareness, consumers buy such products.
Contamination of chemicals in vegetables, formalin in fish, artificial ripening of fruits by applying carbide, adulterated milks, etc. are common phenomena in the markets in the state, even as the district authorities conduct raids from time to time.
Two months ago, the State Health Department made it mandatory for restaurants and hotels to display the date of expiration of each sweet item. Does the district authority have information as to how many hotels adhere to this instruction?
Do the authorities keep watch on the whole lot of fast-food vendors doing business in unhygienic places and ways in urban areas of the state?
According to the Food Safety Act, food safety, food security, and nutrition make a perfect combination, and the lack of any of these three components has a cascading effect on public health.
Also Watch: