The progress report of state’s health sector has not shown any advance despite heavy spending and support of governments over the years. To make things worse, contaminated and adulterated foods have been entering the food chain with authorities least bothered about the wellness of the people. From spraying of insecticides on food articles to artificial ripening using such agents as calcium carbide, there is a lot to worry a general consumer. The Food and Control Organisation has been repeatedly disappointing the people with the organisation turned into a rudderless institution. The task of examining different food articles and proper implementation of Food Safety and Standards Act has been marred with controversies arising from the fact that the responsibility has been unremittingly shifted by different bodies and municipal committees.
There is a lot of confusion among masses over the prime agency responsible for enacting the law in the state and shouldering the responsibilities. While the municipalities are known for sporadic response regarding health and hygiene check, there does not seem to be any mechanism in place to check the toxic substances that get mixed with the food articles sold almost everywhere in the state. While unscrupulous vendors are making easy bucks by selling adulterated and contaminated food, it is the health of the people that is degrading with the passing of days. The purposeless plan of government begins and ends with a food safety week where in authorities go on checking kitchen and food manufacturing units in few selected places. Whosoever is caught in that once-in-a-year exercise is made to pay a penalty and the matter is forgotten. It is no wonder that there is such a huge rush of patients observed in different hospitals who complain about infections and mild and severe food poisoning cases. Some very unhealthy practices are completely ignored by the authorities upon whom is fixed the responsibility of ensuring proper health care. Even civil society that could have done a great service by disseminating essential information on food contamination has turned a blind eye towards this issue.
While people have been hearing about lack of infrastructure and testing labs in the state, the concerned ministry (both state and union) does not seem to budge an inch. If the state of affairs continues this way, number of people suffering from sicknesses due to adulterated food is going to be a mammoth figure. It is time that government takes to task different agencies which should have been on toes to see food safety act properly implemented in the state.
REFERENCE:
May 5, 2016.Contaminated Food.Rising Kashmir.retrieved from
