Tuesday, 14 September 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Nine food samples including dairy products and spices of various prominent brands in Dehradun have failed the quality test in the recent food safety surveillance drive of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
The food safety officer PC Joshi informed that the food samples are generally sent to Rudrapur lab for testing food samples but the central government has recently given a mobile testing lab to the state which was used for testing the samples here. He said that FSSAI conducted a five-day drive in the city and collected 58 different food samples through various business operators and locals.
The food analyst tested all 58 samples in the mobile lab out of which, nine samples were not found as per the standard. “The collected food samples included 14 dairy products like packaged milk from prominent brands and open milk from local dairies. Milk samples from brands like Amul, Paras, Milk India and Aveena Milk Private Limited failed the quality test.
These samples have less nutritional value than the prescribed one due to which, they failed the test,” stated Joshi. He also informed that the nutritional value in four samples of open milk from local dairies was also found to be less than the prescribed value. “This may be due to the dilution of milk with water or mishandling of milk. Lack of nutritional value in milk can cause deficiencies of calcium and other micronutrients in the body of a person who consumes it regularly,” informed Joshi. He informed that some samples of coriander and chilli powder were also found substandard. He said that these samples will be sent to Rudrapur lab for testing once again. He disclosed that the department will soon send notices to the manufacturing companies and sellers of the products that failed the test to stop the sale of the products till they improve the quality of their tested products.
