DFCO knows what’s on your plate, you don’t

Srinagar, Apr 13: The J&K Drug and Food Control Organisation (DFCO), the nodal department for ensuring the safety of edibles and enforcing the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, has become more opaque over the years.

While the organisation's website or mass media provide scant updates on its activities, the recent report ‘Work Done’ published on dfcojk.org omits critical details about what has been tested and found unsafe and why.

As per the prevalent laws, consumers have a right to know their foods, their quality and safety concerns.

As per its latest report, the DFCO tested 492 food samples in February 2025 across its Kashmir and Jammu divisions, covering edibles, which provide no clue. Of these, 23 samples failed quality standards. One food sample was declared unsafe, while 22 others were found to be sub-standard. In the field, 16 samples out of 149 were found unsafe, while 14 out of 207 were substandard.

From the ‘numbers’, it appears significant sampling and testing have been carried out.

However, the numbers do not translate into any awareness, information, or action for the masses.

The report does not name the brands, vendors, or markets where faulty products were found; what were the unsafe products; whether these are still available in the market, in the kitchen cabinets, and in fridges; what food items are sub-standard and what does substandard mean for the consumer.

The consumers have no way to know, and the information gap puts their lives at risk.

The silence is the loudest on pesticides, an issue that is most concerning for farming communities and for a place like Kashmir where farms and residences are not far away.

Doctors in Kashmir have been flagging their link to health issues.

The DFCO’s labs can test for chemical residues, yet the report does not say if pesticides were checked in any of the samples it tested.

DFCO officials assert that samples of milk, oils, water, and spices are scrutinised for “adulteration, microbial contamination, and chemical residues,” but no results pinpoint pesticides as a problem.

Transparency takes another hit in how results are shared.

The report, a brief document on the DFCO’s website, is the only public record regarding the profile, safety, and quality of the thousands of categories of food items consumed.

There is no mention of press briefings, market alerts, or social media posts to alert consumers about the “failed samples”.

For most people, who have campaigned for food safety for a decade, the data might as well not exist. Not just the testing details, but the enforcement details are equally vague. Were unsafe foods pulled from stores? The report is silent on this, leaving the public unaware if risks were contained or linger in supply chains. This opacity is not just a paperwork issue or laziness, but a serious blow to public trust.

When Greater Kashmir flagged the absence of food safety data on the public official portal of the Food Safety Department, Joint Food Commissioner, Food Safety, Sanjeev Gupta responded by getting the report under discussion uploaded on April 4, 2025.

The report was not public before that.