Toxins on Your Table: Unsafe food, supplements flood Kashmir markets

Srinagar, Aug 2: A look at the J&K’s Food and Drug Control Department website reveals the vast and rich data regarding the drugs that were tested, and the kind of tests they failed.

The batch of drugs, the company, the place from where these were lifted, the details of tests carried out, everything is specified, clearly.

The department also tests foods.

However, its reports on food safety are scarce, hide critical details, and reveal nothing about the life threatening impurities found when tested.

One line that tells all – 15 samples found unsafe in a month.

Beginning July, the department found that four health supplements available in market were “unsafe”.

Health supplements have become increasingly popular in J&K among all age groups and genders.

A senior official in the department said more and more health supplements were failing tests due to heavy metal contamination.

A 2020 study by the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), Lucknow, found lead and cadmium in dietary supplements sold across India.

The contamination starts with the basic ingredients.

Marketed as health boosters, and even prescribed by doctors, these metals pose risks of kidney damage and developmental issues.

These can cause severe harm in children.

In 2018, the Food Safety and Standards Association of India (FSSAI) set limits for heavy metals in supplements, but a damning 2022 Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) report revealed how these standards are casually flouted, putting lives at risk.

The JK DFCO has not been proactive with revealing information about the various samples of foods that fail the tests.

However, often, their major hauls of unsafe foods shake the consumers out of their stupor.

In September last year, the officials in Srinagar tested fish samples from local markets.

To their shock, an official said, 14 samples contained formaldehyde, a banned preservative, known to cause cancer.

A 2018 study by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) Kochi reported the same contamination in fish markets of Assam and Kerala.

In J&K, fish is often transported from other states and inadequate supply-chain monitoring allows such practices.

The official said that cold chain disruption is an offence that is not even registered.

“A putrefied fish can cause severe illness, even death,” he said.

The Food Testing Lab in Srinagar underwent a major upgrade with state-of-art equipment.

In 2016, Rs 6 crore were allocated to it, in the subsequent years, more funds were allocated.

Yet, the lab has not yet come up as the guardian of food safety in J&K.

A wave of food safety concerns has swept J&K over the years.

A doctor Greater Kashmir spoke to said residues and additives in products ranging from health supplements to ice creams, alongside staples like fish, poultry, milk, fruits, and vegetables, are a major concern.

Ice creams and processed foods contain synthetic food colours that fail safety standards.

On August 1, the department flagged the presence of dangerous dyes in popular snacks in Kashmir markets.

A 2022 FSSAI survey in North India found excessive levels of dyes like Tartrazine and Sunset Yellow in sweets and snacks.

A 2017 study by the University of Kashmir’s Food Science Department identified similar violations in local confectioneries and ice creams.

Consumers and stakeholders have voiced demands for a transparent and proactive food testing and reporting system by JK DFCO.