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Public food labs short-staffed, poorly-equipped, low on infrastructure
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Thursday, 27 February, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Akshay Kalbag, Mumbai
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fiogf49gjkf0d Food testing laboratories run by state governments in India are characterised by a host of problems. Besides being a few in number, they are short-staffed and ill-equipped.
The sole labs in Gulzaribagh, Bihar, and Dalgate, Jammu and Kashmir, are two cases in point.
However, they provide private facilities an opportunity to undertake the task of testing samples.
Besides being located in urban centres, they have the requisite number of personnel and are better-equipped.
Moreover, they are certified by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the country’s apex food regulator, and offer such services as third-party food testing.
Gulzaribagh, Bihar
Bihar’s health department’s food safety wing - which itself is facing an acute shortage of manpower - has just one laboratory, which is located in Gulzaribagh, a city in Patna district.
Ironically, it became defunct a couple of years ago, following the retirement of the food analyst. Moreover, it did not have a specialist to check food samples for the presence of micro-bacteria, if any.
Food safety officials seized a number of items and sent these to the Mines Area Development Authority Laboratory in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, which charges a fee of Rs 200 per sample.
A few months ago, the services of a private facility in Kolkata, which is accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), were sought. The department agreed to pay Rs 1,000 per sample, which is steep.
Food safety officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, stated that every food safety inspector has the target of collecting twelve samples per month, and concurred that it is a cumbersome process, and the test reports are often delayed.
However, the department has big plans, and has given its nod to the proposals to set up a laboratory at every divisional headquarters and a state-of-the-art super lab in the state capital.
It was proposed that the divisional lab would be manned by a ten-member staff, comprising food analysts, technicians and assistants, while the super lab would be headed by a director.
The proposal also suggested that the latter would have food analysts to check food samples for the presence of chemicals, while another specialist will look into bacteria and other harmful microbes. It is now upto the finance department to take a call in this regard.
At present, there are only 14 food safety inspectors (against a sanctioned strength of 30), and they are expected to look after all the 38 districts of the eastern state.
There are nine designated food safety officers (FSO), who are expected to keep tabs on adulteration in all the divisions.
According to Sanjay Kumar, Bihar’s food safety commissioner, the existing manpower is not enough to implementing the objectives of the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006, and the food safety department proposed that new posts be created for all the ranks.
As per the proposal, there would be one food safety officer (FSO) at the block level; one FSO per one lakh persons at the town level, and two joint commissioners at the state headquarters (who would look into the legal and enforcement aspects).
The food safety officials claim the new set-up would be in place in about a year.
Jammu and Kashmir
Dalgate in Jammu and Kashmir has a food laboratory, which is not only inadequately staffed, but also short on equipment, despite the fact that it caters to the Kashmir division and receives samples from the remotest of areas.
In fact, sources stated that Srinagar’s assistant controller of food doubles up as the food analyst at the facility, and only six officials are currently serving, as against the sanctioned strength of 17. Of these, two are lab attendants, one is a lab technician and three are food safety officers.
Of the vacant posts, one is for a senior laboratory technician, two each are for lab assistants, food analysts and lab assistants, are three are for assistant food analysts.
“The work at the laboratory is badly hit due to the shortage of staff, and even the preparation of sample reports takes over a week,” a senior official of the food safety department said on the condition of anonymity.
“If staff was available, more tests could have been conducted,” he stated, adding that while these issues were brought to the notice of the government many a time, but no action was initiated.
Officials said the laboratory is ill-equipped to conduct analysis of food samples to detect carcinogenic chemical and biological toxicants.
It does not have a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) machine, a gas liquid chromatography (GLC) machine, a spectrophotometer, a water testing kit, and even basic equipment, like a projector microscope, a binocular microscope and a milk testing kit.
“These equipments are vital. The HPLC machine could have been used for the detection of residual pesticide in packaged drinking water and carbonated water,” a Drug and Food Control Organisation (DFCO) official said.
“A spectrophotometer is vital for the detection of colouring agents in juices and spices,” he stated, adding that due to the lack of equipment, many samples are being sent outside the state for testing.
An NABL team visited the facility recently, and during its inspection, it took note of the shortage of manpower and equipment.
An official of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) said they have started sending samples to the Central Food Laboratory (CFL) in Kolkata, because all tests cannot be conducted at the Dalgate laboratory.
“We have seen that the analysis reports prepared by the Dalgate lab contradict those of the Kolkata-based referral laboratory,” he added.
Satish Gupta, controller, Drug and Food Control Organisation, Jammu and Kashmir, said that the government is in the process of upgrading the facilities at the laboratory.
“We are in the process of providing adequate staff and equipment at the laboratory,” he said.
At the other end of the spectrum is Gujarat, which has shown the way, with mobile testing vans and investment in the establishment of a state-of-the-art facility. However, the food testing scenario in India continues to be dismal.
This is evident from the fact that while plans are now afoot for 125 laboratories across India, a gap analysis of the country’s 72 existing public labs highlighted the need to upgrade the facilities (for which a corpus has been earmarked).
TÜV SÜD South Asia [Mumbai (Maharashtra), Gurgaon (National Capital Region) and Bengaluru (Karnataka)]
Owing to growing consumer awareness and rapid globalisation, food companies have begun to realise the importance of food safety, according to Pankaj Jaiminy, assistant vice-president (food, health and beauty), TÜV SÜD South Asia [which operates three food testing labs (in Mumbai, Gurgaon and Bengaluru)].
“TÜV SÜD was among the first third-party testing agencies to be authorised by FSSAI to carry out inspection of food business operators (FBO) and issue Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) certifications on their behalf,” he informed.
As regards an inadequacy in the number of government labs creating opportunities for private food testing facilities, he said, “If we look at the present scenario, food testing facilities are less, but are increasing at a fast rate.”
“However, more improvement is required in the central and state labs in terms of infrastructure, equipment and manpower,” Jaiminy added.
“Fortunately, this gap in food testing facilities and requirement of food testing in India is bridged by third-party food testing agencies like TÜV SÜD,” he stated.
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