Equipment Worth Rs.10 Crore Bought By Punjab FDA To Keep Food Adulteration In Check

According to a report by the the F&B News, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Punjab has bought equipment worth Rs.10 crore. This equipment will be used to check the adulteration in desi ghee. The Liquid Chromatograph – Mass Spectrometer (LCMS) will also be able to detect aflatoxins, mycotoxins in food samples.

Desi Ghee Adulteration

“To contain the cunning, unscrupulous adulterated ghee makers, sophisticated equipment worth Rs 10 crore have been installed at State Food Safety Laboratory,” said Kahan Singh Pannu, Commissioner, FDA, Punjab. The two equipment installed in laboratory are Inductively Coupled Plasma- Mass Spectrometer (ICPMS) and Gas Chromatograph – Mass Spectrometer (GCMS). From June 2018, with the launch of Mission Tandrust in state, Food and Drug Commissionerate officials have been carrying out a large number of inspections of  food items on daily basis with seized food samples being sent to the Kharar laboratory for analyses.”

Pannu also said that, “There was an absence of high-tech machinery to keep a check on the desi ghee, adulteration was not being successfully curtailed. Clever adulterators evaded scrutiny by mixing vegetable oil with Reichert Meissl (RM) value enhancing chemical to make cheap quality desi ghee. All the desi ghee manufacturers in the state have now been asked to get their ghee samples tested from state food safety laboratory at the earliest or strict action under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, will be undertaken.”

The Joint Food Commissioner of food and drug safety in Punjab, Anup Kumar said, “With the installation of these machines, the results can be acquired in two to three days. It will help to check adulteration in various food items like edible oil, dairy, fruits and vegetables.”