Organizing a press meet in the capital on Wednesday, officials of the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DoFTQC) asked earthquake victims as well as general public to be alert while consuming such food items.
"We have found donors sending adulterated food reliefs to earthquake victims," Purna Chandra Osti, spokesperson of DoFTQC, said in the press meet.""Though we have been doing our best to stop distribution of such food items, consumers also should be careful before consuming food distributed as relief."According to Osti, adulteration is high in ready to eat food items like biscuits, breads, bakery items, sweet items, water, rice and noodles, among others.
Lab tests conducted by the government had showed that bakery, sweet items, noodles and flour supplied by India were of low quality. Similarly, 107 packets of rice supplied from Bangladesh and around six ton of rice supplied by World Food Programme (WFP), among others, missed the quality standard set by the government.
Meanwhile, the department has urged donors to not supply sub-standard and date-expired food items as relief to quake victims.
Sanjeev Kumar Karna, director general of DoFTQC, said that the department has deployed food inspectors at all quarantine offices to ensure that food items entering the country are safe for consumption.""However, consumer awareness is needed as quality of food deteriorates faster during summer"" he added.
Expressing commitments to make efforts to prevent outbreak of epidemics during monsoon, Karna said:""We seek cooperation from all our stakeholders""
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