Bhubaneswar: Many daily use food items, such as ready-to-eat snacks, curd, bread, paneer, packaged drinking water and spices are getting adulterated, health minister Mukesh Mahaling informed the assembly on Monday.Between April and Nov last year, food inspectors and health staff detected the highest number of adulterated food samples in Khurda district. These included chilli sauce, maida, packaged drinking water, ghee, rock salt, paneer, corn flakes and chilli powder, the minister said.
Adulterated packaged drinking water was found in Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Khurda, Malkangiri, Puri and Rayagada districts. Adulterated ready-to-eat snacks were found in Balasore and Bhadrak. Adulteration was found in samples of chilli sauce and mustard oil from Sundargarh district, and curd, paneer and chilli sauce in Rayagada. Adulteration was also found in dates, skimmed milk powder, cookies, chilli powder and other items seized last year, Pujari said.From April 2024 to Jan 2025, many adulterated food items were seized. The inspection teams found adulteration in items such as tea, biscuits, sattu, soya chunks, mustard oil, spices, sauces, china salt, cake, suji, chhatua, noodles, a sweet malted drink, atta, badam laddu, besan, sunflower oil, dal, paneer, ghee, chowmein, ice-cream, chocolate, palmolein and other items, he added.“To address the issues, various measures are being implemented by the food safety commissioner under the Food Safety Act, 2006. Food safety officers have been appointed in all districts and municipalities to prevent food adulteration,” the minister said.Currently, 63 food safety officers are regularly providing licences and registration certificates to food vendors, conducting inspections, and testing various food samples.“If food adulteration is suspected, samples are sent for testing to state-established laboratories. Awareness programmes are conducted among the public at different times. Food vendors receive training under the Food Safety Act, 2006, and a mobile laboratory is deployed in business-heavy areas and during various festivals to check food quality,” the minister said in his reply.
