MUMBAI: Before the guests even reach the venue, all major VIP events have two permanent invitees in common, both tasked with tasting the food for safety prior to the elites and political class feasting on it: food inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and police constables from the local jurisdiction.The recent wedding of NCP SP MP Supriya Sule’s daughter Revati to Sarang Lakhani was no exception.The FDA inspectors had to taste every item on the menu. Once this was done, food samples had to be collected, sealed and kept in police records for 72 hours.This standard protocol, mandated first by the General Administration Department and then by the Ministry of Protocol, frequently pulls food inspectors away for VIP duties for up to half the week.
FDA officials question VIP food-tasting duty
To taste or not to taste is a question troubling FDA officials, as a single VIP assignment for an inspector can sometimes last as long as 13 days.One senior food department official went so far as to ask, “Are we guinea pigs to be experimented on? There are no travel arrangements made for us either.”The political spectrum covered under this protocol is vast, including everyone from opposition members who hold public office, such as MP Rahul Gandhi, to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who does not hold any public office.Until three months ago, the team of food tasters had a third member: doctors from state-run hospitals such as JJ or St George’s.However, the medical teams resisted and pulled out, arguing that their primary responsibility is patient care, not tasting food.The official written order, says Sanjay Surase, medical superintendent at JJ Hospital in Byculla, came in just over a week ago.“We should have done it a long time ago, but better late than never,” he says.With just a few days of planning, deployments cover not only grand events like high-profile weddings, but also routine arrivals and departures at the airport’s VIP lounge.“Four inspectors are unavailable for three to four days a week. It delays our routine work, but we make the reasons (VIP duties) clear to seniors,” says a food safety officer who oversees the assignment of inspectors to VIPs.FDA officials noted that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi or home minister Amit Shah visit, their own internal security teams conduct cyanide tests as part of their protocol.Officials must also check all packaged items at the venue. One food inspector recalled a moment after Bhagwat’s event in Mumbai when they disallowed the distribution of laddoos.“He likes to distribute sweets after an event. But the laddoos were near their expiry date, so we told them they could not be eaten.”FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said, “They have to act as per protocols set by the govt,” adding that, so far, no official representation on the issue has reached him from his officers.Secretary for Protocol Rajesh Gawande did not respond to press queries on who is eligible for the ‘food-tasting’ privileges.
