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In a bid to tighten up food safety standards in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has informed the J&K high court that two food testing labs in the state are not accredited with the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), which is mandatory.
Mehmood Paracha, counsel for FSSAI informed high court’s divisional bench, headed by Chief Justice Baddar Durrez Ahmad and Justice Ali Muhammad Magrey, that two food testing labs– Public Health Lab, Patoli and Jammu and Public Health Lab, Dalgate–are not accredited with the NABL.
“Unless the labs are accredited they have no meaning as per the section 43 of the Food Safety and Standards Act,” said Paracha.
The court directed the government to get the accreditation certificate from the board within two months.
Earlier, an expert two-member panel from the FSSAI had informed the High Court that the state’s food testing labs were not functioning properly. The panel stated that both the labs were not carrying out any tests for contaminants such pesticide residues, heavy metals, veterinary drug residues, crop contaminants and naturally occurring toxic substances.
As soon as the matter came up for the hearing , Amicus Curie and senior advocate Bashir Ahmad Bashir pleaded that the Food Safety and Standard Act needs to be implemented strictly to avoid food adulteration in the state.
To provide proper analysis of food, Amicus recommended installation of food testing labs should happen across the state then only a proper scanner be put on the food manufacturers. Regarding the appointment of an independent food commissioner, the commissioner secretary health and medical education told the court that a proposal in this regard has been submitted to the government.
“The proposal stands submitted to the finance department which has to clear it,” he said. Following the submission, the court asked the finance department to clear the proposal within two weeks and forward it to the concerned for necessary action.