The food safety division under the state health department is all set to roll out its first mobile lab to curb adulteration by facilitating on-the-spot testing of samples at nominal rates.
A minibus, allocated by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and equipped with laboratory apparatuses, is currently stationed at the state health directorate in Namkum and will be launched very.
Besides testing food samples on the spot, the mobile lab will also generate awareness against adulteration at marketplaces and educational institutions. People could get chemical use and adulteration levels checked for milk and its products, spices, vegetables, packaged drinking water and sweets (only starch). For high-end tests, depending on the seriousness of the contamination or adulteration, officials will then send the samples to the state lab in Namkum.
FSSAI has sanctioned Rs 5 lakh as operational cost for a period of three years. The health department has appointed two chemists and an assistant technician, besides a driver, for the van. They have been trained. The lab will currently service only in urban areas of Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad.