Sophisticated equipment worth Rs.10 cr. installed in State Lab to check adulteration of Desi Ghee...

Chandigarh, January 3: To contain the cunning, unscrupulous adulterated ghee makers, sophisticated equipment worth Rs.10 crore has been installed at State Food Safety Laboratory in Kharar, informed Mr Kahan Singh Pannu, Commissioner Food Safety Punjab. He said that officials of Food and Drug Commissionerate have been pouncing upon food adulterators since the launch of Mission Tandrust Punjab in June 2018.

They have been conducting a large number of inspections of food items on daily basis. The samples seized therein are analyzed in the State Lab at Kharar and requisite action is taken against the adulterators. However, due to the absence of high-tech machinery, the desi ghee adulteration was not being successfully curtailed. The clever adulterators evaded scrutiny by mixing vegetable oil with Reichert Meissel (RM) value enhancing chemical to make cheap quality Desi Ghee.

But now State of the art Inductively Coupled Plasma – Mass Spectrometer (ICPMS) and  Gas Chromatograph – Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) have been installed in the Food Safety Laboratory. This equipment will be used to detect any kind of adulteration in food samples especially Desi Ghee. Besides, Liquid Chromatograph – Mass Spectrometer (LCMS) has also been procured and it will detect aflatoxins, mycotoxins etc in food samples.

He said that all the Desi Ghee manufacturers have been asked to get their Ghee samples tested voluntarily from State Food Safety Lab at the earliest and warned strict action under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 against the desi ghee manufacturers who don’t desist from adulteration.