“Unfortunately the food safety department is yet to wake from the deep slumber and check the quality of Bournvita and similar beverages at the grocery stores in both Kashmir Valley and as well as Jammu division.”
The food safety department in Jammu & Kashmir was though created for regulating the quality of food products delivered to consumers by the retailers in Jammu & Kashmir but unfortunately the food safety department in Kashmir hardly regulates the quality of food products delivered to consumers in Jammu & Kashmir as municipalities check more intensely the quality of food products than food safety department in cities and towns across Jammu & Kashmir. Notably recently a directive from the Ministry Of Commerce & Industry to e-commerce platforms to remove Bournvita and similar beverages from the ‘health drink’ category necessitate a prompt action against the retailers delivering such food products to consumers in Jammu & Kashmir but unfortunately the food safety department is yet to wake from the deep slumber and check the quality of Bournvita and similar beverages at the grocery stores in both Kashmir Valley and as well as Jammu division. Since food products like Bournvita and similar beverages consumed by children have consequently a direct bearing on the health of children, it is for the food safety department to ask the grocery stores to remove immediately Bournvita and similar beverages from their stalls in view of the said directive of the Industries and Commerce Ministry to the e-commerce platforms across the country. Significantly the food department has an institutional and administrative obligation to ensure transparency and promote consumer awareness in Jammu & Kashmir. Forget about promoting consumers awareness over the delivery of quality food products at grocery stores the food safety department does not act even on the advisories issued from the Central Government on quality of food products and permission for their delivery to consumers from time to time.
“With food safety department going slow on re-evaluation of the marketing and labeling of the food products manufactured and supplied locally in Jammu & Kashmir the consumers are for right reasons raising doubts over the quality of food products manufactured and supplied locally in Jammu & Kashmir. This not the time for debating the marketing and labeling of the food products manufactured and supplied locally in Jammu & Kashmir but this is time for food safety department to announce and implement regulatory guidelines for regulation of the quality of food products in Jammu & Kashmir.”
Till last year the regulation of the quality of food products also used to be the domain of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) department along with the food safety department but with FCS&CA department abandoning the practices of market checking the onus lies on the food safety department. With food safety department going slow on re-evaluation of the marketing and labeling of the food products manufactured and supplied locally in Jammu & Kashmir the consumers are for right reasons raising doubts over the quality of food products manufactured and supplied locally in Jammu & Kashmir. This not the time for debating the marketing and labeling of the food products manufactured and supplied locally in Jammu & Kashmir but this is time for food safety department to announce and implement regulatory guidelines for regulation of the quality of food products in Jammu & Kashmir.
