“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.”
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. Worth mentioning is the fact that last year in month of April a directive from the Ministry Of Commerce & Industry to e-commerce platforms to remove Bournvita and similar beverages from the ‘health drink’ category necessitated a prompt action against the retailers delivering such food products to consumers in Jammu & Kashmir but unfortunately the food safety department does not even now bother to 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 last year’s said directive of the Industries and Commerce Ministry to the e-commerce platforms across the country. Significantly the food safety 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.
Since food quality is a matter of health risk if not regulated well this is not the time for debating the marketing and labeling of the food products manufactured and supplied locally in Jammu & Kashmir but this is the time for food safety department to announce food safety guidelines and implement them for regulation of the quality of food products in Jammu & Kashmir.
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. Since food quality is matter of health risk if not regulated well this is not the time for debating the marketing and labeling of the food products manufactured and supplied locally in Jammu & Kashmir but this is the time for food safety department to announce food safety guidelines and implement them for regulation of the quality of food products in Jammu & Kashmir.
