Thiruvananthapuram: At a time when the centre is putting pressure on the states to collect more Maggi samples and other brands, the Kerala government is groping in the dark due to the absence of a lab accredited by the NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories), which is required for the proper execution of Food Safety Act.
Even when the Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar claims that Kerala was the first state to prohibit Maggi, the Commissionerate of Food Safety, which is supposed to enforce the Food Safety Act, is toothless.
The food safety authorities have started collecting samples of processed food items and ready-to-eat meals across the state. However, none of the results have legal validity due to lack of a full-fledged laboratory in the public sector. Currently, the Commissionerate of Food Safety is depending on Sterling Lab in Kochi for sample scrutiny by spending Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 to test each sample.
A senior food safety official said that the state cannot take any legal step against the violators unless the scrutiny is done in a NABL-accredited public analytic lab. “We are depending on a private lab and the reports coming out are authentic but it doesn’t have any standing in a court of law,” said the official.
The state government has ordered the food safety officials to collect samples of all processed food, ready- to-eat meals and chips.
“We have the equipment to do the test at the state labs but unfortunately the technicians are not properly trained. Also the equipment is not in a working condition because of low utilisation,” said the official.
So far, the food safety authorities couldn’t prove the presence of lead in any of the Maggi samples collected till day.
