Bengaluru: Are you concerned about the quality of the food you are consuming? Do you have any suspicion about the food products you are buying? Where we can get guidance to lodge complaints? A dedicated website developed to disseminate awareness in this regard is lying waste, thanks to the apathy of officials.
When the food safety act was first launched in the state, a dedicated website was developed under the URL foodsafety.kar.nic.in. But if you visit the website you will not get any essential info other than highlights of the central act.
Highlights of the negligence: As per the website, the plans for the state under the food safety act is not updated after the year 2012-13. There is no information on the initiatives launched by the state government over ensuring safe food.
Under the link the tested products page is under construction. If you want any information, you have to either apply under the Right to Information act or wait for the favor of the concerned officials! There is no information on banned products except for a few China-made items.
What are people looking forward to? According to health activists, the need of the hour is a fool-proof mechanism and an interactive website to ensure the speedy disposal of queries and complaints. “If key information like how to submit samples for testing, applicable fee if any, recent laboratory findings on food products, grievance redressal mechanism, etc are published on the website it will benefit all. Even the companies will fear such public activism,” said a prominent health activist. ‘Healthy food is everyone's right. So all the information should be made public,’ he said.
When contacted an officer informed that issue would be addressed at the earliest.
