Hyderabad: With only four food inspectors operating in the GHMC area, monitoring food supplements in the city market is becoming very difficult.
These products require to be monitored under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India Act and random sampling and testing has to be carried out. The major issue is improper storage and exposure to sunlight, due to which many of these food supplements get spoiled.
A senior food inspector said, “As these products are sold in pharmacies, people complain to the drug control officers about these products. In 2015, we received five complaints which were forwarded by them wherein people were upset as they had received spoilt products.”
Mr R. Gupta, president of Andhra Pradesh Chemists Association, said, “These food supplements are supplied to pharmacists in two forms – ‘imported by’ and ‘repacked by’ categories. The ‘imported by’ products are sealed and are never opened at any level, hence they are costlier. The ‘repacked by’ category has ingredients that are imported from abroad but are processed here and then repacked, sealed and sold. Hence they are moderately priced. But the storage and handling has an impact on the shelf life. If that is not followed properly than chances of spoilage are high.”
This is one of the prime reasons why pharmacists say that they keep only two to three boxes and do not order these food supplements in bulk. Pharmacist Kishore Shah said, “Baby food supplements, dietary supplements and proteins are in demand. A large number of consumers are prescribed these by nutritionists and doctors but they are not guided how to store these products. Some of them come back after 10 days saying that it has got spoiled. They must be counseled that this is also food and has to be stored accordingly in a cool place, refrigerated. Also, spoons must not be left in the packs as it tends to spoil the mixtures.”
As these are fine powdered forms, they also attract ants. A senior pharmacist in Abids said, “Due to the severe summer this year, a carton of dietary supplements got infested with ants. It was later found that the packs were not properly sealed. When the manufacturer was sent pictures of the same, he refused to accept it. It was only when he was threatened with a complaint to the food department that he agreed to compensate. Hence people who buy these products from pharmacies must check the packs before buying them.”
