This was revealed in the Annual Public Laboratory Testing Report, 2014-15, of Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI).
The report also revealed that the Food and Drugs Administrative Department was on its toes, as Rs 4.35 lakh was collected through penalties from companies in one year. The report states that 800-odd samples of food products were analysed the same year.
Goa ranks number 15 in the detection list of adulterated and misbranded products and 13 in collection of fines among all states. However, the conviction ranking is not encouraging, as Goa falls quite down in the list.
Data collected by FSSAI from across the country shows a steep rise in food fraud, with five states – UP, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh – accounting for more than 90 per cent of the total penalties levied. It has turned out to be a serious issue, as the true extent of the impact of adulterated food on human heath remains unknown.
Looking at a broader view, FSSAI Annual Public Laboratory Testing report shows that one out of five food samples fails the quality test in India. The report states that 49,290 samples of food items was tested across India, of which 8,469 – nearly one-fifth – were found adulterated or misbranded.
Convictions were secured in only 1,246 cases and many food adulteration cases never reached the conviction stage. The report shows that Rs 6.9 crore in penalties was collected from errant agencies.
From available data, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were founded to have largest samples of food items violating safety standard norms.
