Over the past few days, we have been finding one after the other report of something inedible, in most cases, organic, dead, and certainly unsafe for consumption, finding its way into our meals. From the remnants of a human finger in ice cream, and in another incident, a centipede; to a blade-like piece of metal in a sweet potato and fig chaat, served as a gourmet meal in business-class onboard a Bengaluru-San Francisco flight, 35,000 feet in the air; to a deceased frog in chutney, served alongside vadas at Shoranur station, on terra firma; and a dead mouse in chocolate syrup (unrelated to the EDM phenomenon who goes by the stylised moniker of deadmau5).
There’s something rotten at the core of such episodes involving indigestion-inducing preparations. India’s abysmal reputation for food safety has even found a place in the dos and don’ts lists followed by foreign visitors to the country, who are often warned to be extremely picky, if they don’t want to end up with a case of Delhi Belly. It’s the phenomenon of contracting diarrhoea owing to consumption of foods the western palate is ‘not suited to’. Truth be told, it’s a question of hygiene, which is hard to come by in India.
Ordinary citizens, who rely on street food are purely left to the mercy of the vendors in question. A study from 2022 found that nearly one in 10 street food vendors in Tamil Nadu reuses oil throughout the day while one in five vendors mixes used oil with fresh oil. The irony of this finding was not lost on us as the survey was released after the Union health ministry’s announcement that Tamil Nadu had topped the state food safety index the same year. The State government has subsequently planned on setting up clean street food hubs in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur districts.
But here’s the question plaguing us — are those in charge of enforcing rules and ensuring compliance on food safety sleeping on the job? In the aftermath of the blade-runner chaat episode, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) conducted checks at the facility of the caterer in Bengaluru and directed them to install an X-ray machine, which will be able to detect the presence of any metal object in food items.
But this is an example of shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted. Despite the presence of adequate legislation governing the preparation, handling and distribution of food items, we frequently come across instances of gross violations. Policy experts believe that a primary handicap faced by the food safety regulator is the shortage of food safety officers — something that has been acknowledged numerous times in the Parliament. The size of the food market overwhelms the FSSAI’s capacity to supervise this sector.
With around 600 districts pan-India, there are barely one or two food safety officers on average, per district, which is far from sufficient. This in turn impacts market surveillance as well as regular sampling surveys. The scope of the problem isn’t limited to cooked meals — MNCs have also been called out for their high sugar content in packaged foods, while local masala moguls have been hauled up for their problematic pesticide content. The FSSAI needs to pull up its socks, put in place a robust mechanism for surprise audits and checks, and revoke the licences of operators who fail to fall in line.