Adulteration Tragedies  

Joginder Singh, IPS (Retd.)
Former Director CBI  

Food is the fuel of life. If the fuel is adulterated, there is no salvation for the consumer, whether it be a human being, or a vehicle. Food adulteration, which is an act of intentionally debasing the quality of food offered for sale either by the admixture or substitution of inferior substances or by the removal of some valuable ingredient, is something which has been rampant in our country. This is so, despite the existence of a stringent law against food adulteration. It might appear astonishing, but it has been prevalent from ancient time all over the world.

The Code of Hammurabi from ancient Babylonia ( Greece ) about 1750 BC, regulated the practices of drinking houses and called for the death penalty for those found guilty of watering down their beer.

In 1444, any merchant caught selling adulterated saffron in Bavaria ( Germany ) was burned alive.

In 15 th and 16 th century, in Germany , the adulteration of various foods and beverages was rampant, despite severe punishments. In 1456, at Nuremberg , two men, guilty of adulterating wine, were buried alive. Literature of the 16 th century mentions brick dust in ginger and ‘unhealthy' stuff in pepper, dishonest weights and counts, artificial colouring and storage of dried spices in damp cellars to increase weight.

Because of its popularity and its expense for much of its history, pepper has been adulterated with many things, including juniper berries, pea flour, mustard husks, and papaya seeds. With new scientific inventions, it is possible to determine with the help of regents, chemicals and microscopic examination , the adulteration in any given food product.

The Food Adulteration Act, 1954 in our country is enforceable by the States. The amount of interest taken in its enforcement depends upon the State Governments.

Normally, Health department in the country is charged with its implementation. There is hardly an area, whether it is milk or milk products or flour or rice or spices, or ready to eat food stuff, which is not adulterated in India .

The biggest problem which makes the criminals involved in food adulteration to take it easy is the delay in the disposal of cases. It took six years for an accused to be convicted under the Food Adulteration Act, in a case of adulteration of flour with the admixture of starch in Ludhiana , Punjab . He was booked on September 18, 2002 and the conviction came in January, 2008. There is further a layer after layer appeal, right upto the Supreme Court.

In July 2009, the health department of Varanasi Nagar Nigam finally took note of the sale of adulterated stuff. It has registered 51 cases of food adulteration. It appears that the clearance of District Magistrate was required to start a drive of this nature in many places. Another interesting revelation of the cases of food adulteration registered under PFA Act in Varanasi, is the fact that almost three-fourth (75 per cent) of these cases belong to the category of adulteration of milk products, including khoya , sweetened curd and even cream, in different parts of the city.

Which ever side of the country and what ever State you analyse or scrutinise, you would come across cases of food adulteration on a major scale.

In October 2008, Ghaziabad police seized 2,500 kg of adulterated khoya (milk product used in making sweets) from a tractor-trolley. It was carrying the adulterated khoya from Muradnagar in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi . A week earlier 50 tons of khoya was seized by the same police in the same city.

In Ahmedabad in April 2009, one child died and ten others were down with serious ailments after consuming a cold drink. The action taken was the sealing of the factory and sending the sample to the Laboratory for the analysis.

In June 2009, Agra Police seized 125 big drums, 150 tins and four furnaces, in a spurious ghee or clarified butter manufacturing unit. It found ghee being manufactured from animal fat boiled in huge iron pans. But nobody could be caught, as according to the Police, the information about the raid must have been leaked out.

In July 2009, Haryana police seized around 1,400 kg of spurious milk products like cheese, ghee and cream allegedly adulterated with chemicals. They also collected a variety of chemicals like whitener, caustic soda, hydrogen peroxide and empty pouches of branded milk products. Such items were obviously part of an adulteration swindle.

The residues of extremely harmful pesticides have been reported in a popular cola as well as popular brands of bottled water sold in Delhi and Mumbai. These reports were based on an independent study conducted by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), an NGO.

Five traders in Gwalior , MP have been booked under the National Security Act for adulteration of ghee, in August, 2009. It is probably the first such use of the stringent legislation in Madhya Pradesh against the accused in the ghee adulteration racket, a thriving business estimated to gross more than Rs. 100 crores in Gwalior region.

Counterfeiting is growing in every sector of Indian industry, whether it be food or medicines. Apart from harming the reputation and the sales value of legitimate brands, fake products often pose serious risk to consumers' health directly. It is more so in case the product is a food item or a medicine. The Government also suffers losses, as counterfeiters, pirates and adulterators pay no taxes. The result is that instances of food poisoning are on the rise in several parts of the country.

The State Governments and other agencies wake up only after some serious happenings. This has been happening again and again. The implementation of food adulteration laws, is only sporadic and off and on. If it were done on a regular basis and honestly, many tragedies, which have happened in the country, would not have happened. Though the Supreme Court has banned road side eateries where food is cooked and served, the law is more flouted in practice than is obeyed. Not many people are aware of such a ruling of the Supreme Court, outside and even inside the National Capital.

Some people told me that officials conduct raids only on hotels and shops when their owners refuse to pay bribes. At no time, any accountability has been fixed for adulteration and no action is ever taken on inaction. This needs to be remedied.

Whether it is serving of sub-standard food to patients in hospitals, or dining in hotels and restaurants, or buying food at the Railway Stations, where large numbers of unsuspecting travellers consume it, the possibility of food poisoning is always looming large. Even the rice supplied under the Public Distribution System has quite often been found to be adulterated. Collecting food samples, after some consumers have died, is like locking the stables after the horses have fled. Apart from any other punishment for food adulteration, it will be ideal to collect the hospital expenditure in food poisoning cases, from those who supplied the food and grains to shops, who have been guilty of adulterating the food stuff as well as from the officials whose negligence and failure to discharge their duties might have led to such incidents. Governance and implementation of the Food Adulteration Act requires to be done not only honestly but also with a missionary zeal if we were to curb this menace. Mere intentions, passing the laws and making brave statements is not enough. They have to be followed by concrete action.