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Kohinoor Mandal
CALCUTTA, DEC 13: Animesh Banerjee is the president of the Indian Diary Organisation, a body of dairy producers, scientists, institutions, organisations and professionals associated with the dairy movement in the country. He has served as a director of the National Dairy Development Board and National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India Ltd. Banerjee is also a member of the Research Advisory Committee, Karnal and Indian National Committee of the International Dairy Federation.
He spoke to The Financial Express about the food sector in the country. Excerpts from the interview:
On adulteration
In the food sector, level of adulteration is maximum. Whether it is oil, milk or essential commodities, we find adulteration in all. Adulteration is a social evil and should not be encouraged in any situation. It takes place normally due to supply and demand situation. If demand increases and supply is less then it leads to adulteration. In other words we can say that adulteration takes placedue to scarcity of commodities. There cannot be any mechanism to estimate the level of adulteration at any given point.
On who should be blamed for adulteration
The governing body, who is administering the process or the system, certainly owns responsibility of the failure of any system which leads to adulteration. The government should lay down stringent rules as well as ensure that the rules are followed.
Since adulteration takes place due to scarcity of a commodity, the government or the governing body should anticipate shortfalls and put a strict check on anti-elements of the society who can cause adulteration.
Private agencies who sell loose food products often are the main cause of selling adulterated food items. If the private agencies are discouraged from selling loose food products, we can check and prevent adulteration.
On rules to check adulteration
The rules are stringent but its enforcement is weak. For instance as a part of FPO, every food producing factory should havepre-requisite facility to ensure quality. In the milk dairy system we have the MPO, which has laid down stringent orders to mention the day and time of packaging of milk in the containers. Prevention of Food Adulteration Act also lists down the strict rules which, if not followed, are punishable by law.
On management techniques available in the country which can help prevent adulteration
Adulteration is more of ethics including the value system of the society. No straight jacket management technique can help in preventing this menace. Only media campaign can generate awareness and enforce accountability on those who are involved in the system.
On how packaging can help check adulteration
Mere packaging cannot ensure any check on adulteration as the process is based on the system of garbage-in-garbage-out. But once the product is packed well, then that packaging ensures that the content as well as the freshness of the packed food remains intact. Packaging also ensures responsibility. Forexample, once packaging is introduced to a product it cannot be marketed till it is branded. Branding ensures credibility of the packaged product and is accountable to the consumers. It also helps in presenting the details of the packed product, like the constitution of the content, the dates of production, expiry and the preservatives used.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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