Govt market monitoring plan runs out of steam

KATHMANDU, OCT 20 - 

Despite the government’s announcement to conduct aggressive monitoring this year to ensure the quality of food sold in the market, the progress report for the first quarter has been poor. According to the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC), it carried out checks of 49 food outlets in Q1 against 72 during the same period last year.

Roadside eateries, sweetmeat outlets, provision stores, star hotels and factories producing food stuffs were put under scrutiny during the period. “Like in the past, adulteration in bottled water, milk and edible oils has been found to be the major challenge,” said DFTQC spokesperson Pramod Koirala.

Koirala added that they had sealed five outlets found to be selling substandard products and filed cases against them.

According to him, the department sealed two factories producing drinking water, a fast food restaurant, a sweetmeat outlet and an animal fodder producing plant. In addition, the department destroyed 1,300 cartons of substandard soybean oil and 6,600 l of adulterated milk during the period. Meanwhile, the department’s plan to monitor the market more closely during the festival seems to have fizzled out. Although the DFTQC had said it would carry out checks fives times a week, it has done so barely twice a week. The DFTQC has blamed lack of resources for its lack of progress.

According to the DFTQC, it has only 40 food inspectors for the entire country. Also, the head office has only seven technicians to check food samples for impurities. Koirala

said they had been asking the government to recruit 100 food inspectors to carry out monitoring effectively. “We have also urged the government to upgrade quarantine facilities and regional laboratories,” he said.

Source: The Kathmandu Post