Next time when you order your favorite food items like Kesar Ras-Malai, Paneer Tikka, Chicken Tikka, Gol-Gappa Waters, noodles, soya-chaap, manchurian  etc. at any restaurant and fast food chains, stay cautious as you might be served these items containing synthetic colour which is considered ‘unsafe’ and health hazard by the food department of Delhi.

In a major food safety and surveillance programme done at various restaurants and fast food chains across the city, the Delhi government’s food department has failed 124 surveillance samples out of 1139 lifted surveillance samples during July, 2018 to March, 2019.  

“We have found non-permissible synthetic colour in the food items like Kesar Ras malai, chicken tikka, paneer tikka, Gol-gappas, soya-chaap, manchurian, paneer, flavoured dairy products and baby supplement food items as well which is not permitted by FSSAI,” said the official. 

Synthetic color is added in Ice-creams and dairy products to give an essence of Kesar flavor. Non-permissible color is added to golgappa waters in place of mint. Non-veg is prepared with health hazard color to give it a rich and fresh look as per the samples failed by food department of Delhi. Health experts say that synthetic colors are root cause of serious diseases like cancer.

“We want to ensure the availability of safe and wholesome food to people. We have conducted many drives against synthetic colors in food, run awareness programs, organised ‘health melas’ to sensitize and educate the persons/firms who are involved in any sort of food business,” said L.R. Garg, Commissioner of Food Safety, Department of Food Safety, Delhi. 

“We conduct microbiological tests at our laboratories to detect pathogens and spoilage organisms in food,” he said.

The officials also found food items unsafe, substandard and misbranded. Surveillance by food department has been more vigilant during July 1st, 2018 to June 28th, 2019. During such period, total 2110 samples were lifted and out of them 394 samples were failed. 

The failed food samples are termed as surveillance samples which are picked by the food safety officers during their raid to the restaurants and hotels. 

The food department which aims to ensure the availability of safe and wholesome food to citizens conducted the special drive from July 2018 till March 2019. Food safety officers found about 124 surveillance food samples which failed during this time. 

However, during the previous period (July 2017 to March 2018), only seven surveillance food samples were failed. 

The drive covered major food hubs like Connaught Place, Karol Bagh, Chandni Chowk, Khan Market, Lajpat Nagar and a few others, said the food department official.

Last week, Delhi government’s Food Safety department started its food safety campaign called ‘Sehatmand Delhi’. While launching the mission, Sanjeev Khirwar, Principal Secretary (Health) said, “We are working on a comprehensive strategy to work for better health of residents of Delhi.

Note: Story is based on the data and stats of food department.