The recent disclosure about the supply of rotten and unhealthy meat and poultry items in Kashmir Valley send shivers down the spine of every citizen. That in the name of food, they were being supplied poison has left people wondering how greedy some people can be and how ruthlessly they can play with the health as well as the trust of the populace. It may be recalled that in September 2024, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir was awarded 3rd position by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in the Food Safety Index 2023-24 for performance in implementation of FSS Act, 2006. And the reality is, in the name of meat and poultry, poison was being fed to people, unsafe and dangerous colours like Carmisine, Tartrazine, and Erythrosine are being used in food items and all these are known to cause serious health conditions in humans.
The concerned agencies have launched a massive crackdown and people hope that this dirty business is put to an end. It is common place knowledge that adulteration of edibles is a norm here, the agencies vested with the job of taking action against the greedy businesses and people associated, are desperately found wanting both in their will as well as wherewithal to deal with the problem. People still are apprehensive as no details are being shared with them about those involved in this dirty trade of rotten meat. What surprises one and all is the very fact that while the concerned agencies have been informing public about seizure of such food items, what is followed, who are the culprits, what further action has been taken – no such information is shared making the whole scenario a suspicious one. Let the authorities come out with details and end this suspicion.
Moreover, the concerned agencies should also gear up to check other food items like milk and spices which are every day used in every household. As per the doctors, presence of a simple chemical ‘oxytocin’ – although a banned drug, but which is usually given to cattle to increase their lactation, seeps easily into the human body through milk that people consume. There it could easily translate into hormonal imbalances, resulting in miscarriage among pregnant women, as well as eye and other problems among the newborns. It also leads to certain heart and neurological complications. Here it is not only the oxytocin, but even dangerous detergents and urea have been found in milk samples, and industrial dyes and synthetic colours and a whole lot of other dangerous chemicals have been found in so many other edibles, but no substantive action against the adulterers has come about from the concerned agencies. Just announcing that so many quintals of rotten meat were recovered is not the solution to the problem. People need to know wherefrom this meat had come and where it was supposed to be sold. The people involved in this trade should be named and shamed and tried under relevant laws.