BENGALURU: Tests on 140 samples of snacks which come into the border areas of Karnataka from Kerala have revealed that 31 of them were unsafe, with even cancer-causing agents detected in some snacks. The snacks included chakli, nippattu, bread, jam, khara and chips.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in Karnataka has issued a warning and written to Kerala’s food safety department about the manufacture of unsafe snacks in that state.The snacks were supplied to districts including Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu, Madikeri, Dakshina Kannada, and Mangaluru, which are on high alert.
The tests foundV excessive use of artificial colour content and other harmful substances in the snacks, posing health risks, especially to children. The FSSAI is conducting many operations related to the adulteration and safety of food products. Over the last few days, they tested the food products coming into the border of the state from Kerala.
The department also raided hotels, shops and manufacturing units located on the Kerala border in Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada, and Mangaluru border and the food products were sent to the lab for testing. Thirty one 31 of the 140 samples collected turned out to be to be unsafe with carcinogens found in some of them.
The most worrying is that the carcinogens were found in popular crunchy snacks like chakkali, nippattu, bread, jamun, khara, mixer and chips which are mostly consumed by children. It was found that artificial colour are used in the preparation of the food products which may cause cancer.
Srinivas K, Commissioner of Food Safety, said, “We conducted raids in several districts which are close to Kerala, based on complaints. We took it as a serious case. We have collected 90 samples, including chakkali, nippattu, bread, jam, halwa, khara, chips and several sweets. Of them, 31 snacks which come from Kerala were found unsafe. The raids were conducted after reports were published in newspapers and on the directive of the minister”.
We found colouring agents in the samples, including carmoisine, tartrazine, bonsai 4, e-coli and coliform, and sunset yellow. Snacks including rice snacks, Mysuru pak, kiwi fruits, strawberry, jalebi, daal mixer, banana snacks and papad are popular in the coastal districts. We also noticed expired date on the label during the inspection. We took a legal sample and filed a case against them at JMF court”, the commissioner added.