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Issue 15
, 2009
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Govt arms itself to check vegetable adulteration

Source: The Times of India, New Delhi, Date: , 2009

This summer, your complaints about vegetable adulteration may actually get addressed. The city health department is in the process of acquiring industrial size refrigerators, needed to store testing samples. Apparently, till now, prosecution of those found tampering with vegetables had not been successful as testing samples never survived the long testing time, due to the absence of fridges. Admitted Kiran Walia, minister (health), ‘‘Though we had been conducting random tests to monitor the quality of fruits and vegetables being sold, there was a problem as the test samples would, many times, be destroyed when kept in general storage. This year therefore, we are going to purchase four fridges, so that storage is not an issue.’’ In fact, the acquisition seems to have renewed the department’s enthusiasm. The minister said the health department would also be launching a drive soon to crack down on adulteration and contamination. ‘‘This is the time when a lot of vegetables flood the market which have been touched up chemically to look fresh. It’s a health hazard and this time, we plan to crack down on those responsible,’’ added Walia. As a start, the vegetables coming in at the wholesale markets as well as at the entry points to the city, will be under the scanner. Added Walia, ‘‘The drive is expected to take off as soon as our crackdown on milk adulteration runs it course.’’

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