Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday, July 18, directed officials to draft a stringent law to curb the growing menace of food adulteration and spurious medicines.
Reddy, who held a meeting with senior officials, expressed serious concern over increasing cases of people falling sick due to widespread adulteration in vegetables, fruits, milk and other products.
He said people are suffering from ailments as chemicals are being used indiscriminately to extend the shelf life of leafy vegetables, vegetables, milk, and to artificially ripen fruits.
Chemical residues found in agricultural produce due to excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides could be one of the main reasons why some countries refuse to import such products, he said.
Observing that some products billed as organic are being sold at higher prices in the market, he said there is no proper system in place to verify the authenticity of the ‘organic product’ claims, an official release said.
The chief minister directed officials to visit countries which enacted strict and comprehensive laws to check adulteration and prepare a comprehensive report based on their study.
He said a draft law would be prepared based on the report, which would later be tabled in the state assembly for debate.
He suggested “appointing some people as whistle-blowers for collecting information on food adulteration and setting up a toll-free number to receive complaints”.
Reddy told officials to initially implement measures against adulteration in the Core Urban Region (CURE) region comprising Hyderabad on a pilot basis.
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