The Uttarakhand Government has decided to set up three new food testing labs in the state. At present there is only one such lab in the state which is located in Rudrapur. These labs would be set up in Dehradun, Haridwar and Haldwani. The chief secretary of Uttarakhand S S Sandhu gave the orders to open new food testing labs in a meeting at the state secretariat on Tuesday. He also directed that one mobile food testing lab each should be set up in Garhwal and Kumaon region.

He said that a campaign to prevent adulteration of food items should be undertaken in Uttarakhand and those involved should not be allowed to play with the lives of the people. Sandhu categorically stated that strict action should be initiated against those involved in the illicit business.  He said that the campaign to prevent adulteration should not be limited to the festive season but should operate on a regular basis. Sandhu suggested that small video clips should be made to spread awareness in the people. He was of the view that unless the general public is made aware it would be difficult to prevent food adulteration.

Sandhu said that those involved in hotel business should be encouraged to adopt sanitation rating and directed that a proposal under which the state government would bear the cost of sanitation rating should be prepared. He said that a portal based monitoring should start for preventing adulteration.

Sandhu said that strict legal action should be taken against the offenders so that an example is set up.  The decision to open three new food testing labs in the state is important since there is a huge load on the single food testing lab in the state. This burden is so high that the reports of the samples taken by the health department are obtained after a month. The Secretary Amit Singh Negi and commissioner food safety Pankaj Kumar Pandey and others were present in the meeting.