Vegetables under scanner ahead of festival season

Food Safety officials are picking up random vegetable samples from the market to test them for the presence of any pesticide or insecticide residue.

Come the festival season, the market is flooded with vegetables even from places which are not the regular sources of procurement. The action by the Food Safety officials is part of preparations for the Onam and Bakrid festivals which are round the corner. The move is part of the test checking of vegetables in the pre-festival season, according to Food Safety officials.

Look out for leafy vegetables

Leafy vegetables are more likely to harbour chemicals. They have been found to carry high levels of chemicals in earlier tests. Various markets in the district, which source vegetables from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, have been selected for sample testing.

Samples have been sent to the Ernakulam Regional Analytical Laboratory and the laboratory at Vellayani in Thiruvananthapuram. The results are yet to be out, but the department would take strong action if the vegetables were found unfit for human consumption, said District Chief Food Inspector K. V. Shibu.

Other food items such as grocery are also being checked for adulteration, he said. Tea dust is one of the most adulterated items found in recent times. Some samples have been found with added synthetic colours and high levels of iron content.

Even the checks carried out and the awareness created by Food Safety officials had not lessened the incidents of low quality and adulterated tea finding its way into the market.