With the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) refusing to test Maggi samples by stating that “it has the mandate only to analyse samples received from the authority of its jurisdiction”, the State Health Department has to now rely on the six NABL-accredited private and four FSSAI-identified divisional laboratories.
“We will have to wait for the test reports that will be available by Thursday. A decision on whether to ban the product or not will be taken after we get the reports,” Health Minister U.T. Khader said.
He said that Asha Martin, Head of CFTRI’s Food and Analytical Quality Control Laboratory, had suggested to the Food Safety Officer of Mysuru to send the samples to the Chief Food Analyst of State Public Health Institute in Bengaluru and Regional Food Analysis Laboratory in Mysuru.
The Minister said he would take up the matter with the Union Health and Science and Technology Ministries. “I will request for their intervention in getting the CFTRI to conduct the tests,” he told presspersons. Meanwhile, P. Ramesh, Head, Information and Publicity, CFTRI, Mysuru, said the Central Food Laboratory (CFL) had “not rejected” the samples but only advised the officers to take them to the respective Central lab, which is located in Kolkata, or to a NABL-accredited lab. Sources in the CFTRI told The Hindu that the onus is on the State governments to conduct the first-level of tests on food samples. “If an appraisal is required on the lab reports, then the respective CFLs come into the picture,” they said.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) officer M.S. Lokesh, who collected the samples, said, “Of the four samples, one will be sent for the test and others will be kept with us. If the manufacturer wishes to conduct the tests from their end, one of the samples under our custody will be given.”