Mobile food testing team –– food safety on wheels –– from the State Public Health Laboratory (SPHL) while conducting food testing at Peren town on Friday detected toxic dyes, Rhodamine B and Sudan, in chilli powders that were sold in the local market. The same substance was also detected in Dimapur market.
In a press release, chief medical office (CMO) and food safety officer (FSO) Peren stated that the Rhodamine B dye breaks down red blood cells and adversely causes growth retardation and damages the liver and kidney while Sudan dye was highly toxic to liver.
The team consisting of technicians from SPHL assisted by the FSO and sanitary inspector Peren conducted tests on spices, local water, fruit juice and drinks, milk etc collected from shops in the town. CMO & FSO Peren said that products such as chilli powder were consumed daily by the public without knowing the harm it could cause the body. “Therefore, it is our concern that higher authorities exercise immediate steps towards this kind of rampant selling of health deteriorating substances found in common place we find and eat,” the officer said.
Further, the local waters and other liquid products tested were found to be within the permissible range.
The food safety on wheels also held a brief awareness programme in the evening for the students at the town hall. ADC Peren visited the team in the morning. Security was provided by the SP for assisting the team. Besides, volunteers helped the team in successfully performing the work.
On April 28, the team also conducted food testing at Jalukie town, where similar testing for common spices like chilli powder and local turmeric powder were done. On testing, 70-80 % of the local water samples were found to be dirty and not within the permissible range for human consumption. There was presence of ammonical nitrigen in the water which indicated presence of some animal faecal waste and other human waste. The water pH level also was beyond the permissible range.
Similar findings were found on testing the chilli powder and turmeric powder which were all dyed with non-permitted colorants.
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