The prevalence of communicable diseases has dropped to 30-35 per cent over the years, but during the same period the percentage of non-communicable diseases rose to 65 per cent, according to Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, whose recent actions against unhygienic food handling and storage has propelled him into a hero, with huge appreciation coming from the Gen-Z.
“However, if the food we eat contains carcinogens, that is where food safety and the need for awareness becomes crucial. We need to ask: is what we are consuming safe? Does it meet the required standards? “My approach involves issuing almost daily press notes regarding my actions and occasionally holding press conferences myself. His food safety team’s actions go viral often, with raids leading to detailed public statements and graphic images that show interiors of eateries and grocery warehouses with stained walls, crawling cockroaches and rats, and even expired food – photos that have shocked many Indians.
Verifying this is essential,” the FDA commissioner said. A primary objective of this is to raise public awareness about food safety, standards, health conditions and the correlations between them,” he said.
He pointed out that these factors had led the government to introduce the Food Safety and Standards Act in 2006, replacing the earlier Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.
