Much of the organic foods available in the markets are fake, Assistant Food Safety Commissioner (Kollam) A.K. Mini has said.

Marketers of most organic products are cheating customers by charging more through false claims and this sector is now growing into one of the biggest ways through which people are cheated.

Ms. Mini said this while addressing a seminar on safe water and food, organised by the Laboratory and Technical Division (LTD) attached to the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI), here on Saturday. This situation calls for stringent and flawless methods to certify organic food products, she said.

Overdose of permitted colours in food is rampant in Kollam, and this is harmful to human health.

She said only 100 milligrams of permitted colour was the upper limit for one kilo gram of pastry product. But many bakeries do not have any measuring standards. Adding even permitted colours to meals sold from restaurants is an offence.

Earlier food safety authorities looked only for unpermitted colours. But now, detection comprises quantitative analysis to find out whether permitted colours have been added in excess of the permitted levels. Ms. Mini said all food supplements could be marketed only after obtaining the mandatory approval from the Food Safety Authority of India.

Such food imported should comply with the domestic regulations in force in the country. This is the reason why some food products from China have been denied import permission recently. Our food products exported should mandatorily comply with the food safety standards of the importing country. She said while cigarettes were not banned, pan masala was banned under the Food Safety and Standards Act because it was a consumable product. More than 2 tonnes of such tobacco products were seized from the district during raids. The High Court has now given permission to destroy the entire seized quantity.

She said during drives in the past the use of hazardous chemical erythrocin in watermelons was detected in Kollam district. Now with the start of the watermelon, the surveillance has resumed.

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Most organic food in market is fake: food safety official