Hem Dulal

Kathmandu, March 11:

The Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) has stated that over 10 per cent of edible goods in the capital are spurious, with vegetable ghee topping the adulteration list at 66.67 per cent, and dairy ghee close behind at 61.54 per cent. DFTQC said 56 out of 536 samples of different foodstuff tested were either adulterated or failed to meet the department standards. Its annual report stated 10.6 per cent of goods are spurious. This, however, is 3.1 per cent lower than that of previous years. Senior food research officer at DFTQC, Jiwan Prabha Lama, said the department has divided the Valley into 10 clusters to conduct regular monitoring, inspection and find out more about the common samples. “One inspector is responsible to for a cluster everyday,” she said, adding, “The clusters were created for convenience.” There are six clusters in Kathmandu, two in Lalitpur and Bhaktapur each.

Lama pointed out that the Valley consumers are ignorant about quality standards. According to her, if they were a little more aware, then the problem of substandard goods would be addressed to a certain extent. However, she said Nepal faced no serious adulteration problems as the figures had shown that the trend was on a gradual decline. According to the report, dairy ghee registered the lowest quality assurance. “Eight out of 13 ghee samples — 61.54 per cent — tested were found to be of a substandard quality.” Similarly, 66.67 per cent of vegetable ghee on sale did not meet the mark. The report stated biscuits, tea, bread, salt, rice, pepper, turmeric powder and Bengal gram met the required standard.