New Delhi (Delhi) [India], February 5 (HBTV): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha on Wednesday raised concerns over food adulteration in India, describing it as a ‘raging health crisis’ during his Zero Hour speech in the Rajya Sabha Budget Session.
Speaking under the chairmanship of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Chadha said Indians were consuming food items that would not even be fed to pets in other countries, warning that widespread adulteration was severely affecting children, the elderly and pregnant women.
He said food items available in the market were being adulterated with unsafe chemicals, harmful additives and misleading labels. ‘Under the guise of fake “purity” labels, poison is being sold openly. Milk, spices, edible oils, packaged foods and beverages contain unsafe additives, high saturated fats, sugar and salt while claiming to be “good for health” or “energy boosters”,’ he said.
Highlighting food safety concerns, Chadha cited multiple examples of adulteration in daily essentials. ‘Milk containing urea; vegetables injected with oxytocin; paneer mixed with starch and caustic soda; ice cream containing detergent powder; fruit juices with artificial colours; edible oil mixed with machine oil; garam masala adulterated with brick powder and sawdust; tea mixed with synthetic colour; chicken and poultry injected with anabolic steroids; honey diluted with sugar syrup; and sweets made with vanaspati instead of desi ghee,’ he said.
He warned that such adulterated products pose serious health risks, including dizziness, heart failure, infertility and even cancer. Citing research findings, Chadha said, ‘Seventy-one per cent of milk samples tested contained urea, and sixty-four per cent contained neutralisers such as sodium bicarbonate. Between 2014–15 and 2025–26, one in every four food samples tested in India was found to be adulterated.’
Chadha also criticised companies selling in India products that are banned internationally. ‘Food adulteration is a raging health crisis, and it is a major alarm bell specifically for children, the elderly and pregnant women. Are products manufactured in India but banned internationally, including those of two major garam masala companies banned in the US, UK and Europe for containing cancer-causing pesticides, still being sold here? Food not even fed to pets in other countries is being consumed by Indians,’ he said.
Urging immediate government action through the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Chadha called for strengthening the regulator with more manpower and better laboratory facilities, introducing a ‘name and shame’ mechanism for adulterated products, increasing penalties for violators and banning misleading health claims in advertisements.
(ANI)