The recent case of a food safety officer being jailed for accepting bribes to issue a licence is a step in the right direction. The officer, who was dealing with a spice manufacturer, was sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 1.5 lakh by the Karnataka Lokayukta Special Court under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
It should make us wake up and act more decisively on this dangerous trend of corruption in a crucial domain like food safety. The court observed: “Public servants like the accused have converted their position as a licence to be involved in corruption shamelessly without fear of law… If permitted to continue, it would be more dangerous than external terrorism to the democratic system.”
Corruption in food safety enforcement requires urgent attention from the powers that be as it impacts public health. Food safety is directly linked to the aim of making India a developed country by 2047, which involves harnessing and empowering the country’s youthful demography to holistically contribute to nation-building.
The safety required on this front involves ensuring food free of pathogens, chemicals and toxins; free of being adulterated with harmful or substandard ingredients, even high sugar content; free of carcinogenic additives; ensuring hygienic manufacturing or cooking and processing facilities; and maintaining an adequate, well-trained force of licensing and enforcement officers in the states. Corruption in this sector compounds the effects of nutritional deficiencies. The World Food Programme says about 195 million Indians are undernourished, with 43 percent of children—the future workforce—chronically undernourished. The Global Food Security Index for 2022 ranked India 68th out of 113 major nations.
Governments at the Centre and in the states need to wake up to the fact that leaving the population vulnerable to corrupt practices by officials in food safety enforcement is akin to allowing our own doom from within. Our soldiers, airmen and sailors, as much as our scientists, engineers, doctors, police personnel and workers—politicians and bureaucrats included—come from the masses. And corruption in the food safety apparatus makes all of these sections vulnerable. The dreams of achieving a grand future for India can be realised only with urgent and appropriate action to ensure corruption-free food safety now.