HYDERABAD: The State has been facing a massive crunch in the number of Food Safety Officers (FSOs), food safety scientists and District Officers (DOs) in charge of sample collection.
As of now, the State has only five FSOs, whereas the requirement is over 50, and only 11 DOs, whereas the requirement is 33.
Additionally, the Food Safety Laboratory is shared by both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and has only 30 employees including both technical and non-technical staff.
A report recently released by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) listed Telangana among the 10 states that fare poorly in enforcing food safety laws.
Officials attribute this to the non-bifurcation of the Food Safety Lab and the lack of recruitment by the TSPSC.
The handful of scientists who are there are overworked with close to 11,000 samples being received from both the states every year.
A senior official from the Institute of Preventive Medicine that houses the Food Safety Department said, “There are a total of 58 sanctioned posts for Food Safety Officers, of which 30 are with GHMC. However, we have a total of five FSOs. Additionally, each district is supposed to have one DO.
The current 11 DOs have three-four districts under them, which means they have to collect anywhere between 12-24 samples every week, cater to numerous complaints and attend court cases.”
Speaking to Express, Dr K Shankar, director of the Institute of Preventive Medicine, said, “The laboratory is supposed to be bifurcated under the 9th and 10th schedule. But a single laboratory is catering to both the states. There isn’t really a shortage of labs, we just need designated labs for each state.”
Another scientist from the Food Safety Laboratory, choosing to stay anonymous said, “The total sanctioned posts at the lab are close to 102, and we have only 30 employees. The Chief Analyst and the Deputy Chief Analyst’s positions are vacant.
There are a total of three positions for Senior Scientific Officer and only one is occupied. There are also a total of 11 posts for Junior Scientific Officers, and only three are filled. The total sanctioned posts for Junior Analysts are 24, and currently, there are only four of them.”