It was on a lazy Sunday that I noticed this van in our housing society crowded by the residents, mostly women with packets in hand. As curiosity got the better of me, I, too, went into the lawns to find out which company wanted to hard sell its products to our colony this Sunday. Well, this time it was not the automobile company or the Insurance provider. It was a unique van equipped with lab devices and smartly dressed technicians talking to the men and women. I learnt this was a mobile testing van which tells you how safe your food is. Residents were happily paying up to get their spices, groceries, snacks tested.

When it comes to eating, ignorance may not be bliss. In this age of heightened contamination, pesticides, germs and toxins of all kinds, it is best to know what you are eating. And food hazards are not limited to ‘eating out’ only. The vegetables, spices, food materials and ration you purchase from your grocer or retail outlet may often be as hazardous as the food in a local dhaba. While we can avoid eating outside, there is little we can do about the risks involved with food items which we cook and consume at home. And do not feel reassured simply because your local grocer has known you for years and won’t let you down because the grocer himself may know little about the sophisticated methods in which toxins, chemicals, pesticides and other harmful items are blended into your food.

With awareness for food catching up among the urban and rural alike, the need to know exactly ‘what we are eating’ is rising every day. However, the risks involved in eating without being fully aware of the contents is one area where government action alone is starkly insufficient. Random checks of the local Halwai shop, factories of food products and grocery shops cannot suffice in the matter. Besides, experts feel that the process of 'Challaning' violators only addresses the problem partly because these shopkeepers, dhabawallas must be made aware and counselled about the hazards and their remedies.

The mounting problem of consuming hazardous food is found at two distinct levels. One, most consumer do not know how dangerous are the toxic materials mixed in their food and what health hazards they pose. Two, there is a class of ‘aware’ citizens who do know the risks involved but there is precious little they can do about it. It is here that mobile food testing labs are coming in handy for the consumers. These labs, connected to a control room, visit places where food items can be instantly tested and results given out. The vans can visit a departmental store, a dhaba, a hotel estaurant, a bazaar, a housing society…anywhere food needs to be tested.

Mukul Aggarwal, director, TQS Global, which runs the mobile food testing vans’ campaign, says, “Earlier, we were quite alone but now this campaign is fast catching up.”

The modus operandi is simple. A mobile food testing van, reaches the destination where food is to be tested equipped with multi-point cameras. The technicians accept the sample to be tested, cooked, uncooked, raw etc. for a reasonable fees. The test is conducted in the van which is equipped with latest devices. At times, technicians may have to refuse a sample due to lack of necessary technical support in the van. In that case, the sample is sent to the lab. The results of tests are available online to the concerned parties with the help of an ID. The global food safety and surveillance broadcasting website tells you how far your sample adheres to food safety norms and what the hazards are. These mobile testing vans are equipped to accept at least five times the number of food samples as compared to the existing labs in national capital or various states.

Aggarwal agrees that the movement to create food safety awareness has been long with almost ten years gone by before people started volunteering to come and get their samples tested. But the campaign is catching up, more so when parents of little kids, mothers, shopkeepers and restaurants owners offer to pay for the tests to get the certificate of food safety.

“However, our work does not end with the tests. Once the results are out, we conduct counselling for the hoteldhaba estaurant owner, shopkeepers etc to explain to them how they can ensure that the food items they sell are safe and clean. Quite often, the shopkeepers themselves are unaware of the hazards involved for instance, toxins mixed in spices are impossible to detect without latest testing equipment, he added. 

With government in Delhi contemplating to make registration and licensing must for roadside eateries restaurants, hotels and food processors this could be a good tool in the hands of the government to ensure that street food vendors observe better standards of hygiene and keep the food unadulterated.