The Health and Family Welfare Department of Karnataka on Monday banned the use of harmful artificial colors including Rhodamine-B in cotton candy and gobi manchurian.
Dinesh Gundu Rao, Karnataka State Health Minister said that the use of artificial colors in these food items is prohibited in the interest of public health. He also said that if anyone is found using the Rhodamine-B food coloring agent, then stringent action would be taken against them under the Food Safety Act.
The Health Minister said that the department executed a drive, and collected 171 samples of gobi manchurian across the state of which 64 were found to be safe and artificial colors were found in 107 samples. In the meantime, a total of 25 cotton candy samples were collected of which 10 samples were found to be safe and 15 samples contain artificial colours.
Dinesh Gundu Rao said that based on these results an order has been given banning the use of prohibited artificial colours including Rhodamin-B in gobi manchurian and cotton candy. Eating snacks that comprise these artificial colors may result in long-term health risks including cancer.
Violation of the ban will result in 7 years of life imprisonment, along with a fine up to Rs. 10 lakh and cancellation of the eatery’s license.
The Health Minister added that the banned chemicals are being used in many food products. They have performed a survey across the state and discovered that these chemical agents are still in use. They issued another notice that banned should not be used, if used strict action would be taken.
Some of the artificial dyes that are found in the food samples are Tartrazine, Carmoisine, Sunset Yellow, and Rhodamine-B. The health minister said that using of Rhodamine-B is banned, to get more red color in the food items eateries use artificial colors. Across the state the quality of these food items was poor due to the usage of artificial colors says the health minister.
The state commissioner of food safety has given the order to supervise the banning of any artificial colors in gobi manchurian and cotton candy. The samples were taken from roadside vendors and also from 3-star hotels and were found to be unsafe.
Goa, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Maharashtra have also banned the use of coloring agents in the food.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina/MSM)
