Food laboratories will reopen in three districts — Bharatpur, Bikaner and Banswara. Health department has given the principal approval for setting up such laboratories. Apart from the three laboratories, health department has also approved setting up of public health laboratories in Churu and Jalore.
Presently, six existing laboratories a, located in Jaipur, Kota, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Ajmer and Alwar, are operational.
In recent past, health department had closed down laboratories in Banswara, Dungarpur, Jhalawar, Bikaner, Bharatpur, Ganganagar and Sikar as they were facing staff crunch.
Now, in three of the districts, where laboratories had been closed down, health department has decided to reopen them.
A health department official said that Rs50 lakh for construction of each laboratory has been approved. A total amount of Rs 2.5crore has been approved for construction of five laboratories.
The department had also identified agency for construction of laboratory buildings. Besides, the department has also been directed to send proposal for recruitment of staff and providence of equipment in laboratories.
After the closure of the seven food laboratories, burden of food samples, sent for testing, has increased. In existing laboratories, a food analyst is handling two laboratories still. A food analyst has to sign the report of test before it is issued, official sources said.
The food laboratories test samples of food items collected from sweet shops, milk samples, edible oil and other food products in different parts of the state by the food safety officers.
Source : TOI
