TURA, June 29 - Achik Youth Council (AYC), of Garo Hills, has thanked the Meghalaya Government for its initiative of testing bread and bakery products to check for the presence of cancer-causing chemicals.
�We welcome the initiative of the State Government of testing to check for the use of noxious and cancer- causing chemicals (Potassium bromate and iodate) by bread manufacturers. We also welcome the State Government�s stand to ban the particular bread if it is found to be off the prescribed specification�, said AYC secretary Shoshan Sangma.
The AYC demanded that the reports of the tests be made public and accessible to everyone in the interest of the consumers.
�We would also like to request the government to strongly implement and enforce the guidelines and rules of the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) Act, 2011, Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954 and Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 to weed out malpractices,� added Shoshan.
The NGO also pointed out malpractices in the manufacture of bread in Tura. Imported bakery and food products from Assam and other countries are being sold openly without any proper label of mandatory information, it said.
