Indore(Madhya Pradesh): The Food and Drug Administration claims that while they charge only Rs 10 from the public for testing food or milk sample in a mobile food testing lab, it costs them over Rs 500 to test each sample.
The Food and Drug Administration Department officials have tested about 3,400 samples in two years through the mobile food testing lab, but it broken down around a couple of months ago and is now lying unused on the department’s campus.
According to officials, operation of the lab was handed over to a private firm appointed by the government and it costs around Rs 80,000 per month to maintain the lab as they have to pay for an operator and a driver as well.
Indore got the van in September 2020 and about Rs 19 lakh has been spent for its maintenance and if one takes into consideration the number of samples tested in two years, it comes out that it costs Rs 536 to test each sample.
“The mobile food testing lab is out of order as it has been left abandoned. FDA officials tried to start the van and use it before the festivities but they failed as the vehicle couldn’t be started,” sources said.
Department doesn’t consider test reports of mobile food testing lab
According to officials, the mobile food testing lab is used for quick tests of about 102 types of samples but the reports are not being considered by them as they require that the samples should be tested at the state laboratory only.
