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Govt That Fails to Feed Safely Fails Its Future

  • Comments 0
  • 29 Apr 2026

Food safety in Kashmir must now be treated not as a seasonal enforcement issue, but as a full-scale public health priority

Some crises arrive with noise, and some crises creep into homes, kitchens and bodies. Food safety in Kashmir belongs to the second category. It does not explode like a disaster. It accumulates—through adulterated milk, rotten meat, suspect sweets, unsafe street food, chemical-heavy produce and a regulatory culture that too often wakes up only after public alarm. That is what makes it so dangerous. A society can survive scarcity with honesty; it cannot endure abundance poisoned by negligence. The signs are too glaring to ignore. In Jammu and Kashmir, the Agriculture Department collected 3,010 pesticide samples, of which 58 were found non-standard, while 1,005 samples were still pending analysis as of early 2026. Government data also showed 95 non-standard samples of agricultural inputs in 2024–25, including fertilisers and seeds. These are not sterile statistics. They point to a chain of risk that begins in the field and ends on the dining table. Food safety is not merely about catching a few dishonest traders before Eid or the marriage season. It is about whether the state can guarantee that what people eat every day will not slowly harm them. Milk and milk products remain an area of serious concern. FSSAI ordered special drives against adulteration in milk, khoa, paneer, ghee and sweets during festive periods, a tacit admission that contamination and dilution are not isolated practices but recurring threats. Reports from Kashmir have also pointed to targeted checks on milk products used in sweet manufacturing. The meat supply chain is equally disturbing. Recent reports have documented the seizure of over 1,200 kg of rotten or decomposed meat in Srinagar. At the same time, separate enforcement actions in the region uncovered around 27 quintals of expired meat and rotten fish. These are not minor infractions. They are acts of commercial brutality against consumers. Selling unsafe food is not simply cheating; it is an assault on public health. And then there is the deeper fear: what cannot be seen—chemical residues. Antibiotic contamination. Toxic additives. FSSAI’s consolidated 2025 regulations set maximum residue limits for antibiotics in food products, reflecting a growing recognition that residues in meat, milk and poultry are a major health concern. Scientific literature has repeatedly warned that antibiotic residues in food can trigger allergic reactions, disturb gut flora and worsen antimicrobial resistance. In plain terms, unsafe food today can create untreatable illness tomorrow. Kashmir needs more than occasional raids and ceremonial sample collection. It needs a permanent, credible food safety architecture: modern testing laboratories, time-bound public disclosure of results, stricter market surveillance, deterrent penalties, vendor traceability and routine inspections that do not depend on festivals, complaints or headlines. Consumers, too, must demand accountability, because silence is the greatest ally of adulteration. Food safety in Kashmir must now be treated not as a seasonal enforcement issue, but as a full-scale public health priority. The question is no longer whether the problem exists. The question is how much more poison society is expected to digest before the system finally acts.

 

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