Jiwan Prava Lama is the Director General of Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC). In an interview with The Corporate’s Suraksha Adhikari, she talked about the present controversy about dairy products in Nepal and highlighted the plans of DFTQC for improving quality of foods in Nepali market. Excerpts: 

 

Your department has reported that sub-standard and non-edible foods are freely traded in the market. Does it imply a failure of regulators? 

 

There are 181 standards for food. Within those standards there are 10 categories with various parameters. If the manufactured food doesn’t meet a single parameter, we consider it as a non-parameter. We do report such cases but food products that do not meet every parameter cannot be considered adulterated. Some of them are non-conformant, sub-standardized, and some are adulterated. All of these foods are not non-edible. Some of them can be eaten after applying some safety measures. 

 

We do not consider it as a failure of regulators as it comes under the food safety chain. The quality of food has to be ensured right from its production to the time it reaches the dining table. The food should be checked during production, packaging and even during consumption as even the wrong way of consumption can decrease its quality. 

 

Your department’s report on milk products in Kathmandu has caused a drastic reduction in consumption of processed milk, threatening both the dairy industry and dairy farming. What is your comment? 

 

Our department monitored 14 dairy industries and collected 17 samples of milk. Among them, none had met all the parameters. A minimum of two percent of coliform was found in the milk, which does not meet our standard. In such a situation, certain actions are necessary to minimize such irregularities. We are taking action upon these dairies because of which consumption might have decreased. The government too has formed the National Dairy Development Board in order to reduce the adulteration of milk, thereby increasing its quality. 

 

You are also the head of Nepal Food Scientists and Technologists Association (NEFOSTA). What can your association do for resolving these issues? 

 

NEFOSTA can play the role of an agent between the government and the industries and fill the gap of technical manpower in companies. There is a lack of skilled manpower in the dairy business because of which these problems are emerging. Our association can help the government by providing technical manpower to ensure quality food. 

 

It is alleged that your department’s campaign against contaminated milk is discriminatory as it punished Nepali dairies while imported milk was not checked. What is your comment? 

 

Our department verifies the quality of milk within certain standards, norms and policies of the department. There are processes that we have to go through when we are performing each and every task. We are checking the quality of milk only on the basis of coliform now and penalizing those dairies where 0-1000 units of coliforms are found in the milk produced by them. Until now, we have been focusing on some soft punishments but we are moving towards some strict action soon. 

 

Your department is criticized also because it has come down harshly on registered dairies and neglected the unregistered ones, discouraging people from registering their dairies and coming under government tax net. What do you have to say? 

 

It is the duty of local bodies of the concerned area to look after the registration of industries. Our task is to monitor the registered ones. If the local bodies perform their tasks properly, we could perform our work more effectively. But in our country, concerned sectors are not aware of the responsibilities provided by the law. Though the non-registered dairies don’t come under our scope of work, we are planning to investigate even them. We have not been able to go ahead for examining the quality of local dairies due to lack of skilled manpower, but we will be involving ourselves with them gradually. 

 

Five dairies are sealed by the government for contamination. What is your take on this? 

 

We have sealed those dairies for the sake of improving the quality of milk. During the survey of dairies, those which failed to meet certain standards were sealed. But we are liberal on this issue as we can give permission to re-open the sealed diaries if they improve their standards. This action is a warning to the dairies to focus on quality production of milk. Kharipati Dairy was also sealed but when it improved its quality, we permitted its operation to resume. 

 

What further plans does the department have to increase the quality of food? 

 

Presently, we are focusing on quality assurance of milk. There is still so much to be done in the issue of water contamination. After this, we are going into water purification. Sample collection is being done for the inspection of water. 

 

Further, we will be focusing on other domestic products and import-export products. Only goods that meet the legal provisions of Nepal and familiar to consumers here should be imported. We have also discussed with the government to work on the classification of the industries and in maintaining the standard of the Nepali market by developing good management practice in the market to assure Nepali people of quality goods.