Karnataka Crackdown on Unsafe Food and Drugs: A Wake-Up Call for Public Health

In a welcome but unusual display of pre-emptive governance, the Karnataka Food Safety and Drug Administration Department has conducted a state-wide drive to discover and inspect the sale of fake food and drugs. The February-March 2025 operation both indicates the magnitude of the problem and the need to tighten regulatory vigilance.

The findings are disturbing, if not downright terrifying. During February alone, of 296 drinking water samples collected around the state, just 72 proved safe after tests. Nearly a third were unsafe, and a huge proportion were of very poor quality. It's a grim reminder that something as straightforward and basic as safe drinking water cannot be taken for granted, even in metropolitan Karnataka.

The food safety situation is just as bleak. Paneer, ghee, fried items, and sweets—the staples of Indian kitchens—were routinely found contaminated or of inferior quality. Even though only 2 out of the 32 samples of paneer analyzed in March were unsafe, the remaining hundreds are still to be examined. These are items eaten by thousands, generally without complaint. The results, preliminary though they are, reflect a systemic collapse of hygiene, production processes, and retail monitoring.

In a parallel push to clean up the hospitality sector, pest control checks in nearly 600 restaurants and hotels yielded 214 notices and financial penalties of nearly Rs 3 lakh. The infractions ranged from poor hygiene to serious food safety violations. It's evident that regulatory lapses are not confined to production units but run deep into the establishments where food is served every day.

On the drug side, the figures also tell an equally gloomy tale. Of the 1,891 drug samples analyzed until March, 41 were substandard—of which 78 defective units of the widely used intravenous fluid Ringer Lactate. No small deficit this; Ringer Lactate is often used in life-saving emergency procedures. The speed with which the department reacted to taking off the market drugs worth over Rs 24 lakh is to be applauded—but also raises a wider issue: How did they end up there to start with?

In a welcome change, the department's relentless drive against toxic artificial colours—specifically those used in bakery items—has begun to yield results. Unsafe samples have plummeted from 4.06% in August 2024 to a paltry 1.16% as of January 2025. The credit must go to the growing awareness drives that are targeting both sellers and consumers. But this achievement, while significant, is only the beginning.

The fact that software is being developed to trace and recall defective drugs is a welcome move. If properly enforced, it can be used as a model for pharmaceutical transparency and consumer protection nationwide. But technology alone will not do. What Karnataka needs—and what India as a nation must aspire to—is a culture of compliance, accountability, and consumer empowerment.

These recent raids are more than a grade card on safety standards; they are an appeal to transform our mindset toward public health. Food and drug safety can't be one-time campaigns—they must become institutional imperatives.