Rohit Shishodia
Conviction for selling substandard food products, including food grains, has increased substantially over three years across India. In 2015-16, the convictions were made in 540 cases, which rose to 1605 in 2016-17. However, convictions increased more than three times from 1605 to 5198 in 2017-18.

Data presented by India’s Minister of State for Health, Mr Ashwini Kumar Choubey, in Parliament also states that in the last three years 25,01,92 samples of food products were analyzed by the Food Safety Department (FSD) in all states.

The data reveals that 58,720 samples were found non-conforming to guidelines prescribed by food safety authorities. Criminal and civil cases have been initiated in 38,180 cases in the same period.

The FSD imposed penalty in 16053 cases in the last three years.