Panaji, Sep 29 (IANS): Goa unit of Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) on Friday alleged that food adulteration has been going unchecked for years and demanded setting up of full-fledged testing labs across the state.

TMC National Spokesperson Trajano D’Mello on Friday alleged that food adulteration be it fish, meat, fruits, vegetables, sweets, etc. has been going unchecked for years and demanded established full fledge testing labs and centres for checking adulteration with nominal fees.

D’Mello said, "FDA is a lame-duck organisation where corruption rules. Corrupt officials prosper in Goa which has been seen over time, especially under the BJP government," Referring to the data shared by the State’s Health Minister in the last Assembly session in August 2023, D’Mello said the number of cancer cases in Goa has been on the rise in recent years.

"In 2021, there were 440 new cases of cancer detected in the state, and this number has increased to 843 in 2022, and 1,273 in 2023. Health Minister Vishwajit Rane made the figures public recently, stating that breast cancer cases in Goa have risen alarmingly as well. From 2020 to 2023, there were 699 new breast cancer cases and 135 new cases of uterus cancer," he said.

"Bananas and other fruits are chemically ripened. One or two raids per year are undertaken to justify FDA’s existence. The tests that are undertaken are suspicious, as there have been so many activists who exposed how testing is undertaken in a shady manner," he said.

D’Mello also demanded to keep check on formalin laced fish, which was exposed in 2018. "Since the future is bleak for fish-loving Goans, we demand that the government must stop playing with the health of Goans and instead set up full-fledged food testing labs and testing centres in all the markets of the state, so that people can check adulteration," he said.