Hidden poison on your plate, Raghav Chadha raises food safety alarm in RS

Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha on Wednesday sounded the alarm in the Rajya Sabha, warning that food adulteration has become a “raging health crisis” across India. Speaking during Zero Hour, Chadha highlighted the dangers that adulterated food poses to children, pregnant women and the elderly, urging the government to strengthen the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) with better testing facilities, more manpower, stricter penalties, and a public recall mechanism to remove unsafe products from the market.

Chadha painted a disturbing picture of what reaches the plates of ordinary Indians every day. He cited specific examples of adulteration that are both widespread and dangerous: urea in milk , oxytocin in vegetables , caustic soda in paneer , brick powder in spices , yellow dye in honey , steroids in poultry, and detergent in ice cream. “When a mother gives her child a glass of milk thinking it has calcium and protein, she may actually be giving a mixture of milk and detergent,” he said, stressing the everyday risks that families unknowingly face.

He drew attention to research showing that 71 per cent of milk samples tested contained urea while 64 per cent had neutralisers like sodium bicarbonate, chemicals added to increase volume and shelf life at the cost of health. Between 2014-15 and 2025-26, 25 per cent of all food samples tested in the country were found adulterated, indicating that one in every four food items could be unsafe. Chadha also pointed out that products from India’s largest spice manufacturers, banned in countries like the US , UK and Europe for pesticide contamination, continue to be sold freely in India, showing a stark disconnect between domestic standards and international safety norms.

The problem extends across sectors. Milk and dairy products often carry urea and detergents, vegetables are sometimes injected with oxytocin to boost size, paneer contains caustic soda, honey is laced with yellow dye and sugar syrup, poultry is pumped with steroids, and even sweets and ice cream may have harmful additives. Such adulteration not only affects nutrition but also contributes to long-term health risks, including heart problems, infertility, dizziness, and cancer. Chadha’s statements brought to light the alarming reality that many consumers, including children and vulnerable adults, are exposed to unsafe food every day.

While FSSAI has been taking steps to combat this menace, including nationwide enforcement drives, mobile testing units, random sampling, consumer awareness campaigns, and rapid home-testing guides, Chadha emphasized that these measures remain insufficient. He called for larger budgets, more advanced laboratories, stricter enforcement, and a robust recall system to ensure that adulterated products are identified and removed quickly.

The ground reality is stark: unsafe food continues to flow through markets, affecting millions, and regulatory efforts, though improving, struggle to keep pace with the scale and sophistication of adulteration. Chadha’s intervention underscores the urgent need for a stronger, more transparent, and proactive food safety framework that not only penalizes offenders but also protects ordinary citizens from hidden risks in their everyday meals.