The government is working to stop the spread of adulterated (contaminated or fake) food in Greater Hyderabad. To help with this, the Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) and the State Health Department will build six small food testing labs in the city. These labs will cost ₹24 crore to set up. Work on the labs will begin once a location is chosen by the local municipal body (Baldia).
Right now, the city only has one mobile food testing van, which is not enough. This van collects food and oil samples from hotels and street food vendors every day to check for safety. To improve testing, the government has bought five more mobile vans. However, these vans are not being used yet because they still need the right equipment. The government plans to get them ready for use soon.
Each of the new labs will be placed in a different part of the city. The locations are Khairatabad, Secunderabad, Kukatpally, Serilingampally, LB Nagar, and Charminar. Each lab will have around 50 staff members. They will test 600 to 700 food samples every month. These samples will come from both the municipal officials (Baldia) and the State Food Safety and Task Force teams.
