Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday launched a new-age, hand-held battery-operated device, called ‘Raman 1.0’, for rapid detection of economically driven adulteration in edible oils, fats and ghee.

The equipment, Raman Spectrometer (built by Oak Analytics) can test more than 250 samples per battery charge, collects and stores data on the cloud using a smart device. This is the first of 19 such equipment and methods that have been provisionally approved by Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) for strengthening the food testing infrastructure in the country.

The gadget was launched at the first-ever World Food Safety Day celebration organised by the FSSAI here. Addressing the audience, Harsh Vardhan appealed to people to make the “eat less and eat right” campaign a mass movement to ensure even one grain of food is not wasted and everyone has food to eat.

He said health is not only absence of disease and infirmity but the presence of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-ness.

The Minister also unveiled a statue of ‘Gandhiji on a bicycle’ installed at the FSSAI complex. “As we commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Bapu, the statue symbolises his journey towards good health and shall constantly inspire people for emulating his good health practices,” he said.

Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey said that clean food will result in a clean body, mind and thoughts and deeds. For this, people’s awareness about safe and healthy food and participation is critical to make an impact on society.

The FSSAI also released the first edition of the State Food Safety Index, that measures the performance of the States on key parameters of food safety.

Vardhan also felicitated seven leading States/UTs based on the ranking for the year 2018-2019 for their impressive performance. These were Chandigarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

States such as Bihar, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh followed close behind.

An innovative solution to take food safety to schools, called the ‘Food Safety Magic Box’ was also launched by Vardhan. This do-it-yourself food testing kit comprises a manual and equipment to check for food adulterants, which schoolchildren can use in their classroom laboratories.