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New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha on Wednesday raised concern in Rajya Sabha on the sale of adulterated food products across the country and urged the government to strengthen food safety regulator FSSAI.

During Zero Hour, Chadha said food adulteration has become "a raging health crisis", posing threat to children, elderly people, and pregnant women.

He demanded that the government strengthen the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), ensure adequate testing labs, and increase penalties and fines.

Citing examples, Chadha said 'garam masala' was being adulterated with brick powder and wood powder, tea with synthetic colour, chicken and poultry with anabolic steroids, honey with sugar syrup and yellow dye, and sweets with vegetable oil instead of desi ghee.

"When a mother gives her child a glass of milk thinking it has calcium and protein, she has no idea she is giving a dangerous mix of milk and detergent," he alleged.

Research shows 71 per cent of milk samples contain urea and 64 per cent have neutralisers like sodium bicarbonate, he said, adding that milk production in the country was lower than the quantity being sold. Vegetables were being injected with oxytocin, a harmful chemical causing dizziness, headaches, heart failure, infertility, and cancer, he said.

"From 2014-15 to 2025-26, 25 per cent of all samples tested were neutralised. God knows how many got sick, went to hospital, or lost their lives," Chadha said.

He said products made in India by two of the country's largest 'garam masala' manufacturers had been banned in the US, UK, and Europe for containing cancer-causing pesticides but were still sold domestically.

"Food items not even fed to pets in other countries are being sold in India," he said.

Chadha suggested strengthening FSSAI with adequate manpower and testing facilities, increasing fines and penalties, and introducing a public recall mechanism to name and withdraw adulterated products from the market.

Meanwhile, another AAP leader Ashok Kumar Mittal raised concerns over attacks on Indians abroad, noting they contribute Rs 15 lakh crore annually through remittances, which is 15 per cent of India's total foreign currency.

He cited several incidents: An Indian attacked by a six-year-old child in Ireland and told to "go back"; elderly Sikh Navpreet Singh forced to remove his turban near a railway station in Wolverhampton, UK; 20-year-old doctor Shiva Kavasti shot dead near Toronto International Airport in Canada; and Chandranath Mallya beheaded in the US.

"These are not just newspaper headlines. This is the mourning of families who sent their children abroad for a golden future, but only their bodies came back wrapped in shrouds," Mittal said. 

(Disclaimer: This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)