Karnataka Health Minister Launches India's First Mall-Based Food Quality Testing Centers

Bengaluru introduces "Rapid Food Quality Testing Kits" in malls to combat food adulteration.

Bengaluru:In a pioneering step towards ensuring food safety, Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao inaugurated the country’s first Food Quality Testing Center at the Phoenix Mall of Asia here. For the first time in India, shoppers can now test food items for adulteration and quality directly in select malls.

The Food Safety Department has deployed Rapid Testing Kits at 10 malls across Bengaluru, including well-known locations like Vaishnavi Sapphire Center, Phoenix Mall of Asia, Elements Mall, and Forum Mall Koramangala. This initiative allows consumers to test everyday food products like pulses, cooking oil, milk products, vegetables, and even drinking water for potential adulteration.

Gundu Rao told reporters, "Public access to these testing facilities marks a huge leap in consumer rights and health safety. Our goal is to empower consumers to verify the quality of essential items, from food grains to vegetables, directly in supermarkets such as More and Reliance Fresh."

He further noted that this initiative is aimed at increasing awareness, not targeting manufacturers, urging citizens to prioritise clean, safe food for better health.

Addressing concerns about the quality of ghee, following a recent controversy, Gundu Rao said, “We have tested 230 brands of ghee, including Patanjali, and no traces of beef fat or unsafe substances were found. Consumers can have confidence in the quality and purity of these products."

According to authorities, the consumers can now perform quick quality checks in the following Bengaluru malls: Vaishnavi Sapphire Center (Tumkur Road), Elements Mall (Thanisandra), Phoenix Mall of Asia (Bellary Road), Meenakshi Mall (Bannerghatta Road), Shobha Mall (Church Street), Central Mall (Bellandur), Gopalan Signature Mall (Benniganahalli), Nexus Forum Mall (Koramangala), Mall of India (Thanisandra), and GT World Mall (Magadi Road).

The authorities said that this rollout marks the beginning of a broader campaign to eradicate food adulteration, with plans to expand these testing centres across other locations soon.

With this initiative, Karnataka sets a new benchmark for consumer health and safety, ensuring transparency and trust in the food we consume. The public can now test food for adulteration at Bengaluru's top malls, the minister concluded.