Tura, March 23: A wave of unlabelled and potentially unsafe bakery products has flooded shops across Tura and adjoining areas, raising serious concerns about food safety enforcement in Garo Hills. Despite clear regulatory requirements under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), local bakeries continue to sell packaged breads, cakes, cookies, and dry biscuits without basic labelling such as manufacturing date, expiry date, ingredients, contact details, and some even without a FSSAI registration number.
These bakery items, produced largely within the Tura Municipal area, are expected to comply with FSSAI norms and be registered through the District Medical and Health Office (DMHO) in Babupara, as well have Trading for Non-Tribals (TNT) license for non-tribal businesses. However, a months-long investigation by Hub News has revealed that many products from local bakeries lack proper labelling — a clear violation of food safety standards.
The issue first came to light in October 2024, when locally supplied bread was found to be sold in unmarked packaging. Subsequent checks uncovered similar violations across a wider range of bakery items, including cakes, dry sweets, and cookies. Bakery owners, when contacted, downplayed the matter, claiming, “We pack it fresh and sell it. We don’t sell bad products to the customers.”
However, concerned citizens have reported numerous instances of such items being sold in the town’s markets without any visible regulatory checks or action by the concerned department.
To understand the extent of the issue, Hub News conducted a comparative survey by visiting shops in Ampati, the district headquarters of South West Garo Hills, which is approximately 50 kilometres from Tura. While most shops there sold properly labelled bakery goods, primarily sourced from Assam, only one or two shops were found selling unlabelled items. Similar trends were observed in Garobadha, where bakery goods from Assam dominated the market with proper labelling and packaging.
In contrast, products originating from Tura were found to be largely non-compliant, which indicated a failure on the part of the local food safety officials.
When Hub News visited the Food Inspector’s office in Tura, officials admitted the department was severely understaffed, with only one Food Inspector covering the entire district. An official mentioned that most of the time, they are engaged in VVIP duties. Besides inspections, they are also responsible for licensing, renewals, and administrative tasks under FSSAI.
On March 21, this year, A·chik Conscious Holistically Integrated Krima (ACHIK) Krima Council conducted surprise checking of several bakery units in Tura. Their checking found many factories with unhygienic conditions, dirty equipment, insect infestations, and weeks-old bread moulds left uncleaned. In one unit located in Nakam Bazar, the bakery was operating without a valid FSSAI license. When questioned, the owner confessed ignorance of the requirement, showing only a TNT license issued by the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC).
Many bakery owners told the Hub News team that the last inspection from the Food Inspector’s office was right after Durga Puja, and no checks had been conducted since.
During the checking with the ACHIK team, a woman from a nearby village shared, “We buy these products and by the time we want to eat them, they’re already spoiled. We’re scared because our children eat this too, and it feels like we’re throwing money away.”
Shockingly, some well-established bakeries were found either hiding labelling information inside the packaging or omitting it altogether. Experts warn that placing printed labels inside food packages may pose health risks due to ink contamination.
The situation that has been uncovered in Tura is alarming, particularly in light of the recent case of food poisoning in Karnataka, where 2 students from Meghalaya died and 22 are still in hospital.
With five districts in the Garo Hills region and countless small-scale food manufacturing units, concerns are growing that many such operations remain unregistered and uninspected. Experts and civil society groups are now calling for urgent action, warning that a lack of vigilance could lead to a mass food poisoning incident if immediate steps are not taken.
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