The story so far: Karnataka became the third State in South India to ban the use of certain colouring agents in cotton candy and gobi manchurian that are found to be harmful. The decision follows similar steps taken in Tamil Nadu and Goa, and came after a survey by the Public Health Department that showed the presence of harmful chemicals present in the food samples, making them unsafe for consumption. The government has also clarified that there is no ban on making cotton candy as long as these colouring agents are not used.
What did the survey results show?
Samples in the State were collected from February 12 and submitted for laboratory tests, which then revealed the presence of harmful chemicals in many samples. Of the 25 cotton candy samples collected, 15 were termed as unsafe as they contained colours, while the rest were safe samples as they were made without added colours. Among the 171 samples of gobi manchurian collected, 107 samples were declared unsafe due to added colours, while 64 were declared safe as they did not contain added colours.
