With Raksha Bandhan and Ganesh Chaturthi behind us and Navratri just around the corner, the festive season is in full swing. The time for celebrations is also the time when food adulteration is at its peak and the arrival of adulterated khoya from neighbouring states becomes an open secret. The Punjab Government has imposed a ban on analogue paneer for a year and raids to enforce the ban are ongoing.However, what lays bare the department’s hollow enforcement is the fact that Ludhiana’s Food Safety Department is fighting this battle with just four officers and a lone vehicle to cover an entire district. One Food Safety Officer has the additional charge of Moga as well.The district is divided into six zones and should ideally be provided at least 1-2 FSOs for each zone but presently, there are only four food safety officers for the entire district, with only one vehicle at their disposal. If one FSO is on inspection duty then the others have to wait for the vehicle to return back so they can report for their inspections. Keeping this in mind, all the four FSOs have fixed separate days for inspections, as they are unable to conduct field work on the same day.Additionally, the food safety officials also have VIP duties. During VIP visits, a team from the Food Safety Wing must be present. This includes the District Health Officer, Food Safety Officer and a Class IV Employee. The food safety team uses the same vehicle to commute. So, during VIP visits, no raids or inspections can be carried out.Since there is only one Class IV Employee who accompanies the team for collecting samples and is responsible for handing over collected samples to the lab in Kharar. Sample collection is not done in his absence.District Health Officer and Food Safety Wing In-charge Dr Ashish Chawla said, “For six zones, we have four FSOs who have additional duties as well. The officials are doing their best given our limited resources but we need more staff to help speed up the work.