Berhampur: The Food Safety on Wheels van, which is a mobile food testing laboratory, on Friday collected samples from various eateries across the city.

"The van will not only examine the food samples, but also create awareness among the people about food adulteration," said the Berhampur Municipal Corporation's food safety officer Tapaswini Behera.

"We collected samples from eateries at Goutam Cinema Hall Road, Satya Narayan Temple Road, Girija Restaurant, Old Bus Stand, Kamapalli and Engineering School Square and sent those for lab test. The samples included curd, lassi, sweets, dahi-bara and others. Based on the report, we would issue notice to the eatery owners and ask them to take corrective measures if required.

Against the errant owners, we will take action, including cancellation of their food licence, as the final resort," said Behera, who also accompanied the van.

The state food testing laboratory (Bhubaneswar) officer-in-charge Prabhat Kumar Subudhi, who headed the mobile lab workers, said the initiative would help to spot testing of adulteration in common food items, including milk products, prepared food and non-permitted colours.

"This is the one-of-its-kind mobile food testing laboratory, which is equipped with gadgets such as milk analyser, hot air oven, hot plate, mixer grinder, digital weighing scale and air conditioner besides test equipment. The van can be used to conduct tests for common adulterants in all products. It will educate consumers about various aspects of food safety and common hygienic practices," said Subudhi.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has provided the van to the state to test the food standard, sources said.

According to the practice, the civic body sends food samples quiet often to the only lab in Bhubaneswar. "We get report of the urgent food samples within 15 days, and in case of surveillance food samples, it takes around a month," said Behera.