India needs a risk-based approach to food adulteration: Sukhvinder Pal Singh

Australia-based food-safety scientist Sukhvinder Pal Singh, whose roots hail from a family of farmers in Una, Himachal Pradesh, is a senior research scientist with the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, in Ourimbah. Fondly called SP Singh, at 46, he leads research on fresh-produce safety and traceability.

His work following Australia’s deadly 2018 Listeria (bacteria in rockmelons) outbreak — which infected 22 people, killed seven, and caused a miscarriage — helped drive changes in horticultural food-safety practices. In 2025, he received the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology’s national Food Safety Award. Excerpts from an interview on how to curb India’s rising food adulteration incidences:

How serious is food adulteration as a public-health problem in India and who does it hit the most?