Feb 19, 2014

'Unsafe' food continues to be advertized, sold

NAGPUR: A sample of food once found unsafe for consumption is not supposed to be advertised. However, a consumer rights organization from the city has found advertisements of a product that was deemed unsafe after they sent its sample to a Mysore-based laboratory. They have lodged a complaint with the local Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as with the district administration.
The said product from Suruchi Masale was one of the raw materials used for preparing meals at the government hospitals of the city. After receiving a complaint about the food there, Anti-Adulteration Consumer Society sent the samples to the local FDA laboratory where it's safety was certified. The same samples, however, were deemed unsafe for consumption by a Mysore-based referral laboratory.
"According to FDA rules, a product that is once found unsafe or adulterated cannot be advertised or even sold in the market. While the reports about the product being unsafe are a couple of months old, no action has been taken by the FDA. Even the certification of authority of the product has not been taken back. More importantly, it was advertised in two leading dailies of the city on Sunday (February 16, 2014)," informed Shahid Sharif, president of the society.
He said the society already sent the notification about the advertisements and the other complaints against the products to the collector, who is the chairman of district consumer protection council, the district supplier officer, who is the member secretary, and to the many malls and railways not to serve food with these products.
DSO Prashant Kale acknowledged having received the information. "We did not know about it before the letter from the Anti-Adulteration Consumer Society informed us about the same. We have initiated necessary action against the company," he said.

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