Crackdown on unlicensed sale of junk food

Sale of crushed ice delicacies to be prevented in Kozhikode Corporation limits
Sale of crushed ice delicacies and drinks on the wayside and at beach tourism destinations in the city will be curbed as part of the strengthened vigil to ward off food-borne illnesses and communicable diseases.
Health Department squads within the City Corporation limit, municipalities and grama panchayats have been asked to keep a tab on unlicensed sale of junk food, especially cool drinks prepared with crushed ice. Sale of marinated fruits too will be monitored as part of the improved vigil.
The department has prepared the strict action plan after noticing the unhealthy practice on the part of a few vendors who use impure ice bars for the preparation of cool drinks, juices and marinated items. In flash searches conducted recently, the squads had also seized such unhealthy food items from the city and its suburbs.
Also, the sale of ice creams in unhygienic carts by unlicensed vendors too would be prevented taking into account concerns about children’s health.
Already, some schools and parents- teachers organisations have alerted their students against consumption of such food items citing health reasons.
The Health Department officials have also made it clear that the hygiene rules would be applicable to soft-drink and juice shops in the city and rural areas. “Surprise inspections would be carried out in all parts of the city to check the strict implementation of the quality parameters prescribed under Section 30 (d) of the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006,” they said.
As per rules, fruits and other additives used to prepare juice or any other drinks should be bought only from traders with FSSA licence and the purchase bills should be kept for future verification purposes. The guidelines also stipulate that water used for preparation of juice, etc., should be from a properly tested source of impeccable quality.
However, officials attest that wayside juice sellers have been found to be violating many of these provisions for quick profit with minimal investment.
“Taking into account public safety, we will initiate stringent action against such unhygienic sales in the sector,” they said.