Unsafe drinking water cans seized

Cracking the whip on supply of unsafe drinking water, food safety officials have seized 165 unhygienic and unlabelled water cans in the city so far.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India officials inspect bubble-top drinking water cans

Chennai: 

According to officials, with summer hitting its peak and the city facing a water shortage, many unlicensed packaged water manufacturing companies have started exploiting the situation to make a fast buck. 

To check this, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had been inspecting trucks carrying bubble-top water cans.

Speaking to DTNext, R Kathiravan, Designated Officer, FSSAI, Chennai, said that his body had formed four teams to inspect canned water in various parts of the city. “Accordingly, a team of food safety officials near Koyambedu intercepted around 15 vehicles. Most of these cans were found unfit for consumption,” he said. In a particular case, the officials found no labels on 60 cans of water. They confiscated 31 such cans, which were unfit for consumption, Kathiravan said. Moreover, a total of 74 bubble-top water cans had labels, but there was no manufacturing date, he added. 

When asked about the punishment, an official said, “As of now, we are creating awareness. Henceforth, we will file cases against the manufacturing companies and impose fines ranging from two to three lakh.” 

It may be recalled that a few days ago, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) officials had seized a total of 149 cans and 7,181 sachets of drinking water which were unfit for consumption.