AMBALA: The food and drug administration department here lacks staff to cover the entire district. Till date, the department has collected nearly 60 samples of which nine have failed quality tests at the food laboratory in Karnal. The process of testing the food quality takes 14 days. Meanwhile, it has been observed that the shopkeepers here have started to stock sweets before Diwali.
"I have two districts to cover - Panchkula and Ambala. Lack of staff is affecting inspection work and we are unable to cover all the areas of the district. Till date, we have collected nearly 120 samples from Ambala and Panchkula. In Ambala, we have destroyed nearly 3.5 quintals of synthetic and unhygienic sweets.
"As per the law, the collected samples are sent to the food laboratory in Karnal and we receive results only after 14 days. There is a possibility that by the time result of lab tests are out, shopkeepers will have sold poor quality sweets. So far, nine shopkeepers have been issued notices for failing laboratory tests," said food safety officer Subhash Chander.
The official added that shopkeepers may use synthetic products to prepare sweets as production of milk in the district is not at par with the demand.
The FDA has been active since the start of the festive season, however staff crunch is a major obstruction in their work. It is because of this, the probability of consuming sweets made of synthetic product gets high.
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