DINAMANI NEWS

DINAKARAN NEWS

Sans food officers, little check on spurious sweets

Solan, October 28

With no Food Safety Official (FSO) in the twin districts of Solan and Sirmaur, there is little check on the quality of sweets being sold in the market during this festive season.

The post of FSO has been lying vacant for several years after the official had retired.

Earlier, Solan and Sirmaur districts had one FSO each, but later, one officer was assigned two to three districts due to the promotion of field officials.

Figures secured from the Directorate Health Safety and Regulation revealed that out of the 22 sanctioned posts, only two FSOs were available in the state.

As a stop-gap arrangement, the state government had designated district veterinary officials as FSOs to draw food samples, but the move had failed to yield any result, as these officers had refused to handle this additional duty.

The FSOs usually begin drawing samples of sweets at least a week before the major festivals to monitor the adulterated sweets, which usually flood the markets.

Being a district bordering other states, the incidence of adulterated sweets being sold here is high and this requires added caution on part of the FSOs.

Though the recruitment process of 19 FSOs is underway, it will take time for the new staff to be trained and sent to the field.

Naresh Lath, Director (Health Safety), said the designated officers of all 12 districts had been given powers to challan erring shopkeepers keeping in view the lack of FSOs.

‘Conduct drive for quality milk & milk products’

JAIPUR: The Centre’s joint director (regulatory compliance division) of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Daya Shankar has issued a letter to food safety commissioner of the state asking him to conduct special drive for ensuring safe and quality milk and milk products during festivals. 

Shankar mentioned in the letter issued on October 16, “With low shelf life, milk and milk products are prone to spoilage if these are not stored and handled properly. There are instances of few unscrupulous elements/dairy businesses indulging in acts of adulteration. Such cases of adulteration often increase during festive season when the demand for milk and milk products outstrips supply.”

The adulterants in food items are putting health of consumers at risk. “While economically motivated adulteration of milk and milk products invariably results in cheating of consumers, use of certain types of adulterants can also lead to a negative impact on their health. At the same time, heavy microbial contamination and the consequent presence of microbial toxins in such products also pose a serious threat to the health of consumers,” said Shankar in the letter. 

He also brought to the notice of health authorities in the state that they have observed that milk products such as mawa are prepared months in advance for the festive seasons and stored under unhygienic conditions leading to poor microbial quality and visible growth of fungus.

However, health department officials claimed that they have initiated drive against adulterated food, which will continue till November 4. A health department official said that they have launched special drive on surveillance of milk and milk products specifically products like mawa, paneer, curd, ghsee with respect to their microbiological quality and presence of adulterants.