CHANDIGARH:
By the time you get to know if the sweets you savoured were
adulterated, the festive season might be over. Instead of confiscating
stocks that appear to be stale, the UT administration is treading with
caution this time -- limiting its surprise raids on sweet shops to
taking samples alone, reports of which are out after seven to 10 days.
This is in sharp contrast to the drive in 2010 when the administration had played to the gallery by confiscating and destroying tonnes of raw material and ready-to-serve sweets in an extended drive.
Justifying the move, ADC Mahavir Kaushik said samples were being taken from different areas of the city, but destroying the sweets on the spot would be considered only if a manufacturing unit did not conform to the hygiene standards.
Welcoming it, N K Singhania, general secretary of Chandigarh Sweet Shop Owners' Association, said most of the sweet manufacturing units in the city have drastically improved their hygiene standards over the past two years and there was no question of contamination. "Checking adulteration levels by taking samples is the process as per the book. The sweet shop owners were against the practice of largescale destruction of sweets without even waiting for the lab reports," he added.
Though the administration had come up with a set of new guidelines for sweet manufacturing units like installation of six feet high tiles and proper ventilation in the kitchen, no drive was conducted to check compliance last year.
Most of the old sweet factories located in periphery have kucha floors, with poor drainage and no tiles in cooking areas. The administration has got more teeth with the recently-notified Food Safety and Standard Act that authorizes it to take strict action against sweet shop and restaurant owners.
This is in sharp contrast to the drive in 2010 when the administration had played to the gallery by confiscating and destroying tonnes of raw material and ready-to-serve sweets in an extended drive.
Justifying the move, ADC Mahavir Kaushik said samples were being taken from different areas of the city, but destroying the sweets on the spot would be considered only if a manufacturing unit did not conform to the hygiene standards.
Welcoming it, N K Singhania, general secretary of Chandigarh Sweet Shop Owners' Association, said most of the sweet manufacturing units in the city have drastically improved their hygiene standards over the past two years and there was no question of contamination. "Checking adulteration levels by taking samples is the process as per the book. The sweet shop owners were against the practice of largescale destruction of sweets without even waiting for the lab reports," he added.
Though the administration had come up with a set of new guidelines for sweet manufacturing units like installation of six feet high tiles and proper ventilation in the kitchen, no drive was conducted to check compliance last year.
Most of the old sweet factories located in periphery have kucha floors, with poor drainage and no tiles in cooking areas. The administration has got more teeth with the recently-notified Food Safety and Standard Act that authorizes it to take strict action against sweet shop and restaurant owners.
No comments:
Post a Comment