Day 1: Food safety wing raids 62 shops, seizes items worth 15,500

Chennai: Food safety department officials on Wednesday raided 62 shops in the T Nagar and Teynampet areas and seized spurious food and drinks worth 15,500. The officials seized 200 bottles of spurious soft drinks, 1,875 packets of coloured water and 66 kg of substandard food.
    A TOI report on Tuesday said fake soft drinks firms were flourishing in the city and duplicating several branded items.
    Officials said a special team would carry out inspections in shops across the city in the next few days. “We have found that several vendors are selling spurious drinks with label and logos of branded items,” said a senior official. The department is also planning to spread awareness among vendors about spurious drinks.
    “Raw material used in making these fake drinks is harmful to health. But many vendors are unaware about the hazards. So we are now planning to conduct awareness among the vendors instead of penalising them” said an official. Health experts say spurious soft drinks can cause hepatitis, stomach diseases and typhoid, especially in children.
    Consumer activists welcomed the department’s move, but urged officials to raid manufacturing units. “They should conduct frequent raids and publish the names of the violators. They should inspect the manufacturing units too,” said Consumer Association of India trustee R Desikan.
    Manufacture and sale of fake cold drinks are on the rise due to huge demand in summer. Complaints can be made to the food safety department at 044-23813095 or emailed to commrfssa@gmail.com.

Manufacture and sale of fake cold drinks are on the rise due to huge demand in summer