Moga, May 12
There have been persistent complaints by the local residents that expired food items, particularly juices and soft drinks, are openly being sold by the shopkeepers and vendors in the city but the officials of the municipal corporation and the health department have failed to take note of it.
Ramesh Kuku, a local leader of the wholesale food products dealers association, while admitting that perishable food products are being sold by the shopkeepers beyond their shelf life, revealed that he himself was cheated by a shopkeeper in the old grain market.
Kuku said he bought packets of juice for his grandson from a local shopkeeper but after returning home, he noticed that the products were past their expiry date and the date of manufacturing and expiry had been erased from the labels.
"Most regular customers go by the trust they have in the shopkeepers earned over a period of time. But if they start cheating them, I think the law enforcing agencies should take action against them," he said.
General Secretary of the District Bar Association, Sukhwinder Singh Ramuwalia, said it amounts to violation of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011. "It is the duty of the district administration and the health department to routinely check the shops and hotels to protect the lives of the people," he said.
Investigations made by The Tribune revealed that there were many agents in Ludhiana who pick up expired products at a nominal price from the wholesale dealers and sell them to the shopkeepers in the small cities and towns to earn a profit. The labels are either erased or even changed to befool the consumers.
A shopkeeper, Rajinder Singh, admitted that sometimes they fail to looking at expiry dates during the rush hours. Another shopkeeper said that on some occasions the staff working on shops misses to see the expiry dates while handing over the products to customers. While some said that they always checked the expiry dates.
There have been persistent complaints by the local residents that expired food items, particularly juices and soft drinks, are openly being sold by the shopkeepers and vendors in the city but the officials of the municipal corporation and the health department have failed to take note of it.
Ramesh Kuku, a local leader of the wholesale food products dealers association, while admitting that perishable food products are being sold by the shopkeepers beyond their shelf life, revealed that he himself was cheated by a shopkeeper in the old grain market.
Kuku said he bought packets of juice for his grandson from a local shopkeeper but after returning home, he noticed that the products were past their expiry date and the date of manufacturing and expiry had been erased from the labels.
"Most regular customers go by the trust they have in the shopkeepers earned over a period of time. But if they start cheating them, I think the law enforcing agencies should take action against them," he said.
General Secretary of the District Bar Association, Sukhwinder Singh Ramuwalia, said it amounts to violation of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011. "It is the duty of the district administration and the health department to routinely check the shops and hotels to protect the lives of the people," he said.
Investigations made by The Tribune revealed that there were many agents in Ludhiana who pick up expired products at a nominal price from the wholesale dealers and sell them to the shopkeepers in the small cities and towns to earn a profit. The labels are either erased or even changed to befool the consumers.
A shopkeeper, Rajinder Singh, admitted that sometimes they fail to looking at expiry dates during the rush hours. Another shopkeeper said that on some occasions the staff working on shops misses to see the expiry dates while handing over the products to customers. While some said that they always checked the expiry dates.
No comments:
Post a Comment