Joint Food Safety Commissioner (Enforcement) D Sivakumar said that the samples collected were not statutory and hence the department would not be able to take any action.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Commissionerate of Food Safety continues to be inactive even after receiving the results of the chicken samples tested outside the state, which confirmed the presence of antibiotic residue in chicken sold here.
According to the lab report, one out of the ten chicken samples sent by the food safety authorities for laboratory checking has proved to have the presence of antibiotic residue which could pose a serious health hazard. Despite confirmation from the accredited laboratory, the authorities have hardly made any efforts to blacklist or seal the poultry farm.
According to food safety officials, the department will not be able to take any penal action against the poultry farm in Thiruvananthapuram for using antibiotic as the samples collected were surveillance samples. Joint Food Safety Commissioner (Enforcement) D Sivakumar said that the samples collected were not statutory and hence the department would not be able to take any action.
“There are certain statutory rules to be followed while collecting samples. The samples we collected were random surveillance samples just to check the presence of antibiotic,” said Mr Sivakumar. However, food safety authorities continue to be in the dark and are unable to take any action as the Centre is yet to fix the standards on the antibiotic level in the chicken to go forward with legal action. Commissioner of Food Safety Anupama T V told DC that all other nine random samples met the European Union Standards and is of export quality.
“We will not be able to take any action as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India hasn’t prescribed the standards on the marginal value of the antibiotic residue. So we are still in the dark,” said Anupama.
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