6 Adi Dravidar hostels for girls inspected

J. Suguna, designated officer for Food Safety and Drug Administration Department, inspecting a kitchen at an Adi Dravidar government hostel for girls in the city on Tuesday. 

Kitchen appliances such as grinders are inoperative 

Officials from the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department conducted inspections at six Adi Dravidar hostels for girls in the city on Tuesday. Madurai district has 56 Adi Dravidar hostels for boys and girls.

A team led by J. Suguna, designated officer for Food Safety and Drug Administration Department, comprising food safety officers K. Saravanan and V. Raja conducted the inspections and took samples of food prepared for breakfast. It also examined the stock at the store rooms, besides looking at the upkeep of the bathrooms.

“The food was prepared hygienically. However, the Reverse Osmosis plants were dysfunctional. The fire extinguishers expired. The kitchen appliances such as grinders were inoperative in all the hostels,” Dr. Suguna said.

All six hostels, including one for students of Industrial Training Institutes, three for school students and two others for college students, were located on Lady Doak College Road.

A few students of the hostel told the officials that they had difficulty in fetching corporation water for drinking because the RO plants were dysfunctional.

“There are three bathrooms on each floor. But we are able to use only one in each floor because the pipes are yet to be fixed in the remaining bathrooms,” said a student.

Officials further noted that sanitary napkin destroyers in five of the hostels were not working. “We will recommend the district administration to repair all the incinerators and appoint permanent sanitary staff in each hostel,” said the officials. There was no permanent staff in these hostels, but the district administration had employed temporary staff, they added.

The sanctioned strength for college students, ITI students and school students in the hostels is 180, 325 and 55 respectively. The hostels have 110 college students, 180 school students and 27 ITI students staying at present.

USDA updates recall of tainted chicken to include military bases

A package of Foster Farms fresh chicken fillets is pictured in this photograph taken in Burbank, California 

(Reuters) - U.S. military bases and military commissaries in five states that supply food to personnel and their families are among the outlets believed to have received salmonella-tainted chicken produced by Foster Farms, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday.

U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine bases in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada and Washington state may have received the chicken, according to an updated list of recipients of the poultry, which was recalled last week. The recalled products may have been sold to the bases themselves, as well as on-base commissaries, the agency said. 

Military personnel and their families typically shop at commissaries for food and other goods.

In a statement to Reuters, Foster Farms said it provided the USDA information "on involved products and customers" last week. "There have been no new customer or product extensions that we are aware of," the company said in its statement. "The only chicken products involved in this recall were produced on certain dates in March."

Officials at the Department of Defense could not be reached for comment.

According to the Agriculture Department, the recalled products were produced by Foster Farms on March 8, 10 and 11 this year at its plant in Livingston, California and two other facilities it owns in Fresno, California. The three plants have linked by public health investigators to the outbreak, which started in March of 2013.

The Defense Department has awarded California-based Foster Poultry Farms with $190.4 million worth of contracts for poultry products from 2003 through 2012, according to the government procurement website USASpending.gov. 

On Thursday, Foster Farms said it would for the first time recall an undisclosed amount of contaminated chicken linked to a massive salmonella outbreak that has stretched on for more than 16 months. 

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service also said on Tuesday that the products were found to have also been carried by Costco stores in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Washington; as well as Food 4 Less, Food Max and Food Source stores in California. 

The outbreak has roiled the public and brought regulatory pressure on the poultry producer. The salmonella strains linked to the outbreak have been identified in at least 621 cases in 29 states and Puerto Rico, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Thursday, Foster Farms said it initiated the voluntary recall "in the fullest interest of food safety."

ஆலங்குளத்தில் அதிகாரிகள் அதிரடி ரசாயன கல் மூலம் பழுக்க வைத்த மாம்பழங்கள் அழிப்பு

ஆலங்குளம் ஜூலை 9:

ஆலங்குளத்தில் கார்பைடு கல் மூலம் பழுக்க வைக்கப்பட்ட ரூ.30 ஆயிரம் மதிப்புள்ள மாம்பழங்கள் பறிமுதல் செய்யப்பட்டு அழிக்கப்பட்டது.

உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை மாவட்ட நியமன அலுவலர் கருணாகரன் தலைமையில் உணவு பாதுகாப்பு அலுவலர் அன்பழகன் அடங்கிய அதிகாரி கள் மற்றும் ஊழியர் குழு வினர் ஆலங்குளம் கடை களில் அதிரடி சோதனை நடத்தினர். இதில், தடை செய்யப்பட்ட பான்பராக், குட்கா பாக்குகள், மெழுகு தடவிய ஆப்பிள் பழங்களை பறிமுதல் செய்தனர்.

ஆலங்குளம் மெயின் ரோட்டில் பழைய பஸ் நிலையம் அருகில் உள்ள மாம்பழ குடோனில் கார்பைடு கல் மூலம் பழுக்க வைத்த சுமார் ரூ.30 ஆயிரம் மதிப்புள்ள மாம்பழங்களை பறிமுதல் செய்தனர். பறிமுதல் செய்யப்பட்ட மாம்பழங்கள் பேரூராட்சிக்கு சொந்தமான குப்பை கிடங்கில் புதைத்து அழிக்கப்பட்டன.

தொடர்ந்து, கடை உரிமையாளர்களிடம் காலாவதியான உணவு பொருட்கள் விற்கக்கூடாது, அரசால் தடை செய்யப்பட்ட பான்பராக் போன்றவற்றை விற்கக் கூடாது, கார்பைடு கல் வைத்து பழங்களை பழுக்க வைக்க கூடாது எனவும், மீறி அவற்றை விற்பனை செய்தால் கடும் நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்படும் எனவும் அதிகாரிகள் எச்சரிக்கை விடுத்து சென்றனர்.

Bakery closed after food safety raids

The production centre and outlets of a city-based bakery-chain were closed down following raids conducted by food safety inspectors here on Tuesday.

According to officials, they organised the raid after they received a complaint from the Accountant-General’s Office. Here, sandwiches brought from the bakery’s outlet inside a retail store at Statue were being served during a conference and the bread was found to have fungus on it, a food safety inspector said.

Inspectors visited the bakery’s production centre at Vanross Junction. They alleged that it was functioning in a very unhygienic environment, citing examples of food being laid out without any netting or protection against pests or contamination.

Officials said a few freezers were not working and that bulk of the meat and vegetables found here was unfit for consumption. The outlets at Bakery Junction and Kowdiar were also inspected. Food safety inspectors said they found cakes and pastries marked with expiry dates that extend their natural shelf-life. Artificial preservatives were being used to do so, they said. A report has been submitted to the Food Safety Commissionerate.