DAILY THANTHI NEWS

DINAMALAR NEWS

Food business operators asked to ensure quality

Ahead of Deepavali, Collector M. Ravikumar has instructed food business operators to ensure quality. With just eleven days left for the festival, eateries selling sweets and bakeries are busy preparing several varieties. All food business operators should get registered and obtain licence from Food Safety Officers under Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA). The packed food items should mandatorily possess labels mentioning its name, full address of manufacturer, manufacturing date, shelf life and expiry date and should be categorised as vegetarian or non-vegetarian, he said here on Thursday. Consumers should look for these details while buying food products. The ready-to-eat food items should be covered properly so as to keep them free from flies. For any complaint, consumers could reach the Designated Food Safety Officer, FSSA and stern action would be taken against violation of norms, the Collector said. 

M. Jagadis Chandrabose, Designated Food Safety Officer, said that as many as 17, 659 food business operators, including 13, 696 private units and 3, 963 government enterprises, were functioning across the district. Out of them, 8, 194 operators, whose annual turnover was below Rs.12 lakh, had registration certificates and 962 operators, whose annual turnover was above Rs.12 lakh, had obtained licences from food safety officers.

200kg of adulterated tea seized

TRICHY: Despite repeated seizure of adulterated tea in the city, the harmful powders continue to thrive in shops that are situated on the border villages of the district. On Friday, officials of the food safety wing seized 200kg of adulterated tea powder from two tea shops in Lalgudi Bus Stand and Pullambadi Bus Stand. However, the manufacturers of such adulterated tea powder still elude the officials.

"During our visit to those areas, we checked the tea powders delivered by an unidentified person in both the areas. The tea powder was of inferior quality. The spot test confirmed adulteration in the tea powder. However, we are yet to get the results from the lab to confirm whether colouring agent mixed in the powder is harmful. If it is found harmful, the shop owners will be prosecuted," Dr A Ramakrishnan, designated officer (DO) told TOI.

Officials said the total seizure of adulterated tea powder in the city was around 500kg this year on a rough estimate.

"Today's (Friday) was the major catch of this year. Normally, we seize tea powders in small quantity from tea shops. The shop owners are not aware of the key persons behind the manufacturing of the adulterated tea powders. In today's (Friday) case also, we got a mobile number of the supplier but it remained switched off," said the DO.

Going by the previous seizures, the adulterated tea powders were made of used tea powders and colouring agents.

The manufacturers of adulterated tea powders mainly target rural areas of the district to avoid getting caught by the officers. Moreover, rural people are not aware of the consequences of consuming adulterated tea. Officials caution that continuous consumption of tea made of adulterated tea may lead to cancer.

"The adulterated tea powder has carcinogenic agent which can cause cancer. So, the consumers should be cautious about the colour of the tea. It is advisable to avoid tea in dark colour," said Dr Ramakrishnan.