Health Dept raids sweets shops Issues directions to shop owners to adhere to guidelines on food safety

Chandigarh, October 11
In view of the festive season, teams of the UT Health Department today conducted raids at around a dozen sweets shops in the city and destroyed sweets and other items in quintals.
The drive was meant to issue directions to the sweets shop owners to adhere to the food safety guidelines else strict action will be taken against them.
The drive was conducted under the supervision of Additional Secretary (Health) SK Setia.
The health officials issued challans to the owners of two sweets shops in Mani Majra, including the owner of Panna Halwai and Shivam Sweets in Mani Majra after unhygienic conditions were found in their shops during the raid.
Raids were also conducted at sweets shops in Pulsora, Ram Darbar, Industrial Area and Darua village. A total of four teams were designated for the purpose to raid various sweets shops.
The team also raided Chandigarh sweets in Darua village and Aggarwal sweets in the same area.
Infected almonds were destroyed at Aggarwal Sweets and directions were issued to the owner to adhere to food safety standards. Barfi with excess synthetic colour and flies were also detected at various shops and instructions were then issued and sweets destroyed.
The team destroyed 15 kg ‘rasgullas’ and another 10 kg of sweets at the shops.
Around 50 kg of sweets, found to be cooked in unhygienic conditions, were also destroyed during a raid at Gobind Sweets in Ram Darbar.
As the festive season takes off, the Food Safety Cell of the UT Health Department is keeping an eye on all major sweet manufacturers in the city.
Under Epidemic Diseases Act, u/s 2, health officials are empowered to take immediate steps to ensure safety of residents by taking precautionary measures. Health officials are empowered to destroy food articles on-the-spot, which are exposed to dust and flies and prepared in unhygienic conditions.
The department has further warned the shop owners of action if they fail to maintain hygiene in future.
As per the Food Safety and Standards Act, cases of adulteration and labelling fall under the categories of substandard and misbranded food, while the use of synthetic and major adulterated products, including harmful chemicals fall under the unsafe category.
“The surprise checks will continue till the end of the festive season” said a food inspector.
CRACKING THE WHIP
Health officials issued challans to the owners of two sweets shops in Mani Majra.
Raids were also conducted at sweets shops in Pulsora, Ram Darbar, Industrial Area and Darua village.
The drive was conducted under the supervision of Additional Secretary (Health) SK Setia.

Special food adulteration drive on Karwachauth

Jammu, Oct 11 : A special drive was launched against adulteration in commonly used food items today, especially on the eve of Karwachauth by the team of Food Safety Officers of Jammu Municipal Corporation under the supervision of Health Officer Dr. Mohd. Saleem Khan. Teams inspected various food establishments like hotels, restaurants, provisional stores, food stalls, sabzi vendors, fruit Juice corners / vendors, tea stalls, ice cream corners, etc. in different areas falling within the limits of Jammu Municipal Corporation. During the round the team lifted 6 different kind of food samples and sent it to food analyst for analysis to ascertain its standard of purity. Al the food business operators were also directed not to sell any type of unhygienic food not conforming to prescribed quality & standards which can put the public health to danger, otherwise stringent action under Food Safety & Standards Act 2006 will be taken against the defaulters.

2 months on, majority of food vendors yet to be registered

Even as two months have passed since the deadline for food registration and licensing expired, more than 40% vendors in the district are yet to get registered under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which has been made mandatory for selling eatables.
The state government’s deadline of August 4, as notified to all district health officials, to assure the registration of food sellers has expired since. But several vendors are still unmindful to the registration.
Under the Food Safety and Standards Act, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has made it mandatory for all food business operators, including producers, processors, transporters or traders of food items, to get license and registration certificates.
A food seller with an annual turnover of up to `12 lakh has to pay `100 per year to get registered, while food business owners who have an annual turnover of over `12 lakh have to get license by paying `2,000 per annum.
It has been learnt that only 550 eateries have got licences in Kapurthala district while about 3,200 vendors got registered with the department.
To make easy the process of registration, the authorities concerned had recently started an online facility at the Kapurthala suwidha kendra to get registered instantly.
An applicant can also avail the online facility from his home by logging on to www.foodlicensing.fssai.gov.in’ and get registered. After this, the applicant has to fill the form for registration or issuance of licence and upload scanned copies of the required documents and submit fee.
In Kapurthala district, only 110 people have availed the online service since it was started.
Dr Guriqbal Singh, district health officer, said they are trying to get 100% registrations under the Food Security Act and the department has given 15 more days to those who have yet to get registered.
“We will wait till October 15 and then cases will be lodged with the chief judicial magistrate. Strict action will be taken against the defaulters,” the district health officer said.
Those who will fail to register their food outlets would face fine up to Rs. 6 lakh or six-month imprisonment, or both, he added.

Drive to check food adulteration by sweet shops

To check supply of adulterated sweets and milk items during the festive season, the Department of Food Safety will start a special checking drive from Monday. A team of four department officers will inspect manufacturing units of sweets and confectioners to check the purity of items prepared by them, said Dehradun Food Safety officer Anoj Kumar Thapliyal on Saturday.
Thapliyal said he has chalked out a plan for the festive season. The department officials will start conducting drive from October 13.
This will cover manufacturing units of sweets and shops. The officials will monitor preparation techniques and also keep a close watch over hygiene and precautions maintained by the manufacturers. The officials will be directed to take samples of milk and the milk by- products which are in great demand during the festive season.
During the festive season, the officers will be deployed at different places, including Vikasnagar Sahaspur, Chakrata, Doiwala, Dehradun city and Rishikesh.
After collecting the samples, they would send the food items to Food and Drug Testing Laboratory (FDTL), Rudrapur to have their purity checked. But as the machines meant for the purpose are not working for some time the State Government may send the collected samples to other states, including Himachal Pradesh, through the unit in Rudrapur, it is learnt.
Moreover, shortage of office staff and lack of vehicles with the department officials are negatively impacting the execution of the Food Security and Standards Act. Dehradun being the State capital and one of the big cities of Uttarakhand, the department needs at least 10 food safety officers to conduct the inspections in various manufacturing units. But only four officers are deputed to do the work presently. “Despite this, we would not be found wanting as far as implementation of the Act in the district is concerned,” he added.
Thapliyal further said that in the last one year, the department had collected 70 samples of food items from the restaurants, milk dairy, shops and other manufacturing units in the district, out of which around 30 samples were found to be unsafe or sub-standard or misbranded or containing extraneous things. The matter keeps pending in the court.
The penalty is being imposed on the food business operators who are manufacturing articles of food containing ingredients or substances which are not safe as per the said Act.
Department has issued 14, 00 licenses to the business operators whose annual turnovers are more than Rs12 lakh while around 6500 shopkeepers whose annual turnovers are less than Rs12 lakh got registered in the department.
The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 is enforced on all food business undertakings- profit, non-profit, public and private- carrying out any of the activities related to any stage of manufacture, processing, packaging, storage, import, sale, transportation and distribution of food.

Ajay Traders fined Rs 2 lakhs for adulterated oil seized on June 9

IMPHAL, October 11: The Court of Adjudicating Officer (Food Safety)/Additional district Magistrate Imphal East has imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh penalty against M/s Ajay Traders for violating food safety norms and adulteration of food products.
Ajay Traders owned by Mulchand of Thangal Bazar was identified as the owner of adulterated edible mustard oil and betel nuts worth around Rs 50 lakh seized by a joint team of the Food Safety and Narcotics and Affairs of Border from a private godown at Khambam Lamkhai consignment earlier on June 9.
According to an order copy released by the Adjudicating Officer (Food Safety)/ADM Imphal, Somorjit Salam, the proprietor of Ajay Traders has been directed to deposit the fine under the Health department within seven days from the date of passing the order failing which the amount would be recovered as arrears of land revenue.
The court also directed the concerned food safety officer to dispose of the seized items by ways of destroying at a suitable place and expenditure if any in disposing the seized items shall be borne by the M/s Ajay Traders.
M/s Ajay Traders, if it wishes to continue the business should get itself registered and licensed with the designated officer Food Safety Officer, Imphal East, stated the order.
And once the firm is registered, the ban imposed on their business will be lifted for operation, it continued.
The court said that based on facts and documentary evidence on record submitted by the Food Safety officers Imphal East, the proprietor of the Ajay Traders against whom a case has been lodged (case no. 01/AO(FS)/ADM (IE)-2014), under the Food Security Act, 2006 has committed offence of storing edible mustard oil in violation of Section 26(2)(i)(ii)(iii) & 5 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and also violated regulation 2.2.1(6) of Food Safety and Standards (Food products standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011.