‘Show cause notice must before sealing food units’

The Designated Officers under the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006 cannot seal a business premises without issuing a show cause notice and conducting an enquiry into alleged violation of the legal provisions, the Madras High Court Bench here has said.

Justice M. Venugopal made the observation while issuing an interim direction to the Designated Officer in Virudhunagar district to unseal a private firm involved in the trade of coriander powder (Dhania). The building was sealed on December 17 on a charge of violating food safety rules.

Agreeing with the petitioner’s counsel, R. Gandhi, that sealing the premises all of a sudden would deprive the owner as well as the workers of their livelihood, the judge said it was essential to follow the principles of natural justice in every matter that might lead to civil consequences.

“The affected/aggrieved party should be given prior notice, fair opportunity of hearing and also if need be a personal hearing… If any of them is found to be absent or wanting, then it is a clear case of arbitrariness, capriciousness and negation of principles of natural justice,” he added.

The judge also pointed out that in the present case, the Designated Officer’s December 17 order did not indicate that a prior notice was issued to the petitioner before sealing his firm on the basis of an inspection of the premises and collection of samples of coriander on the same day.

In his affidavit, the petitioner, N. Pugazhraj, contended that the FSSA authorised the officers only to seize the food consignment, and not to seal the entire business premises, if an analysis of the food samples showed signs of violations of the food safety rules.

Drive against milk adulteration in Srinagar

SRINAGAR: A team of Food Safety Officers of Drug and Food Control Organisation headed by Assistant Commissioner, Food Safety, district Srinagar intercepted various milk suppliers at Pantha Chowk and collected as many as 10 samples for analytical purposes.

Some milk suppliers were directed to change the containers in which milk is being ferried and to use only containers made of food grade material. They were further directed not to supply skimmed milk or any other kind of milk other than cow or buffalos milk otherwise action as warranted under FSSA will be initiated against them.

In addition 100 quintals of maida, which was carried in two load carriers was seized from two food business operators. The same was without the labeling requirements prescribed under FSSA. Samples of same were lifted for analytical purpose.

In the meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner Food Safety Srinagar has directed road side food vendors to keep the articles of food properly covered and protected from dust otherwise action under relevant provisions of law will be taken against them.

Paan kiosks sell bootlegged beer

The bottles come without any manufacturer address and no one can guarantee the quality of the drink.

A kiosk at Sarai Kale Khan displays Kingfarmer beer, a locally made alcoholic beverage sold under no supervision and without taking a licence from the concerned government department.

Visit Sarai Kale Khan and you may just come across Kingmiller, Kingfarmer, Borg 100 and Haywards 500 at any regular kiosk selling soft drinks and chips. Sounds familiar? Well, they are the cheaper versions of popular beer brands Kingfisher, Tuborg and Haywards 5000 and are easily available in this corner of Delhi.

When The Sunday Guardian visited the area, at least 15 such kiosks were selling beer packaged in bottles that resembled the bottles belonging to well known brands like Tuborg and Kingfisher, but the content inside these bottles have been made at local breweries located on the outskirts of the city.

These beers are produced and not sold under any government supervision and without taking any licence from the concerned government department.

According to one of the shopkeepers selling these beers, the local liquor is mostly supplied by bootleggers from Bawana in North West Delhi and was made for the consumption of the "low-income group".

Dissuading this correspondent from buying the beer, the shopkeeper said that he was not going to take any guarantee of the quality of the beer. These beer bottles were being sold for Rs 60-70 and with a little bargaining the price could go down to Rs 40-50.

Ironically, despite the presence of a posse of policemen, who were patrolling the exit of the Nizamuddin railway station and a police chowki in the vicinity, none of the sellers made any efforts to hide the beer bottles that were openly displayed at the kiosks and the stalls to gain the maximum attention of the numerous passers-by.

According to one of the auto drivers, Ramesh, such beer was generally bought by the migrant labour as everyone else was aware that "fake" beer may some day result in a hooch tragedy. "There is no address of the manufacturers on the bottles and I am sure that no rules are followed during its manufacturing. The local shops sell these beers as they are offered a huge margin by the manufacturers and they do not have to take any permit from the excise department to stock the beer", he said.

Another auto rickshaw driver said that they (auto rickshaw drivers) do not buy these beers because of safety reasons.

"We do not know what is mixed in it. I once tried one of these about two years back and after that I fell ill for four days and was hospitalised. Ever since, I never buy them and also ask my passengers not to buy these beers", he said.

On being asked about these beers, officials from the excise department said stocking and selling of beer can only be done after taking the permission from the department and only those beers are allowed to be sold where proper licence has been taken from the government.

The officials added that they were not aware of the sale of such beer and promised action including confiscation and destruction of such beer.

It should be noted that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), an agency of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, regulates food safety norms in the country and is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety.