THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Food Safety wing is planning to take out state-wide raids under ‘Operation Ruchi’ for checking the use of pesticides in fruits and vegetables and adulterants in other food items. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will also convene an inter-state co-ordination committee meeting on pesticide-ridden fruits and vegetables in Thiruvananthapuram on July 21, Health Minister V S Sivakumar has said.
The July 21 meeting will review the status of pesticide presence in agricultural produce against the backdrop of various preventive measures taken by the state government, Sivakumar said. ‘Operation Ruchi.’ will cover vegetable shops, bakeries, restaurants, super markets and hyper markets. The decisions were taken at a high-level meeting on Wednesday. Packaged food items, edible oils, milk and packaged drinking water will come under the scanner. The government is also planning to hold district-level awareness camps before July 10 and at the Assembly constituency level, headed by MLAs, during July and August.
The report submitted by a Food Safety fact-finding team from Kerala which visited farm lands in Tamil Nadu had been submitted to the Central Advisory Committee, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, on June 4. At the same meeting, the committee had asked the Food Safety Commissioner, Tamil Nadu, to submit a report. Health Secretary Dr K Elangovan, Food Safety Commissioner (in-charge) K Anil Kumar, Health Department director Dr S Jayasankar and other officials were present at Wednesday’s meeting.
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