NEW DELHI,
More manpower needed to carry out checks at sweet shops this festive season
The Delhi government’s Food Safety Department is reeling under staff shortage at a time the festive season is on and the department is intensifying checks on suppliers to check for substandard food items.
During Diwali, when the production of dairy products especially sweets is scaled up, inspections across sweet shops are more intensive to crack down on adulterated food items. The chances of using substandard products increase at this time.
“There are currently 12 food inspectors against 32 posts. There is acute staff crunch as we have to conduct inspections across the city. We are trying to cover as many areas as possible through the resources that we have,” said a senior official, Food Safety Department.
Even though the proposal for fresh recruitments was put forward in 2013, the posts yet remain to be filled.
Food analysis is also being carried out for packaged items like chocolates from across brands.
“The focus is on analysing the khoya which is often of poor quality,” said the official.
The department has increased vigilance in checking quality of sweets for the past two months. “Sweets are manufactured in huge scale before Dussehra and stacked in shops.
So the checks were stepped up for almost two months now. But the inspections will be made more intensive this week onwards,” said the official. With shortage in milk during the festive season, the quality of products fall.
Till now, inspections have found that at least 30 per cent of food suppliers and shops have been found flouting the basic standards of food quality. Suppliers found giving sub-standard items have been given warning.
The Food Safety Department has now also decided to come up with food safety kits after several food chains and local sweet shops complained they cannot track retailers supplying substandard items. The government is likely to emulate the model of Gujarat Food and Drug Control Department in which it will roll out these kits for commercial and personal use.
More manpower needed to carry out checks at sweet shops this festive season
The Delhi government’s Food Safety Department is reeling under staff shortage at a time the festive season is on and the department is intensifying checks on suppliers to check for substandard food items.
During Diwali, when the production of dairy products especially sweets is scaled up, inspections across sweet shops are more intensive to crack down on adulterated food items. The chances of using substandard products increase at this time.
“There are currently 12 food inspectors against 32 posts. There is acute staff crunch as we have to conduct inspections across the city. We are trying to cover as many areas as possible through the resources that we have,” said a senior official, Food Safety Department.
Even though the proposal for fresh recruitments was put forward in 2013, the posts yet remain to be filled.
Food analysis is also being carried out for packaged items like chocolates from across brands.
“The focus is on analysing the khoya which is often of poor quality,” said the official.
The department has increased vigilance in checking quality of sweets for the past two months. “Sweets are manufactured in huge scale before Dussehra and stacked in shops.
So the checks were stepped up for almost two months now. But the inspections will be made more intensive this week onwards,” said the official. With shortage in milk during the festive season, the quality of products fall.
Till now, inspections have found that at least 30 per cent of food suppliers and shops have been found flouting the basic standards of food quality. Suppliers found giving sub-standard items have been given warning.
The Food Safety Department has now also decided to come up with food safety kits after several food chains and local sweet shops complained they cannot track retailers supplying substandard items. The government is likely to emulate the model of Gujarat Food and Drug Control Department in which it will roll out these kits for commercial and personal use.
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