Meerut: With Diwali being a few days away, the Food Safety and Drugs Administration (FSDA) is already on its toes to make sure that the city residents don't fall prey to adulterated sweets and other food items consumed during the festive season. A team of five officials will conduct surprise inspections at shops in rural and urban areas to check adulteration and the sale of expired products.
The anti-adulteration drive is set to continue till November 15. "A five-member team of the food department is conducting regular checks by sending suspicious food items to the laboratory for testing. If any sub-standard or unsafe food item is found, the person will be dealt with as per rules," said JP Singh, chief food safety officer.
Though samples of the suspicious food items will be sent to Lucknow's food testing lab to avert any possibility of manipulation at the city-based lab, if the samples look too suspicious they will be sent to the latter and an immediate report will be sought. The reports from the city-based lab can be obtained in 48 hours and action can be taken soon after, said Singh.
The FSDA officials are keeping a close eye on milk, ghee, paneer and milk-based sweets, which they say are the main food items that are found adulterated. "The food items are preserved and sent to Lucknow by means of courier. The result will reach us within 20 days," said Singh.
Customers can file complaints related to food adulteration with the department anonymously as well. It should be noted that if any city resident is apprehensive about a certain food item that he or she has already purchased, then they can send it for testing to the food department personally and, if found adulterated, a complaint can be filed anonymously. The sample may be submitted by depositing Rs 1,000 and if found adulterated, a complaint can be filed with FSDA officials. One can even test the food items at their homes as directed in the manual available at the FSDA office.
"We are focusing mainly on sweets, milk products and cooking oils to keep adulteration under control. Almost every year, people fall ill after consuming food items so we are making sure that no such incident happens this time," said Singh.
Though samples of the suspicious food items will be sent to Lucknow's food testing lab to avert any possibility of manipulation at the city-based lab, if the samples look too suspicious they will be sent to the latter and an immediate report will be sought. The reports from the city-based lab can be obtained in 48 hours and action can be taken soon after, said Singh.
The FSDA officials are keeping a close eye on milk, ghee, paneer and milk-based sweets, which they say are the main food items that are found adulterated. "The food items are preserved and sent to Lucknow by means of courier. The result will reach us within 20 days," said Singh.
Customers can file complaints related to food adulteration with the department anonymously as well. It should be noted that if any city resident is apprehensive about a certain food item that he or she has already purchased, then they can send it for testing to the food department personally and, if found adulterated, a complaint can be filed anonymously. The sample may be submitted by depositing Rs 1,000 and if found adulterated, a complaint can be filed with FSDA officials. One can even test the food items at their homes as directed in the manual available at the FSDA office.
"We are focusing mainly on sweets, milk products and cooking oils to keep adulteration under control. Almost every year, people fall ill after consuming food items so we are making sure that no such incident happens this time," said Singh.
