Nashik: Five officers of the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) of Nashik will take on the food adulteration business in the city before the month of Shravan, which marks the beginning of festivals.
While there are food stalls placed in every nook and corner of the city, the possibility of food adulteration and unhygienic practices is high. Hotels, dhabas and roadside kiosks serving stale food can spread bacterial infections like diarrhoea, indigestion, fever, throat infection, etc.
FDA officials said that shortage of staff is causing a hindrance in going all out against checking food adulteration and contamination.
An official, who did not want to come on record, said, "Our main role is to to check the food and water quality of all stalls and hotels. But, our time was wasted in petty clerical work, which gave us no time to visit food vendors, take samples and develop informants.
Further, the concerned officials did not have a government vehicle to carry out raids. They had to take a state transport bus to carry out raids in a taluka.
The officers have also experienced Gutkha smugglers after it was banned in the district. An official said that people with criminal records have entered the illegal trade.
With the month of Shravan approaching, FDA officials will intensify the action on vendors and hotels as the possibility of adulteration of food articles like Mava and edible oil is high.
The joint commissioner of FDA (Food), Nashik Division U S Vanjari said, "Despite the shortage of staff, we are continuing with our drive on a regular basis. We have checked around 20 hotels in July. Apart from this, 15 to 20 street vendors have also been checked. After Ganesh Chaturthi till December end, the action will be more strict as it is festival season."
With five food safety officers for the district, the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) of Nashik is toothless to take on the food adulteration business even as the month of Shravan, which marks the beginning of festivals, is around the corner.
As food and food articles sold in every nook and corner, the possibility of food adulteration is always high. Unhygienic practices in hotels, dhabas, road-side kiosks also lead to bacterial infections from the food articles served there which lead to ailments like fever, diarrhoea, indigestion, throat infection, etc.
Officials of FDA, Nashik, said though food safety was an important aspect as it was directly linked to the health of the people, the shortage of staff was not allowing the department to go all out against checking food adulteration, contamination, etc.
One of the officials who did not want to come on record said that their main role was to be on the field all the time to check food and water quality, wherever there were chances of adulteration, contamination, unhygienic practices, etc. However, there maximum time went in petty clerical works like filling the registrations, following up the issue with various offices, laboratories, attending court matters, etc. This left hardly any time with food safety officers to carry visit various vendor of food and food articles, take samples, develop informants, etc.
The officials said that felt paralysed further as they did not have any government vehicle to carry out raids and in case, they had to travel from one taluka to another, they had no other option than to take a state transport bus. An official said that after the ban of Gutkha in the district, people with criminal record had entered the illegal trade of smuggling Gutkha into the district. There have been two occasions in the recent past when Food Safety Officer have gone through the experience of bid on their life.
Meanwhile, since the month of Shravan is around the corner, FDA officials said that they would intensify the drive only during the period of Ganesh Chaturthi, when the possibility of adulteration in articles like, milk, milk products like Mava, edible oil, etc is more/
U S Vanjari, Joint Commissioner, FDA (Food), Nashik Division said, "Despite the shortage of staff, we are continuing with our action on a regular basis. We have checked around 20 hotels so far in the month of July. Apart from this, 15 to 20 street vendors were also checked in the city. The action will be more strict after Ganesh Chaturthi which will continue till December end considering the festival season."
No comments:
Post a Comment