Lizard, chameleon found in sweetmeat shop containers

Patna: Beware while buying sweets for Diwali.

Food safety officials on Thursday found a lizard in one container and a chameleon in another container of the ingredients used to prepare sweets at a workshop of 'Neelkanth Sweets and Bakery' located at R P S Mor on Bailey Road.

"We were aghast to see the lizard and the chameleon in the containers. There were spider webs all around the workshop at which the ingredients were not stored properly. While unhygienic conditions prevailed in the workshop, its drainage system was also flawed," an official of the raiding team said, adding the workshop was not even licensed.

Sources said the proprietors claimed to have applied for the licence.

"But they failed to produce the application receipt... If they do not produce the papers within two days, we will lodge an FIR against them," the official said and added 11 samples of suspected products and ingredients like 'maida' and 'besan' were collected from the workshop for lab tests.

The food safety team also raided 'Santushti' sweet shop in S K Puri on Boring Road and its workshop at Gandhinagar on West Boring Canal Road.

"A large number of insects were sitting on the sweets readied in the workshop for sale. We destroyed 50 kg 'rasgulla' because it was full of dead and alive ants," said another official.

Thirteen samples of sweets and ingredients were collected from these two licensed establishments for laboratory tests.

The raiding team consisted of Mukesh Kashyap, Sudama Chaudhary and Narayan Ram.

This was the second consecutive day of food safety wing's raids on sweetmeat shops ahead of the festival of lights which is also marked by the exchange of sweets by people. On Wednesday, the raiding team had sealed 'Quality Corner' on Boring Road after it found the shop operating in "extremely unhygienic conditions".

Food Safety department collect samples from sweet vendors

Samba, Oct 27: To ensure hygiene standards and adulteration-free sweets, the team of Food Safety Department officials raided several sweet shops in Samba and Ghagwal on Thursday.

Samples of various sweets Shops from Ghagwal and Samba were collected and sent for testing to the public health laboratory. Samples of sweets such as Laddu,Barfi,Gulab Jamun were sent for testing and team also destroy some sweets in Ghagwal.

The officers warned to the shopkeepers to clean their shops and display the rate list in front of the shops. The team also imposed fine Rs 2300 from the shopkeepers on the spot.

"On the Eve of Diwali complaint were received about few Shopkeepers selling adulterated sweets and not showing the rate list in front of the shops. The department team conducted surprise raid in various shops of sweet in Samba and Ghagwal and some sweets were destroyed on spot and sample collected for sending it to Laboratory for testing," said Rajesh Jamwal Food Inspector Samba.

Food Safety Officers inspect hotels

Imphal, October 27 2016: A team led by Imphal West Food Safety Officers inspected drive at hotels selling food items including meat shops in and around Imphal area today.

Apart from checking to see if the hotels are complying with safety norms under Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the team also inspected various hotels to ascertain they have obtained FSSAI licenses.

The team also directed some hotels to make mandatory changes under FSSAI within November 15 .

Officials informed that inspection drive will be conducted every now and then so that people can purchase food items without worrying about the safety and hygiene of the processed or manufactured food.

Since Diwali and Ningol Chakkouba festivals are approaching, number of sweets and other hotel manufactured food items consumers are increasing.

As such, it is necessary to make sure that people consume hygienic food items, they added.

The officials also urged the licensed hotels and meat shops to adhere to FSSAI norms.

Food Safety officials continue

UNDER CLOSE WATCH:Officials of the Department of Food Safety inspecting sweets at a shop on Bharathy Street in Puducherry on Thursday.

Ahead of Deepavali, officials from the Department of Food Safety on Thursday continued with their inspection of sweet and confectionery shops to ensure that there was no adulteration in the food items.

A number of samples were taken for testing of shelf life and use of colouring agents by the team led by I. Danaraju and Ravichandran, Food Safety Officers, and Balakrishnan, designated officer of the Department of Food Safety.

Owners were instructed to maintain hygiene and quality as per the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. Officials inspected raw material that were used in making sweets as well as the final products.The inspection was aimed at detecting the quality of sweets and whether non-permitted colours were used since there was a spurt in sales during the festive season.

Mr. Danaraju said that some outlets made use of used palm oil with refined oil and used non-permitted colours which were not allowed under the Food Safety and Standards Act.

The samples would be tested at the Food and Drugs Testing Laboratory here. If any adulteration was found, stringent action would be taken under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, he added.