Aug 26, 2017
Food safety dept lodges cases against 17 outlets
DEHRADUN: The food safety department registered cases against 17 shops and restaurant owners in Dehradun for keeping substandard quality food products. Cases have been lodged in the Additional District Magistrate court in Dehradun against the 17 outlets samples from where had been collected in the last three months.
Recently, oil sample collected from a major supermarket in Rajpur Road was tagged as substandard as it didn’t meet the required iodine percentage as mentioned in the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) guidelines.
Ganesh Kandwal, designated food safety officer in Dehradun, said, “Majority of samples that failed the guidelines were from smalltime shopkeepers, who generally do not maintain the cleanliness norm.” He added that the focus will remain on milk samples.
Said to be a significant drive of the department, collection and testing of samples are being affected due to the shoddy infrastructure. Unavailability of electricity, lack of staff at the Rudrapur-based food safety laboratory is causing a major hindrance to the drive.
A officer of the department said, “Even though we try to conduct raids and collect samples as per the set norms, the samples go stale after being kept in the laboratory for days together.”
Though the department has been provided with a special machine from Delhi for checking milk samples, there is still a need for a controlled environment and special arrangements for conducting the tests. Also, just one machine is not sufficient for the entire state.
Visakhapatnam: Hotels violate food safety norms
The food safety officials have raided seven hotels in the last two weeks based on the consumer complaints.
Visakhapatnam: The restaurants or canteens run at the government establishments violating the food safety and hygiene norms are facing the heat, not because of the food safety officials, but consumers who have become proactive in registering complaints. The food safety officials have raided seven hotels in the last two weeks based on the consumer complaints.
A consumer moved Consumer Forum against a hotel at Jagadamba junction for serving chicken kabab fried with substandard oil. As per the direction of the forum, the food safety personnel raided the restaurant and sent the sample for testing. The hotel’s kitchen was also in unhygienic condition. Similarly, a fast food counter at Siripuram was imposed fine as a consumer raised a complaint as he found a fly in the soup served to him. Moreover, a canteen run at the KGH hospital was also raided as some patients complained of poor quality of food. Samples have been collected from four hotels in Gajuwaka for serving stale non-vegetarian food.
“The restaurants we raided in the last two weeks are flouting the food safety norms such as serving stale meat and fish and not maintaining hygiene in their kitchens. We have sent the samples to food testing laboratory and will take action once the reports come in. Consumers can register their call or send email too. The awareness of consumers will help to check the bad practices of the restaurants,” said M. Srinivas, Food Controller at Food Safety department.
“The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has laid out mandatory guidelines for all restaurants and food establishments. Raw chicken should be kept inside the freezer while the cooked meat could be stored for one day. But, the restaurants have been keeping it for more than one day,” he said. “The restaurants should have storage rooms/deep freezer facilities and should be impervious to moisture, clean, free from pest infestation and well maintained. But, some restaurants are found storing the meat and meat products in a normal fridge,” he added. It is learnt that the popularity of ‘Take Away’ parcel food counters is also posing as health hazards for the consumers. Most of them are preparing the food else where and selling at roadside counters. The roadside non-vegetarian eateries are also seen keeping the fried chicken in polythene.
15 FBOs booked for sale of contraband tobacco
Port Blair, 25 Aug 2017
The team of Food Safety Officials led by the District Food Safety Officer, South Andaman, on Friday, raided several shops in the city on Friday at Haddo, Fisheries Jetty, Phoneix Bay, and Mohanpura market wherein a large quantities of contraband products were seized from 15 Food Business Operators (FBOs). The details of the FBOs who premises were inspected, closed and sealed are Hemawati, resident of Garacharma, Smti Hazara Bibi, resident of Phoenix Bay, Ali Baba, resident of Phoniex Bay, Velu, resident of Dignabad, Nathan, resident of Phoenix Bay Jetty, V. Naga Babu, resident of Haddo, Chinnamma, R/o Haddo, Mundrika Sahu, R/o Haddo, P. Venkata Laxmi, R/o Haddo and Uma Devi, resident of Aberdeen Bazaar. The contraband items were seized under the appropriate section of the Act and legal proceedings are being initiated against the offenders under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. Till now 15 premises have been sealed for the violation.
On Thursday, the team of Food Safety officials conducted surprise raids in Goalghar, Buniyadabad, Minnie Bay and Dollygunj on Thursday and seized huge quantities of contraband products from five Food Business Operators (FBOs). The FBOs whose premises were inspected, closed and sealed are Ramachandran, R/o Buniyadabad, S. Ramu, resident of Goalghar, Venugoal Pillai, resident of School Line, Paresh Karmakar, R/o Dolly Gunj and Smt S. Rabia, resident of Buniyadabad.
The Commissioner of Food Safety has warned the Food Business Operators not to store/stock/display or sale any contraband products in their premises and storage area and if the enforcement staff on their inspection if found any contraband tobacco products, stringent action will be initiated against the errant FBOs including sealing of premises and cancellation of licenses. The general public have been hereby requested to pass on contraventions found if any on food safety to the Commissioner of Food Safety, A&N Islands at No. 03192-231024/9434280018 or on District Control Room No. 1070 for strict actions against violators.
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