DINAKARAN NEWS

Rotten chicken for sale

APMPDC Chairman P Prakash Naidu and APFC member Dr Swarna Geetha and other food safety officials during a raid on a chicken shop in Podili on Sunday

- Officers shocked when they found rotten chicken in deep freezers 

- Officials at Podili ask the officers to accept bribe

Podili: Andhra Pradesh Meat and Poultry Development Corporation Chairman P Chandra Dandu Prakash Naidu and Andhra Pradesh Food Commission member Dr Swarna Geetha and other food safety officials raided chicken shops at the Church Centre in Podili on Sunday only to get shocked to find rotten chicken in deep freezers being sold to customers.

The team found rotten chicken with feathers stored in the freezers for two to three weeks in the shops in large quantities and the shop owners are selling them to the customers after bringing the meat to room temperature. The officials seized the shops and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the owners. 

Dr Geetha said, “I am shocked to see the smelly chicken stored in the freezers for a long time. Any one eats that meat, they will definitely end up in a hospital. It is the responsibility of the shop owners to provide quality chicken for the price the customers are paying. We are also shocked with response of the officials at Podili. The tahsildar sent the VRO and the panchayat secretary blames us for not informing them about their arrival to their place. 

He reportedly asked them to leave the place after taking a bribe from the shop owners. “The officials and the shop owners are playing with the lives of the public and we are going to initiate action against them after discussing the case in the monthly meeting of food commission.”

RSS affiliate trains guns at FSSAI for baby food import, alleges violation

RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch has accused Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for collaborating with multinational companies to import food for the infants, which is not permitted under the law.

The Infant Milk Substitutes (IMS) Feeding Bottles and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1992, and amended in 2003, seeks to protect breastfeeding and bars promotional activities by baby food manufacturers.

The SJM, which works on economic issues and pitches for indigenous production, has raised concerns over allowing the import of infant foods by FSSAI under its ‘Diet 4 Life’ programme for infants suffering from Inborn Errors of Metabolism (IEM).

“There is a concerted effort by the FSSAI to subvert this definition and exempt certain ‘Foods for Special Medical Purposes’ from the provisions… of the Act in collusion with four major baby food corporations Nestle, Abbot, Danone, Mead Johnson. These companies have come in under the guise of an NGO called Infant and young child nutrition council,”Ashwani Mahajn, SJM’s national co-convenor, said.

FSSAI has refuted the allegation, and argued that IEM is a life-threatening condition that affects thousands of infants. “Without these foods, children would not be able to survive,” FSSAI replied.

On its decision to allow imports, FSSAI said the manufacturing capacity of the only Indian company making these product is well below the required demand.

However, this assertion is challenged by Dr Arun Gupta, central coordinator, breastfeeding promotion network. He said there is no data on the number of infants suffering from IEM.