Feb 23, 2018
Halal or Not: FSD says ‘dressed chicken halal, not happy with hygiene’
Srinagar, Feb 21: Food Safety Department has given an ultimatum to the traders for arranging refrigerated vans to import dressed chicken, even as they claim having no doubts about the birds being slaughtered in a halal way.
Commissioner Food Safety Department, Hilal Ahmad Mir, told The Kashmir Monitor that he has asked his department to issue an order for the sellers to procure these vans within seven days.
“We have been busy with the court directions to seal the unlicensed dealers in the Valley. But I already communicated to my officials about the issue. I have learnt that the dealers have demanded two days for procuring these vehicles,” he said.
Mir, however, challenged the laboratory report that stated the dressed chicken imported to Kashmir may not be halal.
“I have confirmed it and saw the Food Standards Safety of India reports that the chicken was slaughtered in a halal way. Besides, bacterial load is always in chicken, even in the one we slaughter at home. It gets cleaned with cooking,” he said.
He said his only apprehension was related to the hygiene, especially when the temperature rises.
“It takes these dealers enough time to transport the chicken from New Delhi to Srinagar. So, as temperature increases, there may be chances that it will be infected if it is not transported in refrigerated vans,” he said.
Mir said they would collect the chicken samples once more to check the level of hygiene.
The sellers, meanwhile, claim that the government’s failure to set up a mandi has prevented them from setting up cold storages here.
They said there was no announcement from the government over the subsidy for buying refrigerated vans.
“We are ready to buy refrigerated vans, but where will we store the chicken and fish? The government has failed to establish the fish mandi here even when the funds for the same has been approved,” President Srinagar Wholesale Fish Dealers Association, Waqar Ahmad Dar, said.
The association countered the Department of Animal Husbandry’s claims that the chicken supplied here was not halal.
“We are ready for laboratory tests for the chicken and fish. Animal Husbandry Department actually wants to sabotage this trade. They are being used by the local poultry owners to issue such orders and decrees against us,” Dar said.
KMC drive on packaged drinking water continue, shocking results revealed
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) continues its food safety drive against unlicensed water packages which are allegedly responsible for the diarrhoea outbreak in the city.
The civic body has seized dozens of packaged water containers sold by unlicensed vendors across the city which includes names of renowned brands.
The civic body health officials along with food safety officers and the enforcement branch of the Kolkata Police are conducting several drives across the city seizing packaged water that are sold by unlicensed vendors, at times with labels of known brands.
After the diarrhoea outbreak, KMC had collected around 200 water samples which include samples from packaged water-mostly 20- 30litres containers- that were being sold in diarrhoea affected wards.
As per information shared by the KMC, some of the seized containers revealed renowned brand names that sell mineral water in the market.
The tests carried out on the water samples revealed presence of Coliform bacteria in high amounts, as confirmed by health officials According to the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Praveen Kumar Tripathi : “Several brands of such packaged water containers have been recovered from areas of Anandapur, Kasba, Netaji Nagar and Tiljala.
The water samples have been collected and will be tested in the KMC laboratories.” The unlicensed water vendors are apparently manufacturing and selling these packaged containers across the city in places such as Baghajatin, Ranikuthi, Kasba, Jadavpur and several others. It was observed that these vendors often collect the water from the ponds or use tap water to fill up the containers.
Following which, these packages are labelled and sent to the markets for sale. The water, allegedly, is rarely treated or purified before bottling. Meanwhile, tests conducted on KMC supplied water revealed high amounts of chlorine which is considered to be detrimental to human health, as stated by health experts.
The civic body after the diarrhoea outbreak had reportedly increased the amount of chlorine used to purify the water at the treatment plant, as stated by an engineer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)