May 4, 2018
Texting complaints on food safety on rise in city
Though the facility of registering complaints/grievances about adulteration of food products and inferior quality of food through WhatsApp/text message was introduced by the Tamil Nadu food safety and drug administration department in May last year, the initiative has picked up momentum in the city only recently.
Food adulteration, poor hygiene at roadside eateries and use of synthetic colours and essence in fruit juices/drinks are the most common complaints the city food safety department has been receiving through WhatsApp and SMS texts on its official complaints number.
The designated officer (DO) for Trichy district food safety and drug administration department, Dr Senthilkumar Ramakrishnan, said the general public had raised various complaints and the issues are constantly being addressed by the department. "We are getting complaints such as serving recycled food at restaurants, sale of expired food products and poor quality of packaged drinking water. We have been taking action on such issues swiftly," he told TOI. "We are also educating manufacturers and food vendors on how to maintain high food quality," Ramakrishnan said.
When a person sends a complaint, it is received by the food safety department in Chennai. It is forwarded by them to the designated officers of the corresponding districts and the officials are given a period of 24 hours to conduct inquiry and send a report back to the Chennai office. The report is also sent to the complainant.
Many of the complaints are about the poor hygiene of the roadside eateries and about the location of the shops. "We are receiving many complaints regarding the poor hygiene at roadside food shops," a city-based food safety officer said. He said if the corporation assigns particular spots to set up shops, it would immensely help improve food safety.
On the other hand, traders, manufacturers and eatery/juice stall owners said that they have been consistently working towards maintaining the hygiene of their eateries and the quality of food. But a section of them maintained that some of the rules and regulations were complicated to follow. The general secretary of Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangangalin Peramaippu, V Govindarajalu said, "Through our association, we regularly discuss about increasing the food quality. But we don’t necessarily agree with all the rules and regulations."
Food safety awareness stalls set up at three spots in Trichy
As a part of the state-wide summer awareness campaign organised by the Tamil Nadu food safety and drug administration department, stalls are being setup at three tourist spots in Trichy - Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam, Thayumanaswami Temple at Rockfort and Mukkombu.
In order to create awareness about food safety among the general public, an extensive campaign – stay safe and eat safe this summer – has been planned by the state food safety department and is set to be kick-started in a week.
The 20-day campaign would have stalls at the famous tourist spots across the state, where more people are expected to visit during the summer vacation.
At the stalls, volunteers and food safety officers would educate the public about the dos and don’ts regarding food safety during summer. "We would be mainly demonstrating the general public about how to identify adulteration in common household purchases," stated designated officer for district food safety and drug administration department Dr Senthilkumar Ramakrishnan.
Apart from the stalls, posters have also been put up in the tourist locations and pamphlets will be handed out to the public, both of which will have a list of advisories for consumers and manufacturers.
The posters will have a checklist for the consumers on purchasing juices/ice-creams, packed food products and eating at roadside stalls.
Model kiosk will also be put up at two spots in the city, which would give an idea to the general public and to those in the food business on what makes for an ideal food cart.
Police to produce seized gutka products in court
Coimbatore: A police team led by deputy superintendent of Karumathampatti sub-division Jayachandran on Thursday inspected the gutka sachets and raw materials seized from the illegal gutka manufacturing unit at Kannamapalayam village. They will be produced before the judicial magistrate court, police sources said.
Police had seized 3.24 lakh gutka sachets, more than 170kg of pan masala and a few gunny bags containing raw materials to manufacture the banned tobacco products. The unit was sealed and police personnel were deployed there.
Jayachandran and team opened the seal in the presence of a village administrative officer on Thursday and checked the seized contraband. “We could not complete the work. It will be continue on Friday. After the checking, we would produce the seized property at the court,” a senior police officers said.
Police will send the seized samples to the forensic science department and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). “We plan to take the manager of the unit, Raghuram, in custody for further investigation,” police superintendent Pa Moorthy said.
Meanwhile, a special police team from the city camping in New Delhi sought help from the Delhi police to trace the whereabouts of Amit Jain, the owner of the gutka manufacturing unit.
KMC conducts food safety drive
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Thursday conducted food safety drives in the city while BJP and Congress party workers had staged a protest near the civic body headquarters in relation to the carcass meat supply case.
The KMC on Thursday conducted food safety drives in several areas in the city, mainly in Esplanade and EM Bypass stretch. The health officials raided several shops including branded food chains and collected food samples.
Speaking on the matter,Mr Atin Ghosh, member mayorin- council (MMIC), health, said: “We have raided areas of EM Bypass and Esplanade where we collected several samples of meat products. Many of the products have also been destroyed. We will send the samples to state forensic department for further tests in the laboratories. It is a matter of food safety for citizens and we will take all necessary measures required to deal with the issue.”
An official of the health department stated that the food safety laws have to be made stricter as the ones under the FSSAI act aren’t strict as the ones under the IPC. The Enforcement Branch can deal with such food safety matters in stricter ways.
In responding to carcass meat being supplied from garbage dumps to markets, Mr Ghosh said: “The Dhapa dumping ground is safe as there are CCTV cameras installed there while biometric is needed to enter the premises. In addition to that there is a crematorium where such animal carcasses are burnt to ashes immediately hence eliminating chances of them getting outside the dump yard premises to the markets.”
The BJP party workers meanwhile staged a demonstration near the civic body headquarters and demanded immediate probe into such matters while blaming the civic body for not putting enough efforts to curb the menace. One of them demanded CBI probe into the matter.
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