Jul 18, 2018
Food safety officers appointed
Eight Food Safety Officers have been appointed for Virudhunagar district.
The jurisdiction of seven municipalities and 11 panchayat unions have been revamped to six municipalities and two panchayat unions. People can alert and lodge complaints about food adulteration and serving of eatables under unhygienic conditions in this district to the Food Safety Officers.
New food safety officers
District Collector S. Prabhakar said that new food safety officers have been appointed in the district and asked the public and food business operators to contact them for clarifications.
Officials include K. Ravi – Erode City 1 (97503-69495); S. Selvam – Erode City 2 (89733-20229); E. Govindaraj – Erode City 3 (94430-11687); M. Muthukrishnan – Bhavani Municipality, Erode block (77080-90043); S. Kulandaivel – Gobichettipalayam municipality (99765-88656); P. Neelamegam – Punjai Puliyampatti municipality; Bhavani Sagar (98429-12322); N. Sathishkumar – Nambiyur block (73730-20734); C. Manoharan – Perundurai block (99445-19671); P. Ezhil Sekiya Raja – Kodumudi block (98656-89838); A.A. Palanisamy – Modakurichi block (93855-69322); M. Lakshmi – Bhavani, Ammapet block (95005-28466); M. Kodeeswaran – Anthiyur block (98433-58056); S. Selvakumar – Talavadi block (73731-78787) and M. Sakthivel – Gobichettipalayam and T.N. Palayam blocks (90956-02246).
Formalin found in samples
Fish in a few hotels have tested positive; vendors alerted
A few samples of fish lifted from a couple of hotels in the city have tested positive for formalin.
Hotel industry sources, which confirmed the findings, said they had informed their vendor, and had asked him to check with his source. “We returned the contaminated fish and have asked him not to source from that person again,” the sources said.
Most hotels have tie ups with laboratories or have in-house testing facilities to check for quality of items used in cooking.
A source at one laboratory said that of 30-odd samples collected, 5 to 6 showed traces of the chemical. While the kits may not work below a particular level, even traces are enough to confirm the presence. “The standard is that formalin should be absent in fish,” said a source.
On watch
After reports of formalin in fish surfaced, hotels have been on the watch.
“We have not found any chemical content so far in the fish that we buy. We are taking daily samples and checking at our in-house facility. We have educated our vendor about the dangers and asked him to be careful while making purchases,” said a hotelier. However, none of the 19 samples lifted by the Food Safety Department tested positive for formalin at their lab in Guindy, authorities claimed.
Note issued
Meanwhile, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has issued a note.
It has advised consumers to thoroughly wash fish with running water since the chemical is soluble in water and washing will aid the removal of the chemical to a large extent.
It also said that formaldehyde was not permitted as per the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011.
Stale meat, biriyani seized from hotels, destroyed
Stale poultry meat and biriyani, along with soft drinks stored beyond their date of expiry, were seized by Food Safety Officials from two hotels in Charring Cross here on Tuesday and destroyed.
Officials said that a team, led by Designated Food Safety Officer Karunanidhi, along with Food Safety Officers from the Ooty, Coonoor, and Gudalur municipal areas, D. Nandakumar, S. Govindaraj and S. Senthil Kumar, inspected six hotels in the Charring Cross area on Tuesday, as part of a routine exercise.
However, the officials said that they found that chicken and biriyani at two of the hotels had been prepared a few days ago and had been stored inside a freezer to be reheated and sold to the public.
They seized 15 kg of chicken and 5 kg of stale biriyani from the two hotels and destroyed the items. They also destroyed around 20 litres of soft drinks which were kept in the stores beyond their date of expiry. They warned the hotel owners of stern action, including cancellation of their licence if the offence was repeated.
Comply with food safety norms’
Amritsar, July 17
In order to make hoteliers comply with the safety guidelines under “Tandarust Punjab” mission and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India guidelines, the health department is sending messages to the owners on daily basis on their phones.
District Health Officer Dr Lakhbir Singh Baghowalia, the brain behind the idea, said, “We send a message every morning in which we remind them about how many days are left to comply with the instructions.”
Earlier, the department in a meeting chaired by deputy commissioner and attended by hoteliers asked them to comply with the food safety guidelines within seven days.
“The purpose is to keep reminding the hotel owners about the instructions so that they cannot excuse themselves from the liability later,” said Baghowalia.
“Under the mission, ensuring sale of hygienic food is one of the foremost targets. The hoteliers should also consider it as their ethical and moral duty to ensure good quality food is served to the customers as playing with someone’s health for a little money is immoral,” he added.
Food Safety officials raid restaurant
Collect samples of some dishes
Officials of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) conducted raids on Alfa Restaurant in the city and collected samples of some dishes.
They served notices on the restaurant management on poor hygienic conditions and for preserving meat for a long period.
The team led by Assistant Food Controller N. Purnachandra Rao conducted surprise checks on Tuesday, on the restaurant located in the city and other branch, being run by the same management.
They found chicken, mutton and other items preserved in the refrigerators in the restaurant.
“We collected samples of Chicken Tanduri and Chicken Biryani, which would be sent for testing,” said Mr. Purnachandra Rao.
Food Inspector G. Venkateswara Rao said that there was no food licence for the restaurant. The case is under investigation, Mr. Rao said.
Food inspectors recruitment: High Court impleads PSCs of Telugu States
PIL filed against unchecked incidence of artificial ripening of fruits
Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday suo motu impleaded the Public Service Commissions of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition to ascertain details of recruitment of Food Inspectors in the two Telugu States.
The petition seeking action by governments of the two States against usage of chemicals like calcium carbide for artificial ripening of fruits was heard by a division bench comprising Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice Ramesh Ranganathan. During earlier hearings, the HC observed that absence of adequate number of food safety officers was becoming a stumbling block in checking artificial ripening of fruits.
This was emboldening fruit merchants to indulge in indiscriminate usage of chemicals for ripening fruits, posing a health hazard. The HC sought to know the systems and hierarchy of food safety mechanisms in both the States.
On Tuesday, the Special Government Pleaders for AP and Telangana, D. Ramesh and Sanjeev Kumar respectively, submitted to the bench the strength of the Food Inspectors they had. They explained that the Food Inspectors were being recruited in the two States through their respective PSCs.
Lawyer Niranjan Reddy, who was appointed as amicus curiae by the HC for assistance in the matter, brought to the notice of the bench on Tuesday that the two States had been claiming about recruiting Food Safety officers for past several months. The same submissions were being made repeatedly, he said. On hearing both sides, the bench decided to implead the PSCs of the two States to ascertain details about the appointments of food safety officers before finalising the petition.
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