DINAKARAN NEWS

Juice seller sentenced to rigorous imprisonment after food inspector seizes poor-quality pineapple from shop

Preetam Singh, 43, was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of one year along with a penalty of Rs 5,000 for selling juice made out of inferior-quality fruits in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

Juice seller sentenced to rigorous imprisonment in MP | Photo Credit: Thinkstock

Bhopal: In Madhya Pradesh's capital city of Bhopal, a juice seller was sentenced to a year-long rigorous imprisonment by a special court for using poor quality pineapple at his establishment. The court, instituted for the trial of cases pertaining to food adulteration also slapped a penalty of Rs 5,000 on the vendor and also confiscated sub-standard fruits from his shop situated near Habibganj Crossing.

The shop was known as Khalsa Juice Centre and was raided about 10 years ago by the then-food inspector Bhojraj Singh Dhakad. A charge-sheet was lodged against the accused 43-year-old juice shop owner Preetam Singh under relevant sections of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

A news report published by the Times of India said that Prakash Kumar Uike, Judicial Magistrate First Class held Singh guilty after observing that poor quality fruit juice was being served to customers, thereby cheating them. The court further observed that the substandard-quality juice may have had an adverse impact on the health of the customers. Maintaining the same, Singh was sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment.

This should most definitely come as a reminder to those in the catering business and food industry to comply with guidelines laid down by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, FSSAI, especially those who disregard the health and safety of their customers and go on to deceive them by providing goods and services processed out of low-grade raw material.

Vijaywada: Ghee-making unit 'using stale butter' raided

VIJAYAWADA: Food safety officials along with a vigilance and enforcement team raided a ghee-making unit on Friday, which is allegedly using stale butter to manufacture ghee. The unit is located at Nunna in the city outskirts. 

The officials seized about 40 tonnes of stale butter and 20 tonnes of processed ghee from the premises of Durga Agencies.

The officials also found that the premises of Durga Agencies was in unhygienic condition with cockroaches all over the place. The butter being used to make ghee was stale and stinking. Food safety assistant controller, N Purnachandar Rao, told TOI that the butter used in preparation of ghee was stale and past the expiry date.

Durga Agencies has a license to run the industry. It is marketing ghee under ‘Durga’ and ‘Kamadhenu’ brnad names. The industry is owned by P Krishna, who has two pending cases of similar nature against him, added Purnachandar Rao.

The officials collected two samples each of butter and ghee for laboratory test. Durga Agencies also makes curd sold in sachets of various sizes. They also collected samples of the curd.

Rao said they have served notices on the industry, seized the stocks and sealed the premises. Criminal proceedings will be initiated against the industry based on the lab findings.

95 kg stale food, farsan destroyed at garba venues

Vadodara: Health officials of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) conducted surprise checking at four different garba venues in the city. The teams checked over 160 food stalls during the drive.

VMC teams have been on a drive to check food vendors since about a week. After checking sweet and savoury shops, the teams focussed on garba venues in the city since Friday night.

On Friday, food safety officers checked 166 stalls in the city and destroyed 95kg food items there. The items that were disposed of included ‘batata vada’, chutney, momos, rice, samosas and cut fruits.