Firms booked for supplying substandard Atta under PDS

JAMMU, Aug 8: Teams of Food Safety, Food and Drugs Administration conducted surprise inspection of various manufacturing units and booked two firms for supplying substandard Atta under Public Distribution System (PDS).

According to an official spokesperson, on the direction of High Court to check food products manufacturing units, Commissioner Food & Drugs Administration, Vinod Sharma constituted special teams comprising of Designated Officers and Food Safety officers, Jammu Division, headed by Dy Commissioner Food Safety of respective Division.

The team conducted surprise checks and in the process, booked M/S Shalimar Flour Mills, Udhampur; Trikuta Flour Mills, Udhampur along with various other manufacturing units.

These firms are engaged in manufacturing and supplying Atta to Food Civil Supplies & consumer Affairs (FCSCA). Samples of PDS Atta and wheat were lifted from manufacturing unit M/S Shalimar flour Mills, Udhampur, which have been declared as substandard, misbranded and unsafe whereas sample of PDS Atta lifted from M/S Trikuta Flour Mills, Udhampur has been declared as substandard due to alcoholic acidity in excess of limit prescribed under FSS (Food Product Standard & Food Additives) Regulations 2011.

During surprise inspection of M/S Shalimar flour Mills, Udhampur, it was found that 1823 bags of Atta for supply to the consumers through PDS were lying in the store in very bad condition and even the date of manufacturing was not clearly mentioned on these bags. The store was sealed for investigation after taking one sample of Atta for testing, which has been declared as substandard and misbranded by the food Laboratory Jammu due to presence of moisture and alcoholic acidity in excess of prescribed limit, besides batch number , food license number and date of packing have not been mentioned on the label as per provision laid down under the FSS Regulations.

A sample of wheat was also lifted after seizure, which has been declared as unsafe and substandard due to presence of moisture ,foreign matter, damaged grain in excess of prescribed limit as well as hairs and rats faecal matter.

The samples were collected in presence of representative of FCSCA department and representative of manufacturing units. FDA will initiate further action in terms of Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.