Food items seized from 3 stores, restaurant

Ludhiana: The food safety team of the health department on Saturday carried out raids on the premises of several departmental stores and hotels, and seized different packets of curd and milk items in Samrala village. They also issued strict guidelines to different vendors and food stall owners to follow food safety norms effectively while serving food items to commuters.

The team issued notices to some food stalls after watching the unhygienic conditions in their premises. The district food safety officer Yogesh Goyal said under the supervision of district health officer Andesh Kang, three departmental stores, and a restaurant based on Samrala Road were inspected on Saturday morning. As many as 7 to 10 food items were collected by health officials, including curd, ghee, and other milk products.

Goyal said: “After collecting all the samples from different departmental stores, we delivered them to the state food inspection laboratory for testing. The district health team will charge heavy penalties to all culprits. We have also issued proper guidelines to all city-based vendors that they should avoid using the newspaper to wrap food items, and not use their hands to collect cash while serving food items to customers, as it could contain different bacterial infections, leading to serious health problems for customers. We have told them to instead use masks, gloves, and gown caps while preparing and serving food items.”