Chandigarh: Ahead of Diwali, food safety teams have intensified sampling of food products by daily collecting 100 samples on an average.
To check inter-district and inter-state transit of sub-standard sweets, paneer and khoya, special checkpoints have been set up across the state. Besides sampling, the food safety teams have also launched a drive to sensitise the food business operators (FBOs) about maintaining good manufacturing and hygiene practices.
Tandrust Punjab Mission director Kahan Singh Pannu said a special emphasis is being laid on the quality and quantity of the permissible food grade colours that may be used for the preparation of sweets.
The sweet shop owners have been instructed to avoid synthetic colours in the manufacturing of sweets and maintain proper hygiene during bulk preparation on their premises. They have also been asked to either prepare khoya for their requirement on their own or buy it from trusted sources with proper bills/invoices, said Pannu.
Inspections have led to conviction in six cases and fine to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore imposed in 850 cases on the erring food business operators.
More than 350 awareness camps have been organised to help FBOs improve the hygiene and quality of food products. The FBOs have also been sensitised to abide by the laws mandated under the Food Safety Act and the guidelines of FSSAI. They are also being made aware to procure necessary licence/registration.
In Punjab, there are over one lakh food business operators of which a large number are working without mandatory licence. For encouraging FBOs to apply for licence, the government has already launched an online initiative.
As per the norms, licence is issued to the FBO having an annual turnover above Rs 12 lakh, while registration certificate is mandatory for an FBO with an annual turnover under Rs 12 lakh.
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