Gutkha worth ₹14.43 lakh seized from godown in Turbhe

Special squad, FDA officers conduct joint raids

The special squad to curb drug menace in Zone I, along with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials seized gutkha worth ₹14.43 lakh from a godown in Turbhe on Wednesday night.

Police officers from Zone I, who were on patrolling duty, had received information about gutkha being sold by one Vinodkumar Deepchand Jain (44) at his godown in Sector 22, Turbhe.

Accordingly, the officers wrote to the FDA and a joint raid was conducted on Wednesday night at shop number 3, Krishna Nivas building in Turbhe. The seized gutkha included Vimal pan masala and Mehek super pan masala.

Supplied to 20 shops

“The sale and consumption of gutkha and pan masala was banned in Maharashtra in 2012. This godown had stored a big quantity of gutkha and was supplying it to at least 20 shops across APMC, Turbhe and Koparkhairane,” said assistant police inspector Gangadhar Devde, attached to the special team.

In the last four months, the team has seized 202 kg ganja, ₹15 lakh worth gutkha, 45 gm heroine and 11 gm MD drugs, registered 52 cases of narcotics, and arrested 91 accused.

Following the raid, Mr. Jain was arrested as per relevant sections of Food Safety and Standards Act along with Sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc, with intent to commit an offence), 272 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale), 273 (sale of noxious food or drink), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

Health wing seizes 2.5 tonnes of fish

Check by rapid detection kits finds presence of formalin

The city Corporation seized a load of fish, suspected to be laced with formalin, brought from Mangaluru in the early hours of Thursday to be supplied to various markets in the city.

Nearly 2.5 tonnes of Threadfin bream (Navara or Kilimeen in local parlance), estimated to cost around ₹5 lakh, was seized from Pattom while the fish-laden truck was on its way to the Pangode fish market around 3 a.m.

Fine slapped

Corporation’s health wing officials detected the presence of formalin using the rapid detection kits developed by the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology.

The load was then shifted to the Corporation office and the agents were slapped a fine of ₹25,000.

The operation was undertaken by the Eagle Eye special squad constituted by the corporation to check sale of stale and chemical-laced fish in the city’s markets.

The health wing had confiscated 663 kg of formalin-laced fish and 1,122 kg of stale fish following raids on various markets two weeks ago.

Mayor K. Sreekumar told the media that the operation had put to rest the allegations that the civic body was going soft on fish importers and agents, while targeting fish vendors.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to practices that adversely affect public health. The sale of contaminated fish will not be permitted,” he said.

He added that the samples collected would be sent to the Commissionerate of Food Safety and the Public Health Laboratory for detailed examination.

The ongoing drive would be extended to all wholesale markets and shops that sold fish.

During festive season

The Mayor chaired a meeting of health officers and supervisors on Wednesday to devise steps to check the import of adulterated food products during the Christmas-New Year festive season.

Health Inspectors Sujith Sudhakar, Shaji K. Nair, S.S. Minu and G. Mithran, junior health inspectors Aji, Rajesh, Shaji M.S., Saiju and Keen S. Pavithran were part of the team that took part in the early-morning operation.

101 food samples tested in mobile vans fail quality standards

Chandigarh: Punjab government’s food safety vans, launched under the Tandarust Mission, have evoked a positive response across the state.

Of the 567 samples brought for testing by the public to these vans in October and November, 101 failed to meet the prescribed standards.

Tandarust Punjab Mission director Kahan Singh Pannu said mobile food safety vans are deployed on rotational basis in different districts. In October, a van was deployed in Hoshiarpur district where people brought 368 samples for testing, including 78 samples of milk and milk products, 49 of spices and condiments, 16 of water and beverages and 225 of sweets. Out of these, 40 failed the quality test.

Similarly in November, a food safety van was deployed in Ferozepur where 199 samples were tested. These included 60 samples of milk and milk products, 54 of spices and condiments, 20 samples of cereal and cereal products, 9 of salt and 56 of miscellaneous food items. Of these, 61 flunked the test.

Lauding the citizens for their support, Pannu said for on-the-spot testing of samples in the food safety vans, a nominal test charge to the tune of Rs 50 per sample was levied. After the analysis, the citizens were given certified copies of the report on the spot.