Conduct at least 40 checks a month,Noida food safety officers told

The food safety and drug administration department of Uttar Pradesh has instructed the food safety department of the Gautam Budh Nagar district administration to conduct at least 40 checks every month at manufacturing units.

According to the order, every food safety officer (FSO) will have to conduct at least 40 checks every month which should include checking at least five manufacturing units, 15 licensed firms which have the turnover of 12 lakh or more and 20 firms whose turnover is below 12 lakhs.

The order also specifies that the inspection documents should have all the details of the case and the improvement suggestions should also be mentioned. The detailed report should be submitted to the concerned senior officials within three working days, the order said.

“The order came on January 1. Now, all FSOs will have to conduct at least 40 checks every month. We will also be focusing on canteens in the district to ensure that employees are served better quality food,” said Sanjay Sharma, a food safety official.

There are nine FSOs in the district and at 40 checks a month per officer, the FSOs are to conduct a total of 360 inspections every month, as per the new orders.

The food safety department of Gautam Budh Nagar had conducted surprise checks at various high-end restaurants and bars in the district on New Year’s eve as well. Officials said that they had taken at least 12 samples from various restaurants during the check as well as on customer complaints.

According to officials, samples from branded food outlets, restaurant and bars were collected from Mall of India, Noida Sector 18, Logix mall in sector 32 and from a restaurant of a leading hotel chain in Greater Noida.

Officials collected samples of sauces, milk, paneer, flavors and pasta.

“We had also conducted surprise checks at various up-market restaurants and bars in Noida and Greater Noida to ensure that people were served good quality food items. We have taken 12 samples. The samples have been sent for furthers tests to a laboratory in Lucknow,” said Sharma.

On December 25 last year as well, officials took samples of food flavors from a leading bakery chain in Delhi-NCR, which turned out to be expired. The samples have been sent for further investigation, they said.