Inspections on eateries to continue
Food
safety offices will be opened in all 140 Assembly constituencies by June 30 to
strengthen the food safety and standards drive, Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar
said on Monday.
At a
review meeting of the food safety wing here, he directed the Commissioner of
Food Safety and the Director of Health Services to conduct continuous
inspections on eateries and street food corners and insist on strictly
complying with food safety and hygiene standards as the threat of food and
waterborne infectious diseases was high during the rainy season.
During an
intensive food safety drive across the State as part of the Food Safety Week,
the department inspected 917 food businesses and the licences of 27 were
suspended for failing to keep necessary safety standards.
Samples of
76 brands of edible oils, 18 brands of milk, and hundreds of samples of
mangoes, fruits, and vegetables were collected during the week for testing.
From June
2, special raids would be conducted around schools to prevent the sale of
tobacco products, adulterated sweets and candies, and nicotine-laced chewing
gum.
Nicotine-laced
candies were seized from a shop near a school in Kozhikode on Monday.
Adulterated
oil
The food
safety wing had also strengthened measures to check the flow of adulterated
edible oil from across the border into Kerala. Over 800 tanker lorries carrying
oil were checked by officials at the border check-posts in the past two weeks.
Mr.
Sivakumar also directed the Food Safety Commissioner to launch strict action
against juice shops which are found to be using commercial ice or water of
suspect quality.
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