Health Dept raids sweet shops, takes 10 samples

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 17

A team of officials of the food wing of the district Health Department on Thursday conducted an inspection of sweet shops in rural areas and collected 10 samples of various items from different shops. The team also destroyed 35 kg of sweets seized, which was found to be unhygienic, from a shop.

District Health Officer Dr Charanjit Singh said they had visited areas like Baba Bakala, Rayya and Khalchian. He said while people in urban areas were relatively more aware of the quality of food, those in rural areas never gave a second thought before buying poor-quality sweets.

Dr Singh said special attention was being given to rural areas so that the sale of substandard and unhygienic sweets during the festival season was checked. The team also issued instructions and notices to the erring shopkeepers where unhygienic conditions were witnessed.

“We would conduct a follow-up inspection to ensure that the shopkeepers follow the guidelines of Food Safety and Standards Act,” he said, adding that all workers at manufacturing units were required to be periodically examined for any communicable diseases.

The samples have been sent for testing to the Food Testing Laboratory. “Action would be taken against the shopkeepers whose products fail the quality test,” said Dr Charanjit Singh.