Food safety officials raid eateries, take samples

hesh Sharma

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 10

The administration has started checking non-compliance of guidelines of the Food Safety Act and violation of various sections of the Municipal Act regarding maintenance of proper hygienic conditions at various establishments engaged in preparation of food items and catering services at Ahmedgarh and surrounding localities.

Teams of senior functionaries of the Food Safety Department, Sangrur, and the Municipal Council, Ahmedgarh, raided eateries, restaurants and workshops engaged in preparation of sweetmeats of various kinds and took at least five samples for verifying purity and safety of various eatables, including milk products.

Action will be taken against the owners of those establishments who had downed shutters to avoid inspection and sampling on Wednesday.

Investigation revealed that teams of officials of the civic body and the District Food Safety Department had conducted raids at establishments at Gandhi Chowk, Railway Road, Chaura Bazar and Main Bazar localities which are engaged in preparation and supply of eatables, including sweets, ghee, khoya, paneer and other milk products.

Ahmedgarh SDM Vikramjeet Singh Panthey supervised the teams, led by executive officer Chander Parkash and food safety officer Divya Goswami.

Maintaining that the crusade had been launched under the Mission Tandarust Punjab to ensure supply of hygienic and safe food items, SDM Vikramjeet Singh Panthey said action had been initiated against those owners whose goods was suspected to be hazardous for human health. “Besides sealing samples of eatables for checking of purity and safety, we have initiated action against those vendors who were found preparing eatables in unhygienic conditions,” said Panthey, adding that officials had been asked to ensure that periodic medical examination of all workers was done. Panthey asserted that nobody would be allowed to play with health and life of consumers.

Assistant Commissioner, Food Safety Department, Ravinder Garg said legal action would be taken against those whose food samples fail purity test. “Though I am yet to receive a detailed report on today’s raids, we have advised officials concerned to ensure that strict action is taken against those violating the Food Safety Act,” said Garg, maintaining that improvement notices would be issued to those establishments whose performance was found on threshold.