Health Dept team inspects shops in Kharar, Zirakpur

Mohali, August 9

Under the Mission Tandrust Punjab, the Food Safety Branch of the District Health Department carried out an inspection at various shops in Kharar and Zirakpur today.

Civil Surgeon Adarshpal Kaur and District Health Officer (DHO) Subhash Kumar said the team, led by food safety officers Lovepreet Singh and Anil Verma, collected four samples of packed edible oil from four shops. The team also inspected other edible items. The samples had been sent to a government lab in Kharar for checking.

Health officials said the drive, which started on August 1 and would continue till August 14, was launched to test trans fat and other parameters in edible oil.

Subhash said the drive to check the quality and durability of sweets, especially the “best before date” tag on the container/tray holding sweets, was already going on. He reiterated that the Food Safety and Standards authority of India (FSSAI) had mandated display of this tag from October 1, 2020.

The DHO said as per the norms, the tags must be affixed on the trays in every shop and shopkeepers were already informed about it by the Health Department. He asked the shopkeepers not to sell expired products and pay special attention to cleanliness. He said checking was not meant to harass anyone, but to ensure that clean and quality food items were made available to people.