Hoshiarpur DHO collects food samples

Hoshiarpur, March 27

To keep a strict check on adulteration of food items in the district, District Health Officer Dr Lakhvir Singh today collected 12 samples from four different food business operators (FBO) at different places in Hoshiarpur. All these samples were sent to the Food Testing Laboratory, Kharar.

The District Health Officer said he had collected samples of rice, lentils, turmeric powder and tea from More Retail Ltd; namkeen, burfi, dry fruit cake, pastry and biscuits from Bikaner Sweets and Choudhary Bakery; and burger and pizza from Dr Deo’s Pizza & Café. He said such checking campaigns would be constantly conducted in the district so that pure and clean food items could be provided to people. He said if any kind of negligence was found, strict action would be taken.

He also urged people to remain alert to adulteration and report it to them if they came across any kind of stale or adulterated food items being sold.

Dr Lakhvir Singh said registration or licence was mandatory for every FBO. The registration with an annual fee of Rs 100 was necessary for FBOs with annual sales of less than Rs 12 lakh. For FBOs with annual sales of more than Rs 12 lakh, the annual fee was Rs 2,000. He appealed to the FBOs to abide by the rules to avoid any trouble. He said adulteration would not be tolerated in the district at any cost and strict action would be taken against those playing with the health of residents under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.