SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad: Nov 2: In the wake of Diwali, the district food safety wing of the Dhanbad administration conducted raids on 51 posh sweet shops across the district and collected samples of suspected adulterated items for a test at a recognized lab.
This was the first time the food safety wing of Dhanbad conducted raids on 51 posh shops at a time.
Besides the township-based establishments, the inspection of sweets was conducted simultaneously in all 10 blocks and circle areas by the teams of District Food Safety Officer (DFSO) and Block Development Officer (BDO) as well as circle officer (CO) in their respective jurisdiction for the first time.
District Food Safety Officer (DFSO), Aditi Singh, said that on the directive of SDM Prem Kumar Tiwari (the designated officer of Food Safety and Standard Act (FSSA), raids were simultaneously conducted in sweet shops of urban and rural places. Whatever items seemed to be adulterated, their samples were collected.
“In wake of Diwali and Chhath festival, raids were conducted to check adulteration in sweet items. Besides collecting suspected adulterated items, the team also checked FSSA license of the shop, the registration period, and sanitation condition of the shop, the packaging system, and the medical fitness of the shop and tested whether the stored sweet items were stale or expired,” said Aditi Singh who led the screening drive.
The Food Safety Wing raided Hirak Road-based workshops of Madhulika Sweets, Dadi Sweet, Mumbai Sweets Saraidhela and others in the township.
“We collected samples of Khowa, Ladoo and other suspected items. The samples would be sent to Central Food Laboratory, Kolkata for the test. The department would recommend for the action on the basis of lab reports if any item is found adulterated,” said Aditi Singh.
The Food Safety Officer said that the teams conducted raids on 7 shops each in Nirsa and Topchanchi. Six shops each in Dhanbad, Putki, and Kaliyasol, four shops each in Gyarah Kund, Govindpur blocks, three shops each in Govindpur, East Tundi blocks.
Within one month, this is the second time the Food safety wing has cracked down on adulteration. Last month, the team imposed a fine Rs 1.25 lakh on three posh food outlets for poor sanitation.
