SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Oct 19: In the wake of Diwali, the state food safety department launched a special inspection of adulterated sweets across Jharkhand, especially in Ranchi, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur and Bokaro apart from other districts.
In Ranchi, the food safety team held a massive inspection and conducted on-the-spot tests of suspected sweets in a Mobile Testing Van.
The officials said that the inspection began from Lalpur Chowk and 30 suspected samples of Paneer, Khoya, oil and other edible items from over a dozen restaurants were tested. “In the on-spot test, the quality of Paneer of two restaurants was found to be bad in fixed standard and both the establishments were fined as per Food Safety Standard Act (FSSA),” an official said.
The food safety officer said that to maintain safety, all sweet outlets and restaurants have been strictly directed to mention the date of sweets for use and avoid selling Paneer, Khoya and other sweet items obtained from unknown resources.
In Dhanbad, food safety officer (FSO) Abhishek Anand inspected sweets outlets, restaurants, and hotels on GT Road (NH-2) and collected samples of suspected Khoya, Paneer and other sweet items for the test. The samples were sent to the State Food lab in Namkum, Ranchi.
The FSO said that on the directive of SDM Prem Kumar Tiwari (designated district food safety officer) on Tuesday evening, a special team inspected Govindpur GT Road-based Santosh Hotel, Gurukul Hotel, Subhash Hotel, Kanha Sweets, Gukul Sweets, Hotel BS and collected samples of sweets and snacks for the test.
“Besides samples of suspected adulterated sweets, the team also checked the food license, registration, and FSSAI No. of the trader selling the items,” said Dhanbad FSO.
The food safety wing of the health department has intensified the action against adulteration across the state after the Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) issued a notification regarding the recognition of Jharkhand’s Namkum-based State Food Testing lab last month for conducting legal tests.
In absence of the notification, the health department had to send important samples for test to Kolkata national lab.
