Considering the risk of adulteration in food products during the approaching Holi festival, the authorities in Dehradun have started conducting raids in various eateries and confectionery shops. Besides this, the department concerned has also sent samples of various food products to Rudrapur for testing. According to the district food safety officer Ganesh Kandwal, the administration started a special drive against adulteration during Holi from the first week of March. “We have formed six teams to keep a check on the food quality during Holi. The teams are regularly conducting surprise inspections in various sweet shops and restaurants and have collected around 30 samples of various food products,” stated Kandwal. He also informed that the administration has also issued more than half a dozen notices so far to the eateries and sweet shops which were running without proper license and registration. He also disclosed that the administration has also issued notice to one of the prominent eateries in Dehradun- Chai Sutta Bar which has multiple outlets here but lacked proper license and registration to run them.
Meanwhile, many local residents and confectionery shop owners have opined that the administration collects samples during festivals but their results fail to arrive on time. According to them, the sample collection is of no use if the result of an adulterated food product comes after its consumption by the consumers. Responding to this, Kandwal said that the samples are sent to a lab in Rudrapur and as per the protocol, the results must arrive within 14 days but sometimes the results get delayed due to certain reasons and the administration needs a lab report to take action in adulteration cases. However, he added that the administration regularly runs awareness campaign for consumers and they should also be attentive of their purchases during festivals. People should consume and buy food products from reliable stores, especially during the festivals when the chances of adulteration increase rather than experimenting on buying products from random new places, asserted Kandwal.
Monday, 22 March 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
