Noida: Food Dept cracks down ahead of Diwali; unsafe sweets and snacks seized

Noida, Oct 8 (IANS) With the Diwali festival round the corner, the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department in Gautam Buddh Nagar has launched an intensive inspection drive to ensure that consumers receive pure and safe food products.

Under the directives of District Magistrate Medha Roopam, departmental teams have been actively conducting raids at various establishments to ensure the quality of sweets, snacks, and beverages being sold in the markets.

Assistant Food Commissioner, Sarvesh Mishra, said that a team of officers led by Chief Food Safety Officer Virendra Dwivedi raided Rama Shankar Sweets Manufacturing Unit located in Sector-115, Noida.

During the inspection, the team discovered that sweets meant for supply to rural areas were being produced in unhygienic conditions, he added.

A large quantity of contaminated sweets was seized from the unit, including boondi laddus, mohan barfi, mohan cake, mohan peda, patisa, and kachchi barfi.

A total of six samples were collected for laboratory testing, while approximately 1100 kilograms of contaminated sweets were destroyed on the spot, officials said.

As part of the same campaign, a team comprising food safety officers Mukesh Kumar, Malti, Vishal Gupta, and Vijay Bahadur Patel inspected Virendra Namkeen Bhandar in Lakhnawali, Surajpur.

During the raid, 38 kilograms of namkeen (savoury snacks) were seized, and one sample was collected for testing. A sample of peda was collected from Ramashish Sweets located in Chuharpur Khadar.

In total, eight samples were collected from various establishments and sent for laboratory testing. Mishra stated that this campaign will continue until Diwali, as per the instructions of the District Magistrate.

He also clarified that strict action will be taken against establishments found to be producing or selling substandard or unsafe food items.

The department aims to ensure that, during the festive season, residents of the district have access to only pure, safe, and high-quality food and beverages.

--IANS

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