Vijayawada:The food safety department carried out a state-wide raid on hotels, restaurants and bakeries across the state on Thursday “to ensure compliance with food safety norms.”
Officials said there were complaints on use of banner colours in preparation of food and serving of stale food, lack of proper sanitation and hygiene in the preparation of food items, excess use of tasting salt that affects the health of consumers.
Significantly, officials did not reveal details, if any, of the action taken, except in one case.
The raids were also in the context of the mushroom growth of food joints across cities, selling especially non-vegetarian food, they claimed.
“We noticed that the entities selling food are not following the standard procedures in procuring raw materials.”
Taking advantage of the demand, food vendors procure raw materials including cooking oils of substandard quality and use them to prepare the food, officials said.
Food safety joint controller Poorchandra Rao said, “We are going to conduct a special drive to inspect the food joints to ensure compliance with food safety norms so as to avoid any health issues to the consumers.”
A team of officials inspected a hotel near Benz Circle here and noticed violation of norms and that it ran without mandatory permission for the last three years. The team seized food materials and sent them to the lab. The authorities served a show cause notice to the hotelier asking why it should not be ordered closed.
Bribe-taking by corrupt officials is seen to be the principal reason why food safety standards are not being maintained in eateries, posing a grave danger to the health of consumers.
