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Health Department begins checks on roadside eateries

— Photo: C. Venkatachalapathy

AGAINST JUNK FOOD: Chairman of FEDCOT P. Duraisingam speaking at a Capacity Building Programme in Puducherry on Monday.

PUDUCHERRY: The Health Department has initiated regular inspections at roadside eateries to check maintenance of hygiene and cleanliness from last month.

Senior Food Inspector M. Chandrasekara Sastri said during a capacity building programme on Monday, the department had insisted on cooking in closed areas.

“We are enforcing the need to prepare food in a hygienic way. Any food should be prepared in an enclave,” he said.

Though in the preliminary stage, the department had started raids on eateries.

“In case of violations, we ask the eateries to discontinue. After the Food Safety Act is enforced, we can bring in stringent punishment for any violations,” he said.

A three-day Capacity Building Programme on Food Safety and Quality Control of Drugs was organised by Consumer Research, Education, Action, Training and Empowerment (CREATE) with the Federation of Consumer Organisation-Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry (FEDCOT), along with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare from May 11.

Mr. Sastri elaborated on the rules governing packaged food and labelling regulations during his talk on Food Safety-Systems of Labeling and Food Related Acts.

“A label is the index of the food inside a packet. The information on the label should not be false, misleading or deceptive. Nutritional information must be given,” he said.

Apart from this, the batch number and best before date should be mentioned, he said. “For edible oil, the packet should not contain the terms double-refined, super-refined or cholesterol-fighter. All these are exaggerated terms,” he said.

Chairman of FEDCOT P. Duraisingam said there was global campaign against junk food. “A ban on radio, television advertisements promoting food high in fat, sugar and salt content should be brought in. There should be no promotion of such food in schools,” he said.

FEDCOT would recommend the Central government to print labels on packaged food in the local language and print details on water bottles rather on separate labels, he added.

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