The Commissionerate of Food Safety has completed its first round of summer inspections in the district, initiating legal action against 17 juice parlours and five ice manufacturing units where contaminated water was allegedly used for business.
The inspections, which began last Tuesday by a 10-member team, mainly targeted cool bars and soft drink production units in Kozhikode city, Vadakara and Koyilandy regions. Samples were collected from all the suspected shops and sent for detailed examination in the Regional Analytical Lab at Malaparamba.
Squad members said they served notice on several juice parlours during inspections in the Vadakara and Koyilandy regions where poor quality items had been found. A total of ₹20,000 was collected as fine within four days of the launch of the special drive, they said.
The department decided to conduct a summer special drive close to the heels of the warning issued by the Health Department against the spread of waterborne diseases. Health Department squads too had inspected several shops and industrial ice plants to check the quality of water. An officer attached to the Food Safety Commissionerate said the special squad would also inspect hotels and restaurants to ensure the quality and cleanliness of food items. “Wayside eateries will be one of the main targets of summer inspections as many of them have been found violating safety standards,” he said.
The summer inspections conducted last year had unearthed series of flaws on the part of soft drink dealers in various parts of the district. Nearly 150 shop owners had to pay fine for selling impure products. An amount of ₹5.55 lakh was collected as fine.
