Ludhiana: Food safety drive finds hygiene lapses, contaminated food

Led by District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Ashish Chawla, the drive covered bakeries, restaurants, dry fruit stores, street food vendors and tobacco retail outlets across the district

Hygiene violations at bakeries and a food outlet, contaminated food at a dry fruit store, and alleged labelling irregularities on packaged products came to light during a district-wide enforcement drive conducted by the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) in Ludhiana on Monday.

Food safety officials during the drive in Ludhiana on Monday. (HT Photo)

Led by District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Ashish Chawla, the drive covered bakeries, restaurants, dry fruit stores, street food vendors and tobacco retail outlets across the district.

At two bakeries on Tibba Road, officials found serious hygiene and sanitation lapses and issued hygiene challans to the owners. Four food samples — pastry, cake sponge, jam roll and pastry cream — were collected and sent to the State Food Laboratory for analysis. Further action under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, will depend on the laboratory findings.

At a dry fruit store in Civil Lines, officials collected samples of almonds, walnuts and cow ghee. They also found insect-infested raisins and mishri contaminated with flies, which were declared unfit for consumption and destroyed on the spot.

The department also served a notice to a distributor over alleged misleading labels on Hell Energy Drink, Monster Energy Drink, Amul Sugar Free Ice Cream and Kinder Joy. The distributor was directed to stop selling the products and initiate the recall process.Using the Food Safety on Wheels van, officials inspected fast-food outlets, street food vendors, sweet shops and dairy units across the district. They conducted on-the-spot food testing, sensitised food business operators about hygiene practices and destroyed food found to have been prepared under unhygienic conditions.

In a joint operation with Punjab Police, the department also inspected cigarette retail outlets and warehouses to check the sale of imported cigarettes without mandatory pictorial health warnings.

Dr Ashish Chawla warned that strict legal action would continue against violators under the Food Safety and Standards Act and the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act.