CUTTACK: The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has decided to form eight special teams each headed by a food safety officer to check sale of adulterated and stale food during the upcoming Balijatra festival.
The food safety officials will move around the fair ground, inspect and conduct testing of the food samples with the use of a mobile food testing laboratory (MFTL) twice a day - in the morning and evening.
City health officer Dr Satyabrat Mohapatra said action will be taken against the vendors selling adulterated or stale food. They will be penalised and their stalls sealed if required, he added.
“At present, the CMC has three food safety officers. We have written a letter to the State Food Safety Commission to provide five more food safety officers on deputation basis for Balijatra. A letter has also been sent to the joint director-cum-food analyst requesting him to provide two mobile food testing laboratories,” Mohapatra said.
Of the eight teams, while six will inspect the food stalls in the upper and lower grounds, the remaining two teams will be in readiness at the stall set up by CMC’s health wing in the upper ground to receive visitors’ complaints of sale of adulterated or stale food. They will immediately inspect the food at the said stall and initiate appropriate action, the health officer said.
“CMC will also release a special contact number where visitors can complain about sale of adulterated, expired or stale food during the festival. The number will be put on display at different locations in the fair ground,” Mohapatra said.
Sale of smoke biscuits which are prepared using liquid nitrogen has also been banned during the festival this year as it is harmful for health, he added.