VILLUPURAM: During the special inspection drive on Monday, food safety officials made back-to-back-raids at mango stalls and shawarma shops. Their seized loot included 1.5 tonnes of artificially ripened mangoes and 12 kg of over-coloured shawarma chicken.
According to official sources, inspections at 15 fruit stalls and five godowns located in MG Road, EP Road and Bahar Shah street were held to check the quality of mangoes. Around seven shops were found to have sold spoilt or artificially ripened mangoes and issued a warning notice. Among them, five shops were fined Rs 2,000 each, official sources added.
Further, continuing raids at shawarma stalls, three food trucks were inspected on Monday night. The 12 kilograms of artificially coloured chicken for shawarma recipe was seized from a truck located near the Four Road Junction.
According to a senior food security staff, the shawarma was prepared in an open kitchen in the food truck, attracting pollution and germs. "We had also released a guideline for hotels and food chains on how to safely prepare and serve shawarma. If they fail to follow the guidelines, restaurants will be shut down permanently," said L Kathir, a food safety officer.
The guidelines include: usage of gloves to mix spices on the meat, serving the shawarma within two hours of preparation, discarding remaining unsold meat.