BENGALURU: Following the crackdown on hotels and pubs, the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department (FSDAD) has now turned its attention to cosmetics, including products such as lipsticks. Acting on the Health Minister’s directions, drug inspectors have collected nine legal cosmetic samples, while the Assistant Drugs Controller collected five legal and eight informal samples for scrutiny.
The drive that was conducted from August 7 to 9 by 30 teams, FSDAD inspected 60 three-starts, and five-star hotels across Bengaluru Urban and the Greater Bengaluru Area, seized 1,049 kg of unsafe or non-compliant food articles. Officials collected 77 food samples, including meat, fish, chicken, bread, mayonnaise, cooking oil, curd, pulses, chutneys and marinated products, for laboratory analysis.
Officials found expired and mislabelled food, improper storage of meat and poultry, unhygienic kitchens, mould-affected vegetables, improper segregation of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food and violations involving artificial colours.
Kitchens at Hotel Skyye, UB City, and Pegs & Bottles were seized or closed for enforcement action. Inspections also covered KFC, McDonald’s and Subway outlets and their supplying warehouses. At McDonald’s Brigade Road, officials found magnesium sulfite being used in treating used frying oil and issued a notice. Notices have been issued to violators, and the department said enforcement drives will continue.
Five employees of the Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies Corporation (KFCSC) godown at Ramakrishnapura in Anekal taluk have been arrested for allegedly diverting or selling foodgrains worth around Rs 86.65 lakh meant for distribution under the Public Distribution System (PDS). The accused have been identified as godown manager Shivakumar and staff members Narayanaswamy, Thimmaraju, Rajkumar and Thaufik.
They allegedly sold foodgrains, including rice, ragi and wheat, stored in the godown. The accused were arrested based on a complaint by district KFCSC manager G Sowmya.
“The godown at Ramakrishnapura remained closed for three days. It was locked when food inspectors went there for a verification of stocks. Claiming that he had undergone a surgery, Shivakumar refused to go to the godown to open it. The officials then broke open the locks in front of the police. During the stock verification, they reportedly found rice, wheat and ragi missing from the godown. The officials suspect that foodgrains stored in the godown may have been sold. All the accused have been arrested,” said a police officer.