KANNUR: Even though the chappathis, vegetable and non-vegeterian dishes made by the Kannur Central Jail prisoners are much in demand, they have been cirulated in the market, violating the regulations framed under the Food Safety and Standards Act.
Express checked the counter, where chapathi, curry and biriyani were sold by the jail inmates, and failed to find any label, manufacturing date, name of the manufacturer, date of expiry, price and other such details that required for the packed food. Similarly, customers are not provided any bills.
The jail inmates at the counter said there was no bill that can be provided to the customers.
“Where can you get the food at such cheap price? There is no provision of any bills as they are prepared and sold from the jail,” an inmate said.
Sources in the police department claimed that even though large number of food packets are sold out through the counter and also outside, the exact number of items prepared and sold have not been shown. “There is a possible manipulation of numbers and corruption behind the food manufacturing,” the source added.
According to prison officials, the central jail per day prepares about 25,000 chapatis and selling about 2500 chicken biriyani. Each chapathi packet with 10 chapatis cost `20, while chicken biriyani cost `60. Similarly, the egg, chicken and vegetable curry are sold at the counter at a very affordable rate.
The low cost of food and quality has been an attraction and people including hotel owners were found purchasing at the counter.
However, with no necessary mention of labels and other required information on the chapathi, as well as no purchase bill being provided at the counter, not just violate the rules, in case of any food poisoning or other issues the customer cannot directly point fingers at the jail authority.
Interestingly the food items are sold in the facility under the Kannur Jail Employees Welfare Cooperative Society. But when checked with the Food Safety and Standard Department Express found that the items like chapati and other items are manufactured by the Malabar Freedom Taste Factory, which is inside the jail and has got license only for manufacturing on Oct 26, 2015.
When contacted Jail Superintendent Ashokan Arippa, Kannur Central Jail, said they were out of stocks for stickers and they would get them in few days.