VELLORE: Food safety officials attached to the Vellore Corporation conducted a raid in the city and seized paan masala, gutka and other banned tobacco products on Wednesday.
The banned items were seized from six roadside shops and were worth `10,000. The team also seized buttermilk, water and snacks sachets that did not have the manufacturing date printed on the packets, from shops in Vellore new bus stand. Besides, a few tea shops were found using red dye with tea powders to enhance the tea colour.
“We raided four hotels and two tea shops near the new bus stand and seized various items including idly flour and cooked chicken stocked in refrigerator. The samples of the seized items have been sent to the Guindy food safety laboratory for tests. After going through the results, we will take action against hotel owners,” said food safety officer J Kolanji, who led the team.
He added, “Water packets without ISO and manufactured date were seized as well. These are produced in Wave Factory, a company based in Chittoor in AP. Water packets from the same company were seized earlier, yet the circulation could not be stopped.”