-------------------------
FDA border Op nets nearly
3 tonnes of unlabelled food
STRAP: Huge quantity of chicken, paneer seized
-------------------------
THE GOAN NETWORK
MAPUSA
In a major surveillance operation to curb entry of unsafe food into the State, the Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) carried out checks at three interstate borders -- Patradevi, Keri and Mollem -- from 8 pm on August 21 till 7 am on August 22.
The all-night drive targeted food-laden vehicles entering Goa.
Officials inspected consignments, drew samples of vegetables, fruits and other perishables for analysis, and detained unlabelled stock found to be from unverified sources.
The crackdown led to the seizure of 1,760 kg of unlabelled chicken and 500 kg of unlabelled paneer at Keri, 700 kg of chicken from an unverified source at Mollem, and 10 kg of khoa at Patradevi, all in the interest of public health.
FDA Director Shweta Dessai, under whose leadership the drive was conducted, said the exercise was part of ongoing efforts to scale up food safety standards in the State.
“We have observed improved compliance compared to earlier visits, but we will continue to intensify surveillance to ensure a higher degree of adherence to legal requirements,” she said.
In addition to the seizures, the teams sensitized food suppliers about labelling norms and other mandatory food safety provisions.
The drive in North Goa was conducted under the guidance of Designated Officer Richard Noronha. The teams were deployed as follows: Yogita Sirsat, Ram Dhuri, Bhakti Walke, Pritam Parab, Pradeep Parsekar and Arjun Naik (Patradevi), Rajaram Patil, Lenin De Sa, Amit Mandrekar, Darlan Diukar, Gaurish Gaonkar and Sandeep Shelke (Keri) and Shailesh Shenvi, Atul Dessai, Abhishek Naik, Atamaram Naik, Swapnil Faterpekar, Sudit Naik and Domingo Gonsalves (Mollem).
The FDA has assured that similar surprise checks will continue in the coming weeks to safeguard public health during the festive season.
This is the second major seizure of unlabelled chicken in the month, after an FDA team had seized 1,300 kgs of raw chicken and about 250 kgs of misbranded analogue Mava at the Mollem check post.
