With over two tonne of rotten, foul smelling wheat recovered from a flour mill in Ludhiana, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Punjab has ordered steps to check the sale of flour ‘unfit for human consumption’.
The FDA commissioner KS Pannu on Friday said one may opt out of fruits, sweets or paneer (cheese) out of one’s meals, but shunning flour out of Indian meals, especially that of middle and lower middle class is near impossible as of now. “So, it is imperative to immediately check the sale of sub standard flour,” he said.
Giving details of the strategy, the commissioner informed that working out the availability of the manpower, 22 teams have been constituted and directed to check all the suspects. In two days, over a hundred flour mills have been inspected state wide and extensive sampling has been done. The results of the samples are awaited and the most stringent action prescribed under law would be taken against the adulterators, Pannu said.
Simultaneously, the flour mill owners are being sensitised to procure good quality wheat from Food Corporation of India or other trusted sources. They are being advised to maintain hygiene in the mill premises and obtain license from Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
A raid by joint team of food safety officers and dairy development officers from Sangrur at Bhagwati Agro Products Manufacturing Unit in Alamgir, Ludhiana on Monday revealed the case of 2000 quintals of highly damaged wheat being added to quality wheat for production of flour.
In two days, flour mills in Mohali, Kharar, Ropar, Hoshiarpur, Fazilka, Abohar, Muktsar, Pathankot, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Hoshiarpur, Bathinda, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Barnala, SBS Nagar and Mansa were inspected.