Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) found shortcomings in hygiene, food storage, staff cleanliness, drinking water testing, pest control and the maintenance of mandatory records during inspections of food catering units across the state, including 41 railway catering units and two units supplying food to airlines.The FSDA said operations at a base kitchen in Lucknow were suspended immediately, while the food registration of an establishment in Saharanpur was cancelled. Nearly one tonne of food items was seized in Kanpur Nagar.Teams inspected base kitchens and food storage premises associated with railway catering in Lucknow, Saharanpur, Kanpur Nagar, Agra, Chandauli, Gorakhpur, Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Varanasi, Bareilly and Jhansi. They found deficiencies related to cleanliness, drinking water testing reports, employees’ health certificates, pest control, stock registers and food-grade certificates for packaging materials at 30 units. Notices were issued to these units.At an establishment in Kanpur Nagar, the FSDA said it found 978 kg of a food item stored without a label or details of its manufacturing and use-by dates. The item was seized. Samples of 26 food items were also collected and sent to a laboratory for quality testing.Units supplying food to airlines at Lucknow and Varanasi airports were also inspected. An official said the inspections revealed several concerns, including some employees not wearing shoe covers and masks, the unavailability of required records and certificates, and labelling issues. Improvement notices were issued to the concerned units, directing them to rectify the deficiencies.
